(I’m working the security gatehouse at a TV production studio. A “supporting artist” for a new TV show walks up to the metal pedestrian exit gate, presses the release button, and waits. This is a metal gate with no electronic parts, plainly not automatic.)

Me: *leaning out* “Hi there! You need to pull the gate open after you press the release button, please.”

Extra: “It’s not working!” *points at the gate*

Me: “I’m sorry; it’s not automatic. It’s a door you have to pull open yourself.”

Extra: *thumping the release button* “It’s not working. Look!”

(I sigh, walk outside, move her gently aside, push the button, and pull the gate open for her.)

Me: “See? You just push the button, then pull the gate.”

(She walks through to leave, then turns around angrily.)

Extra: “It’s broken! You should get that fixed!”

I work in the television industry. Sometimes, our clients will book a block of time that is longer than the run time of their show, to allow for technical errors, adjustments, or even for if they’re just not running on time that day.

This one particular client always lets us know when they are finally feeding their video, if they have not started on time. So, today, we received an email that said simply, “We are feeding.”

Unfortunately, it was not a zombie show.

(A local news story about a little girl who was murdered makes national headlines. Our station cuts into the afternoon’s soap opera with breaking news regarding the case.)

Me: “Thank you for calling [Station]. How can I assist you?”

Caller: “Why are you interrupting my stories? You can’t do that!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but this is breaking news regarding the murder case. A lot of people want to know what’s going on.”

Caller: “I know the little girl is dead and all, but you just can’t take people’s television away from them!” *click*

(Sadly that was only one of the many calls we were inundated with during that time.)

(I work as an intern/assistant in a public access TV studio. Since the job has a lot of downtime and I enjoy programming, I write programs to automate some of my tasks when there is nothing else to do.)

Me: “Hey, [Boss], check out this new script I wrote.” *runs script that does in 30 seconds something that used to take me more than an hour to do by hand*

Boss: “Can I give you a bit of advice? I know you’ve written four or five little scripts like this, and that’s really awesome. However, I’m 55 and I learned a long time ago never to let my bosses know exactly how long it took to do the work.”

(I’ve learned this lesson well and in my current job I’ve written scripts that save me more than 10 hours a week and my boss still thinks I do most of the work by hand.)

(My boss signs our department up to pass out promotional items at local high school football games. This has previously been done by any employee who cared to volunteer, but for some reason, that was no longer good enough. A game is suddenly added to the schedule and the boss is running around the department.)

Boss: “Hey, [Coworker #1], can you go to the game tonight?”

Coworker #1: “No, sorry, I’m signed up for a dinner at church.”

Boss: “Can’t you skip it?”

Coworker #1: “I’ve already committed. I really can’t.”

Boss: *sighs* “FINE. Hey, [Coworker #2], what about you? You can leave early!”

Coworker #2: “I can’t. I’m working my second job tonight.”

Boss: “Why can’t you call in?”

Coworker #2: “Because I could get fired?”

Boss: “Oh, fine.”

(I am the only person in our department who works a later shift.)

Me: “I can do it if you want me to.”

Boss: “No, you need to stay here.”

Me: “But I could run out there for a couple of hours and get back in time to wrap things up.”

Boss: “No.”

Me: “Well… then why don’t YOU do it?”

Boss: *turns to face me with a look of disgust on his face.* “Because I’m the HEAD of the department!”

Me: *whispering after he walks away* “What a team player!”