I’m a biology teacher at a high school. Back when I was a much newer teacher, we had reached the point of learning about genetics and Punnett squares, which are used to show how dominant and recessive genes will be inherited from parents to children. Usually, the second most common example used for these — next to Mendel’s original example with peas — is eye color. However, I didn’t like this because it’s not accurate; eye color is actually controlled by sixteen different genes and is more complex than simple Punnett squares can handle.

Thus, I decided to use blood type as an example for our Punnett squares. It’s a slightly more complicated example, due to A and B types being codominant, but at least it doesn’t require lying to students.

Then, one day, a girl came up to me before the start of class.

Student: “Mr. [My Name], I think I’m doing the squares wrong.”

Me: “What’s the problem?”

Student: “My dad is AB and my mom is A, but I’m O. I can’t make the squares work.”

Me: “Oh, yes, that wouldn’t usually work. Are you certain you have everyone’s blood types right?”

Student: “Yeah, I asked them last night.”

Me: “Oh, I see.”

Student: “An AB parent can have an O kid, right?”

There was a hint of anxiety behind this question, as if she was pleading with me to tell her they could.

The answer — as I found out only after I was put on the spot with this question and Googled it — was that it is possible but exceptionally rare for this to happen. Still, even if I didn’t know that for certain yet, I knew there were usually exceptions to most genetic rules of thumb, so I hedged a little.

Me: “Usually not, but genetics are strange; there are always mutations or unusual recombination happening, so most of the stuff we teach in genetics is how things usually work, not a promise it will always be that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are times when AB parents have O children.”

Student: “But how often does that happen?”

Me: “I’m not really certain.”

Student: “But is it common?”

Me: “I don’t think it’s common, but it could happen.”

The student was quiet for a bit while thinking, looking increasingly worried. Eventually, she spoke up again.

Student: “What about eye color? Brown is dominant, right?”

The girl had brown eyes.

Me: “Eye color is more complicated since it’s controlled by many genes; Punnett squares don’t really work with them.”

Student: “So, brown really isn’t dominant?”

Me: “It kind of is. If you have one parent with blue eyes and one with brown, you’re more likely to end up with brown eyes, but it doesn’t always happen that way.”

Student: “But parents with blue eyes can have a brown-eyed daughter?”

Me: “Yes, definitely!”

Student: “Okay, good. Is that common?”

Me: “Well, it’s not exactly common, but it definitely can and does happen. I’m afraid I don’t know the exact odds without looking it up.”

Student: “Oh, okay. Thank you.”

She still looked worried and a bit dejected as she wandered back to her seat. I was not at all happy with how the conversation had gone, but I couldn’t think of anything else I could say or do, other than lying to her, to make things better, so I had to just leave things be and get on with starting class.

The next Monday, I saw the student again. She was looking very upset while looking at me as if she couldn’t decide whether to approach me or not.

Me: “[Student], are you okay?”

Student: “No! You were right!”

Me: “Right about what?”

She looked like she was considering answering, but she glanced around the classroom that was starting to fill with students, some of whom were clearly interested in our discussion in front of the class.

Student: “I don’t want to talk about it here.”

Of course, I respected that, but I found her to talk in private later. It turns out the man who raised her was not her biological father after all. He had fertility issues, and in the end, his brother ended up donating sperm for them to get pregnant, but they had never told their daughter. The blood types not adding up was the thing that made my student start thinking, but ultimately, she had come up with lots of other things, like eye color, that didn’t quite add up, and so she had decided to confront her parents during the weekend. They admitted the truth when she confronted them.

She was very upset at having this hidden from her, especially since, apparently, her biological father had moved to another country shortly after she was born, so she barely knew anything about him. I did my best to reassure her and remind her that anyone who cared for and loved her all her life was her real father, regardless of genetics, but she was less concerned about that and more about feeling like she had been lied to her entire life.

She would eventually come to accept the news, but not until she had time to deal with her feelings and emotions. As for me, I decided that I wasn’t going to be teaching any blood type-related Punnett squares after that year. I’ll still sometimes use the old standard of eye color but only after stressing that it’s an oversimplification. I figure, that way, if I ever have a brown-eyed student asking why their parents are both blue-eyed again, I can at least honestly say that is a real possibility and that I had already warned them we were oversimplifying eye color. I’d prefer not to be the cause of any more children getting unpleasant realizations.

The veterinary clinic where I work has the most employees in the area; we often have students from the local tech school, and on any given shift, we have at least eight people working in the treatment area alone. This is well known by other clinics, and it is not uncommon for us to get referrals because someone’s regular veterinarian just doesn’t have enough staff to perform the procedure.

We get a call from a clinic with only three people on staff asking if we can do a C-section on a labrador retriever named Panda that has been in labor for hours and no puppies have been born yet. Labs generally have larger litters, and with a C-section, you need a person to stimulate each puppy until it wakes up. No way can that clinic handle more than five puppies. This will also be a great learning experience for our students.

So, our doctor agrees, and the patient is brought over and anesthetized. The procedure goes well, the dogs are recovering, and I get tasked with calling the other clinic to let them know how it went.

Me: “Hey, [Receptionist], we just got done with that C-section you sent over.”

Receptionist: “Oh, really? How’d it go?”

Me: “Great! Panda is recovering fine, 100% survival rate, nursing well.”

Receptionist: “Oh, wonderful. [Doctor] will be so glad to hear that.”

Me: “Did you guys take bets on how many pups there would be?”

Receptionist: “Given how big Panda was, we figured twelve or so. How many?”

Me: “One.”

Receptionist: “What?!”

