My local supermarket is inside a larger shopping centre. As I enter the centre, a bunch of teens are messing around on the stairs — jumping off, kicking things down it, and getting in people’s way.

I push my way through when they try to stop me but I can see others are intimidated by them, and my words do nothing.

I see the supermarket’s customer service desk and go over.

Me: “Hey, could you get security over to the stairs? A bunch of kids are being a nuisance.”

Worker: “Well, those aren’t owned by [Supermarket]; they are managed by [Shopping Centre].”

Me: “Yeah, but I’m guessing you have the ability to contact them?”

Worker: *Suddenly full of attitude* “Well, yeah, I guess. But it’s not my job.”

Me: “Your customers are being harassed, and you don’t feel bothered enough to make a phone call?! Is there someone else I can talk to?”

Worker: “Fine, whatever, I’ll do it.”

I stand and wait. She doesn’t move. Realising that I’m not going anywhere, she picks up the phone next to her, and without saying anything, she shortly puts down the phone.

Worker: “They’re coming.”

Me: “Great, I will wait.”

She huffs and picks up the phone again, pushes a button, and talks to someone. I can hear her describe what’s going on.

Worker: “Yeah, some kids or something.” *Pauses* “The stairs.” *Pauses* “Yeah, whenever. Don’t run down here.” *Pauses* “Yeah, someone is complaining.” 

She hangs up and turns to me.

Worker: *To me* “Happy now?”

Me: “Ecstatic, thank you.”

I did my shopping and exited by the stairs. I saw the same bunch of kids being seen to by a first-aider. Looks like one of their jumps landed badly. If only there was some way of preventing it.

We are an inbound-only call centre and I work in the sales department. This is exclusively for people looking to take out new policies, but we frequently get calls for other departments because people either don’t know what department they need or don’t want to listen through the options. This leads to our queue being quite long most days.

Customer: “Finally! Why does it always take so long for you guys to answer the phone? I’ve been waiting for like an hour!”

The call timer shows he entered our department’s queue only ten minutes ago, but I don’t mention this.

Me: “I’m sorry about the wait, sir. How can I help you?”

Customer: “I have a policy with you.”

I wait, expecting more information, but I realise none is coming.

Me: “And how can I help you with that?”

Customer: “Well, I need to make a claim, obviously!”

Me: “In that case, sir, I’ll need to transfer you to our claims team. There will be a short hold.”

Customer: “No! Don’t you dare put me on hold! I’m not waiting any longer. I’ll give you the details so you can log it for me.”

Me: “I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir. The claims department uses a completely separate system from us and I’ve not been trained for it.”

Customer: “Then you can just take the details now and pass on the details to them. I don’t have time for this.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but as you pointed out at the beginning of the call, we have a bit of a wait for this line. I can’t take myself away from customers that actually need something from this line, but the claims team isn’t a busy as us today, so you should get through fairly quickly.”

Customer: “I told you I’m not waiting!”

He then began to tell me the claim details, screamed at me to pass it on, and hung up. I hadn’t even brought up a policy for him or gone through security, so even if I was trained for that line, I wouldn’t have been able to log it.

I answer the phones. We mostly get sale inquiries. I get a call early one morning:

Me: “Good morning, thank you for calling—”

Caller: *Almost hysterical* “How dare you?! Is your company—” *Garbled* “This is the twenty-first century. How dare you! This is offensive!”

Me: “Miss, please. Let me check that you are calling the right number.”

Caller: *Angry* “Miss? I am not ‘Miss.’ You don’t call me that!”

Me: “Okay, apologies, I misspoke, but I just wanted to check that you had the right number first.”

Caller: “Of course, I have the right number! What, because I’m a woman I must be stupid? Is that what your company thinks?”

Me: “No, not at all, but we often get wrong numbers. This is [Small Company], part of [Group].”

Caller: “Yes, so I did call the right number, huh?!”

Me: “Okay. Please, can you help me understand the nature of the issue?”

Caller: *Calmer* “Your company, your backwards company, has its head stuck up its own a*** and back in the seventeenth century!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but in what regards?”

