I started a sales job in an auto parts store a few weeks ago. Retail is pretty new for me, but I spent three years in an auto parts warehouse for a different company, so I’m learning fairly quickly.

I’ve learned most of the free services, like battery, alternator, and starter testing. I’m a young woman and try to look feminine while also being a tomboy. So far, it hasn’t been an issue, despite living in a small rural town… until yesterday.

A man in his seventies or so comes into the store.

Me: “Hello, what can I help you with?”

Customer: “Can you get someone to test my battery?”

Me: “Sure.”

I grab the tester and walk to the door.

Customer: “Oh, you’re going to test it?”

I say yes and we go out to his car.

Customer: “These days, they let women do just about anything men can, don’t they?”

Normally, I ignore comments from customers, and I’m usually too tolerant of rude people, but I’ve been having a rough week at work. I look him straight in the eyes.

Me: “Yeah, I’m a firefighter, too.”

He looked shocked for a minute and then shifted the subject to his son being a retired firefighter. I finished the battery test and told him it showed good but to come back if it dies again (sometimes they go bad slowly). He thanked me for my time and let out a sheepish “thank you for your service” before he left. Maybe next time, he’ll think before judging what a girl is capable of.

Related:
Can’t Hear You Over The Sound Of Your Ovaries, Part 17
Can’t Hear You Over The Sound Of Your Ovaries, Part 16
Can’t Hear You Over The Sound Of Your Ovaries, Part 15
Can’t Hear You Over The Sound Of Your Ovaries, Part 14
Can’t Hear You Over The Sound Of Your Ovaries, Part 13

I’m getting ready to drive from [Frequently Visited Small Town] to my home near [Big, Distant City]. I stop at the town’s sole gas station to fill up. All pumps have a paper sign that says, “Prepay only,” so I enter the gas station to give them my card.

Me: “I’d like to prepay for a fill-up. I don’t know how much it will be.”

Attendant: “Take a guess; we can refund the difference between what you pay and what you pump.” *Pauses* “Oh, and our card machines sometimes don’t work.” *Pauses* “Insert your card and see what happens.”

I insert my card, approve a guesstimate, and wait. The attendant shows me where my card was accepted, but the transaction did not go through. I pocket my card.

Me: *Greening* “I guess I will pay with green pieces of paper, then.”

Attendant: “You mean you have cash?“

Me: “Yep.

I hand over a twenty-dollar bill. I then pump something less than $20 worth of gas, check my card’s account with my smartphone to make sure it was not charged for the gas, and return to the attendant, who gives me the correct change for the $20.

Attendant: “Thank you for not yelling at us!”

Me: “You mean people get angry at you when they have to pay cash?”

Attendant: “You couldn’t imagine!”

I’m a weekend opening manager at a fast food restaurant. The particular chain where I work is known for having two drive-thru speakers in diverging lanes. Our store, for some reason, was not built like most stores, so our two speakers are right behind each other. Because of this, we do not HAVE to have two order takers unless we have enough staff to do so.

Despite this advantage, the location of the speakers can sometimes increase our drive-thru times if the person ordering on the second speaker takes significantly longer than the person at the first speaker. This tends to be a major issue on my shifts, as our customer acuity is higher and the lack of caffeine in their systems is evident.

Our general manager is not always reasonable, and she INSISTS that there be two order takers at all times, even if it slows down the drive-thru. In her mind, as long as there are two order-takers, the line will move fast.

One day, I notice that the line is not moving. When I tune in on the headset, I notice that the clientele are taking FOREVER to place their orders. I don’t have anything to do at the moment, so I tell the cashier to stand by and let me take all the orders.

Cashier: “Do you want me to hop on lane two?”

Me: *Over the headset* “Nah. I’ll get them. These idiots are all ordering so slow it’ll only back up the line at the second speaker if we have two order-takers. I know how to rush these people, so let me take all the orders.”

Cashier: “Won’t [General Manager] be mad, though?”

Me: “I don’t give a f*** if she gets mad. This line is moving slower than a dead man, and I know she wants it to move. This is how we make it move. At this point, she gets one or the other, and since she’s not here right now, we’ll do it my way. Just sit back and relax.”

The cashier happily obliges, and as soon as I start taking all the orders, the line begins to move at a rapid pace. Drive-thru times are under sixty seconds, and customer satisfaction soars. Then, our general manager walks in.

