CONTENT WARNING: Animal Neglect

I work in a pet salon. All too often, I get people who bring in severely matted dogs. Luckily, the majority of them already know that their dog is going to be naked when they pick it up, but there is always “that one” who demands you brush the mats out. For the record, I’m talking about a level of matting where brushing it out would be incredibly painful for the dog and take literally HOURS upon HOURS, if it is even possible. I refuse on the principle of the dog’s comfort; I am not here to torture puppies!

A woman brings in a severely matted Shih Tzu.

Customer: “I want you to brush all these out.”

Me: “Uh… when was the last time he was brushed?”

Customer: “I don’t know. Maybe a year?”

Me: “Ma’am, we will not be able to brush out fur this badly matted. He can only be shaved.”

Customer: “What?! No! You will not be shaving my dog!”

Me: “There is no way I am going to torment your dog like that.”

Customer: “Fine, I’ll take [Dog] home and find someone else to do it.”

Me: “Ma’am, if the dog leaves the premises in its current condition, the Humane Society will be called, and you will be charged with neglect.”

The dog went home shaved and much happier.

A customer pays for a couple of items and hands me a five-dollar bill. I lay it on top of my register, hand back his change, and then put the bill in with the rest of the fives and close the drawer.

After the drawer is closed:

Customer: “I gave you a fifty!”

Me: “It was a five; I don’t have any fifties in my drawer.”

Customer: “Well, I gave you a fifty, so I don’t know what you did with it, but I want my change back.”

Me: “Hold on. Let me go watch the video and double-check that way.”

I watch the video, and it clearly shows him handing me a five. I go back to him and tell him and invite him to come watch the video.

Customer: “No, just give me my money back.”

If it had only been a couple of dollars, I would have just given it to him to get him to leave, but I am not going to just hand over forty-five dollars out of the drawer.

Me: “Sir, as you are getting very angry and disruptive, you will need to leave.”

Customer: “Fine, but I’ll be back later with the cops!”

The next day, he comes back in with a cop, accusing me of stealing from him. I tell the cop everything that happened yesterday. The cop requests to watch the video. We invite the accuser to come watch it, but he still refuses.

I take the cop back and we watch the video, and he agrees with me that the guy handed me a five. The cop goes out to the guy.

Cop: “I can’t do anything to get your money back until you watch the video. too.”

He finally agrees, and we bring him back and play the video. It shows the guy handing me a five out of his wallet and me placing it on the register.

Customer: “He swapped out the fifty for a five at some point! The video is lying!”

Me: “Do you really think that if I could change out money before it is even given to me that I would still be working here?”

The guy starts throwing a temper tantrum and I politely ask him to leave. He refuses, so I ask the cop to get the guy off our property.

Cop: “I’ll do you one better.”

He arrested the guy for trespassing.

I receive a friend request from someone I used to work with, so I accept it. Almost immediately, they message me.

Friend: “Hello, [My Name]. God’s blessings to you on this beautiful day!”

A notification pops up from the app saying I am chatting with someone who has a similar name to a friend I already have. I look and, sure enough, this profile has the same name and same photo as my coworker. Now I have two friends with identical profiles.

I go to look at the new friend and see that they only have five friends and just opened the profile today. If this doesn’t scream “scam,” I don’t know what does. But I don’t have much to do today, so I decide to play along.

Me: “Hi, [Friend]. Why do you have two profiles?”

Friend: “I am good, thank you for asking. This is a wonderful day to be alive and I am grateful. I hope you are well?”

Me: “Why do you have two profiles?”

Friend: “This is a glorious time, to be certain. Have you heard of DHHS?”

Me: “Answer my question or I’ll report you.”

I could see that my message had been read, but there was no reply. Five minutes passed, and then ten. Meanwhile, I searched “DHHS Scam” and found that it was a common one — copying a profile picture and adding friends of the original person, then asking the friends for personal information under the guise of applying for a grant on their behalf.

I reported the fake profile for pretending to be someone else but decided not to block just to see what would happen. Within minutes, the profile was no longer available. Whether I was blocked for knowing what was going on or the profile was taken down, I’ll never know.

I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome as a little girl. Due to my disability, as well as the fact that I do not have a driver’s license, I wasn’t able to land a job until my early twenties. After being turned down at countless other places, I finally manage to get a job as a waitress at a small restaurant on the outskirts of Chicago.

About a year into my job, we have a new shift manager take over for the one who originally hired me. One day, I’m sweeping the floor when the shift manager approaches me and orders me to the office.

Me: “What’s up?”

Manager: “[My Name], you are fired.”

Me: *Shocked* “On what grounds?”

Manager: *Sternly* “You know what I’m referring to.”

I don’t know at all what she’s referring to.

Me: “Was it something I did? Did I not clock my hours correctly? Was there a shortfall in the till? Please, tell me!”

Manager: “I shouldn’t have to tell you. You already know.”

Me: “Honest, I don’t know! Really!”

Manager: *Raising her voice* “Don’t you lie to me! You know what happened, and you know that it warrants your termination.”

I’m on the verge of tears at this point.

Me: “You don’t understand! I don’t know what I did to deserve this!”

Manager: *Now yelling* “YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID! DON’T YOU TELL ME YOU DON’T KNOW!”

The head chef overhears the manager’s yelling and steps into the office. He is visibly angry.

Head Chef: “What’s going on? What’s all the yelling about?”

I can’t take it anymore and break down crying.

Me: “I just got fired! I don’t know why, and [Manager] isn’t telling me!”

Manager: “SHUT UP! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY!”

Head Chef: “No, she doesn’t, and neither do I. Please tell me what happened, and why you fired [My Name].”

Manager: “It’s none of your business!”

Head Chef: “Actually, as the owner of [Restaurant], this is very much my business.” *Sternly* “Now please, tell me what you fired [My Name] for.”

Manager: “Okay, fine! I’m firing her for insubordination!”

Head Chef: “Insubordination, huh? Show me her write-ups. I want proof of this.”

The manager suddenly goes pale. She begins scrambling through the desk.

Manager: “Umm… I… I think I misplaced them.”

The head chef glares at her for a moment and then turns to me.

Head Chef: “Why don’t you go take a break, [My Name]? Take a moment to pull yourself together. I would like to talk one-on-one with [Manager].”

While I was regrouping in the break room, I could hear the head chef yelling at the shift manager in the office. We had a new shift manager by week’s end.

I later learned from a coworker that the now ex-shift manager had planned to directly fire me for being on the autism spectrum and was trying to pass it off as insubordination. The head chef knew better, not only because the former shift manager failed to provide any proof of my so-called “insubordination,” but also because, as it turns out, he actually had the same disability as me.

I’m still working there to this day, but I haven’t seen the former shift manager since the day she was fired.

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It’s my first day and I am walking the shop floor with a trainer.

Trainer: “So, that’s the tour. Any questions?”

Me: “When are bathroom breaks?”

Trainer: “We don’t really have a policy. Go when you need to as long as a manager knows. Mostly, we try to use the backroom loophole.”

Me: “The backroom loophole?”

Trainer: “Yeah! Guaranteed twice a day you’ll be asked by a customer to check the back, even if you’ve already told them we don’t have s*** in the backroom. We usually just go use the bathroom for five minutes, and then come back and tell them we checked and it’s not in stock.”

Me: “Oh! That’s…”

Trainer: “Keeping the customer always right and the bladder always empty!”

In the five months that I was there, the trainer was right. I got to “check the back” at least twice per shift!