Caller: *Angry again* “Your website, the box! How dare you assume my gender?! I’m doing the contact page, and the drop-down shows miss!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but are you on the [Company] website?”

Caller: “Yes, of course, I am!”

Me: “[Website] dot com?”

Caller: “Uh…” *Click*

Me: “Boss! I’m going outside, might not be back!”

I did come back, of course, and we blocked and reported her number, which was part of some business.

I have been on holiday for two weeks. Not five minutes after stepping into work, I am dragged into a meeting with a woman from Human Resources that I have never met before. She tells me a story of a colleague who took medication from my office that she was allergic to.

Human Resources: “After a thorough investigation, it has been decided that you will be issued a formal written warning.”

Me: “Hold up. I want to make sure I have this right. First: my office can only be unlocked with three keys. One key is on my keyring and was with me during my holiday. The other two are skeleton keys that open any door on this floor. They are in possession of the cleaner and owner of this building. This means that either [Colleague] stole one of those keys, or she entered my office while either the cleaner or owner had it unlocked.”

[Human Resources] is just staring at me blankly, so I continue.

Me: “Second: my desk is locked and both keys are on this keyring—” *points to my keys* “—which means either [Colleague] forced the lock on my desk, or she has access to a key I have no knowledge of.”

Again, a blank stare.

Me: “Third: all the medication I keep in my desk is locked inside a security box, because I am on medication that is controlled, and the only way [Safety Manager] would allow me to keep it here is with that assurance. Again, both keys that can open it are in my possession, so she either broke into the box, or she has access to another key I have no knowledge of, which I can’t even imagine how she would have gotten. And fourth: she found a box labelled ibuprofen and wilfully took it, knowing she was allergic.”

Human Resources: “She didn’t know she was allergic. She only just found out at the hospital.”

Me: “Oh, no, she did know. Everyone in this office knows. Every time she has a headache, she asks people for what they have and tells us every time, without fail, that she is allergic.”

[Human Resources] has pressed her lips together so hard they’re practically a line.

Me: “So, after all this, I am the one being written up? What else could I have done prevent this?”

Human Resources: *After a long pause* “I’ll look further into this.”

Me: “Cool. Either [Colleague] is secretly a spy, or she is lying through her teeth.”

After the meeting, I checked my office top to bottom. No evidence of tampering, and it looked like every pill in my box was accounted for. So much for “a thorough investigation”.

It’s the last day of the big office move. We have 150 people, equipment, and stock all being transferred to new premises. A few of us are getting the last of the odds and ends. I’m stood in the doorway propping it open and talking to a coworker, checking we have got everything.

Woman: “Ugh, are you two going to do anything?!”

She shoves past us.

Me: “What’s her problem?”

Coworker: “Oh, yeah. She got caught not helping and was told off by [Big Boss].”

Me: “Well, she needs to wind her neck in. I’ve been here since five.”

It’s not long before she comes back, muttering how this is all a “waste of time”. She stomps right up to us.

Woman: “What exactly are you two doing? Apart from being a doorstop!”

Coworker: *Sighs* “We are doing a final sweep of the rooms to check everything is off and we have taken everything.”

Woman: “Pff, what’s the point in that?”

Me: “What’s the point in checking we have taken everything?” *Pauses* “To make sure we’ve not forgotten anything.”

Woman: “Did I ask you?! And I don’t need you to hold the door for me. I swear I’ve seen more use out of a—”

I don’t hear the rest of the sentence as I step away and let the door close in her face. This door is an old wooden door, normally not used as it sticks shut whenever it gets wet, like today. [Woman] bangs and shouts and curses, and then she bangs some more, all while we load the last of the stuff in the van.

Eventually, I get a call from my boss.

Boss: “What the h*** is going on down there? I’ve had [Woman] scream down the phone at me, saying you locked her in.”

Me: “I was just doing what I was told; she said she didn’t want me to hold the door for her.”

Boss: “Just let her out.”

Me: “There’s more than one door to the building; none of them are locked.”

Boss: “Just let her out, please.”

I went back to the building and opened the double doors not fifteen meters from her, and she pushed past me again with a variety of insults. I know she complained about me, but she did so while also swearing at her boss, so it went nowhere.