Before we go into another lockdown, I go to my local DIY and hardware store to pick up some bits for essential repairs. I grab a trolley and pick up a few things, and then I am stopped by a woman in her mid-forties.

Woman: “Can I have your trolley? You only have a few things.”

Me: “No, sorry. I need it.”

Woman: *Suddenly very loud* “Oh, come on. You could carry that; we need that trolley.”

Me: “No.”

I have half of the trolley full of fixings, hand tools, etc. It’s way too much to carry.

Woman: “You are being unreasonable.”

Me: “No, I’m not. I need the trolley; that’s why I took it. There are plenty more outside if you want one.”

She goes on for a bit. I ignore her and browse the shelves. She manages to flag down a worker.

Worker: “Could you please let her have the trolley?”

Me: “What? No, I brought it in with me and I need it. I physically cannot carry heavy items.”

Worker: “Yeah, but could you just… let her have it?”

Me: “You know what? It’s all yours.”

I simply left the trolley with all my items on it as the woman shouted after me to empty it for her, as well!

When I passed by the customer service desk on my way out, I called for a manager and he called the worker over. Rather than defend himself, he shrugged and said he didn’t see the problem. I explained that I cannot physically carry much weight due to an accident and that he shouldn’t judge people. Instead of responding, he shrugged again and walked away.

The manager sighed and admitted that he would probably be letting the worker go; he has had a load of new starters and this one just doesn’t seem to understand. He offered to get someone to help shop for my items again, but by that point, I could not be bothered.

I work for a large organisation in the UK. We have about 2,000 staff with individual phone numbers; as such, we have been allocated a batch of phone numbers. After the area code, each number has the same first two digits. Locals know this, but our phone numbers otherwise look identical to any local landline. Consequently, we still get the same scam calls about changing utility providers, etc.

In my forty-person, open-plan office we all have consecutive phone numbers. I am staying late in the office one evening before a late meeting. There is no point going home, so I’m watching movies and doing some admin. Then, a scammer calls my desk phone. I answer with my name and normal spiel about the organisation and explain that he has called an office and I have no control over our utilities, etc. He hangs up. Then, the next phone rings… and I decide to have some fun.

I can answer any phone from my desk, so I give the same spiel again and hang up. Phone number three rings, and so on. I give the same spiel in the same pleasant voice every time and make an internal bet as to whether I can get him to give up before he calls every phone in the office.

The lightweight only makes it to phone twenty-three out of forty before giving up. I killed some time, wasted his time, and finally made a scammer give up!

I used to have a coworker that was very pretty, slim, and tall. As we worked in a factory mainly employing men, she received a lot of attention.

While some would have struggled with the attention, she loved it. She would have pretty much strangers buying her food, opening doors, getting her coffee, taking her rubbish away, etc. To be fair to her, she never encouraged it or led the guys on, but she never discouraged it, either.

More than anything, it appeared a bit pathetic to me; men would fall over each other to try to impress her, but she clearly wasn’t interested in them.

A few months in, she admitted to me that she hated her job, but as she didn’t have to do any work, she could spend the day on Facebook.

This surprised me. Everyone in the office was stressed. We had massive deadlines and a huge amount of pressure. Many people had left the company because of stress. Some roles only had a nine-month expectancy. So, how was this possible?

I started to pay attention. She would get a task and then straight away approach one of the male workers and ask them for help. She actually gave a job to one guy and then went for a coffee with a friend.

I saw her get away with this for months until a new boss, a woman, started. Suddenly, she wasn’t able to get rid of these jobs and was expected to do them herself. Only then did she admit — in a flood of tears — that she didn’t know how; she had spent a year fluttering her eyelashes and never learnt to do her own job!

She spent six months on probation before it was understood that she didn’t have even a clue and she was fired.

After leaving work one night after a run of three exhausting shifts in a hospital, I find that my brand-new mountain bike has had the lock cut through and been stolen. Understandably, I am furious.

I report it as stolen, put in an insurance claim, and wait, other than posting on various social media pages on the off chance anyone saw anything. Obviously, this reaches more than my immediate friends on social media; a few days later, I get a message from a complete stranger saying he has a bike he wants to give me after hearing what has happened!

Faith in humanity restored!

I’ve worked in a British supermarket for around five years now. One time, a customer comes in with her teen daughter to pick up her shopping. I work in the home shopping department, where you order online and go to the store to pick it up, so I go down to meet her to give her her shopping.

As soon as I arrive, she immediately begins to tell me:

Customer: “I’ve waited twenty-five f****** minutes for my shopping. Where the h*** is it?!”

Me: *Politely* “Can you please not swear? There are children around.”

The customer continued to swear at me, and when the security guard came over to assess the situation, she swore at him, too! After we told her that we weren’t allowed to load her car, as she wasn’t disabled or otherwise unable to do so herself, she and her daughter stormed out of the shop. She didn’t even take her shopping!