Me: “One. There was one puppy — average-sized, too, not a giant. We had all the kids lined up ready to get puppies, the doctor handed the pup off to the head tech, and she started demonstrating how to stimulate. Then, the doctor called out, ‘That’s all, folks!’”

Receptionist: *Laughing* “Of course. You know what [Her Coworker] said when we called you?”

Me: “No.”

Receptionist: “He said, ‘I’ll bet there is only one puppy.’ We asked why, and he said, ‘Because Pandas don’t breed well in captivity.’”

I get a call today from a user who used the self-service password reset site but now is unable to log in to a vendor program. This vendor program does not use the same password as [Site]. So, it should be a simple call, right?

Yeah, no.

Me: “Thanks for calling IT. This is [My Name]; how can I be of assistance?”

User: “I reset my password on the password reset website, but now my [Vendor Program] won’t let me log in.”

Me: “Are you trying your new password you just set on the password site?”

User: “Yes.”

Me: “That’s why. The [Vendor Program] password does not change when you reset your [Site] password. You will need to use your old password for it.”

There’s ten seconds of silence.

User: “My new password still is not working for [Vendor Program].”

Me: “I guess what I said did not come through. Sorry about that. Your [Vendor Program] password does not change when you reset your [Site] password. You will need to use your old password for that.”

Now there’s thirty seconds of silence.

Me: “Hello?”

User: “Yes, sorry. One sec. Typing.” *Pauses* “Yeah, my password still is not working on [Vendor Program].”

Me: “Your old password?”

User: “No, my new.”

Me: “Uhh. Is my phone cutting out?”

User: “No. You sound just fine.”

Me: “Yeah, so your [Vendor Program] password does not reset when you update your [Site] password. Try the old password you had for [Vendor Program] before you reset your [Site] password today.”

There’s another long silence.

Me: “You there?”

User: “Yes, sorry.”

Me: “Try the old password.”

User: “The old password for what?”

Me: “For [Vendor Program]. Please try the old password you have for it.”

User: “But I reset it today.”

Me: “Just… try the old password for it, please.”

She does.

User: “Oh, that worked. Why did the password I reset not work for [Vendor Program] and I have to use this old password?”

I let out an audible exasperated sigh.

Me: “Because [Vendor Program] has its own credentials that do not change when you reset your [Site] password.”

I will give you exactly one guess as to what happens next.

User: “So, why did I have to use my old password? Is something wrong with my account?”

Me: “No. I guess I am failing to properly explain this, and I apologize for that. When you reset your password today, you used this website, correct? [Password Reset Website]?”

User: “Yes.”

Me: “Okay. That only resets the intranet, email, [Site], and our company branded programs. It does not change these three [Vendor Program] passwords. So, when you reset your password on [Password Reset Website], it does not change the [Vendor Program] password.”

There’s a full minute of silence from her with me repeatedly trying to get her attention.

User: “Oh, sorry, I’m here. So, what’s wrong with my account?”

Me: “Nothing. Your password is working exactly as intended.”

I hung up the phone and wrote up the ticket like this:

Ticket: “Helped user get into [Vendor Program] using her old password. She either was not listening or simply failed to understand that [Vendor Program] and [Site] were separate entities. Terminated call and cried myself to sleep.”

No one called to complain, and we never heard back from her.

I work the registers at a big box store. Our registers have a screen that sometimes pops up when coupons are scanned, basically saying that it isn’t valid and asking if we want to accept it anyway.

One day, this terrible woman comes through my line. I scan her items and all of her numerous coupons. Almost all of them go through just fine, but one coupon gives me that screen. As a courtesy, I click the button to accept the coupon and then finish the transaction. After the receipt prints, she stands by the end of the register to look at it. I don’t think anything of it, checking out the next customer in line, who leaves.

She then comes back up to me.

Me: “Can I help you?”

Customer: “Did that coupon go through?”

Me: “Yes.”

Customer: “Okay, because I saw that screen that said it was denied. Can you show me where on my receipt it’s listed?”

I look and I can’t find it, which doesn’t mean it didn’t go through. There are a lot of coupons and it’s possible it’s just part of the dollars off at the bottom. I try to explain this, but she does not like that. She keeps trying to hand me the receipt and have me point it out. Meanwhile, my line is building. Finally, she comes up with this gem.

Customer: “I don’t actually care about the money; I just want to make sure you’re doing your job right.”

If I was doing my job “right,” I wouldn’t have accepted that coupon at all. The screens said it was denied, so I had no obligation to approve it.

She kept needling me about the coupon and I tried to send her up to guest services for help. I tried telling her that I couldn’t do anything for her from my register; I don’t have return powers and even if I did, it has to be done at guest services. I pointed out that my line was building, and the woman behind her said that [Customer] had every right to make sure she was charged correctly. By this point, I was literally in tears.

Thankfully, my register was right by the self-checkouts, and the lovely woman manning the self-checkouts that day noticed me crying and came over. She sent me into the back with a manager and took over.

My manager let me sit in the break room until I calmed down, and thankfully, I didn’t get in trouble for any of it. I don’t know what happened with the customer, but I never saw her again.

The coupon was literally for fifty cents off a large purchase.

My college’s dining hall is set up buffet-style with a few different areas for different kinds of food, so I usually walk a circuit to see what’s available before making a plate. It’s lunchtime and my plate is almost full, but as I pass by the dessert counter, I take a solitary chocolate chip mini-muffin from a tray of donut bites.

Almost immediately, one of the dining hall employees pops up out of nowhere with a giant grin.

Employee: “THANK YOU for taking that muffin! I KNEW someone would appreciate it!”

I think about this encounter regularly.