General Manager: “Why is there only one order-taker?!”

Me: “Because the customers were taking forever and I’m the only one who knows how to rush them without coming off like a total a**hole.”

General Manager: “There need to be two order-takers!”

Me: “Do you see that line?! It’s moving! It has been since I jumped on the speaker! Our drive-thru times are under a minute! They are never like this! If you want your line to move, let me be the only order taker when we need it!”

She pauses for a long moment.

General Manager: “There still need to be two order-takers.”

She walked off to her office.

I simply ignored her command and continued with my system, only discontinuing it when I needed to take charge for the breakfast to lunch transition. After this, she didn’t question my system as much.

A woman approaches me on the sales floor and wants to purchase an expensive lamp. It’s a large lamp and comes in a pretty big box. She’s in southern Florida on vacation and wants to take the lamp back to New York on a plane. 

Customer: “Can I take this on the plane?”

Me: “I’m afraid I don’t know. I guess it would depend on the airline.”

Customer: “Can I check it like luggage or carry it on?”

Me: “I don’t know that, either. Maybe you could call the airline directly and ask?”

Customer: “Will it fit down the aisle?”

Me: “I don’t know.”

Customer: “Do they charge extra for it?”

Me: “I don’t know.”

Customer: “Well, can you call [Airline] and ask?”

Me: “Ma’am, it really would be better to call them yourself. That way you can ask them their policy and get the correct information firsthand.”

Customer: “You’ll do it if you want my business!”

Me: “Ma’am, you’re the one with the questions. Call them yourself, or leave the lamp here to be bought by someone else.”

It’s getting kind of busy and other customers need me, so I simply walk away from her. A few minutes later, I see her on a cell phone. I hope she’s on the phone with the airline, but apparently not. 

She drags the lamp up to the front, all the while barraging the cashier with questions.

Customer: “Can I take this on a plane?”

Cashier: “I’m afraid I don’t know.”

Customer: “Will it fit down the aisle?”

Cashier: “I don’t know that, either.”

Customer: “If I leave my hotel at 7:00 am with the lamp, will I make my flight?”

Cashier: “Ma’am, I work in a furniture store. If you want to know about the airlines, you need to call the airline yourself.”

Customer: *Angrily* “What happened to customer service?!”

Cashier: *Clearly done* “My job begins and ends with the furniture store, ma’am. The airline isn’t my job or my problem.”

The customer pays for the lamp and storms off. I am then struck speechless when the phone rings only a few minutes after she leaves, and the manager is requested.

Manager: “I don’t know. I don’t know that, either. Why would I, or anyone else in my store, know that? No, that’s not their job. Fine.” 

He rustles a lot of paper on his desk and then makes scratching noises on a sheet of paper with a pencil.

Manager: “I’m filing it right now.”

He puts the paper into a shredder and holds the phone nice and close as the shredder noisily does what shredders are supposed to do to the piece of paper.

Manager: “Your complaint about my staff has been filed in the appropriate place. Next time, call the airline yourself.”

Then he hangs up, sees me watching, and goes:

Manager: “Seriously… What the h*** is wrong with people?! I just don’t get it.”

My coworker is volatile and petty. She has a need to be constantly embroiled with drama, and this time it is my turn. She is currently in the process of pretending that I am ignoring her about very important things she tells me about. In hindsight, she never tells me about it and it isn’t important. There are things that really do not affect me or my work at the end of the day.

Yesterday, she got annoyed at me for not knowing about a group of interns she hired over the summer. In the fashion that is both petty and completely her, she told everyone BUT me. A coworker told me about it and admitted it hadn’t been brought up in any conversation between the three of us. I documented it to protect myself and moved on.

Today, she sends me a text at 7:40 am.

Coworker: “We have a meeting this morning that conflicts with our standing 8:30.”

At no point does she tell me NOT to go to this meeting and she is trying to get me in trouble after all, so I can only assume that there is a real possibility that she is trying to get me to avoid the meeting to get me in trouble. I decide to pop in, just in case. Worst-case scenario, I sit alone in the meeting for a few minutes.

Fast forward to 8:27 am, and guess who walks into the office? The interns she forgot to tell me about, ready for their 8:30 am meeting. Guess who is not in the office?

So to recap, you expect me to read your mind and want me to be a part of these intern meetings but do not bother to include me?