A few years ago, I was flying home for Christmas. I was at the airport, getting ready to go through security. I had extra stuff because I needed to work while I was gone, so I had my work laptop and needed equipment on top of my personal electronics. Getting unpacked took me a bit. Finally, I got everything onto the belts including my shoes and jacket.

I moved into line to go through the X-ray, and suddenly, lights started flashing and a fire alarm went off. It didn’t seem to be going through the whole airport, and no one was running or screaming, including the TSA agents. They did, however, stop letting people through the X-ray. The agent running it kept apologizing and saying they’d get us through ASAP. All of a sudden, this manager or supervisor or something came running up to this X-ray. (This was the only one that had this incident/issue; there were at least four other lines that got moving within about a minute.)

Manager: “Okay, people, we’re going to give this a minute, but you likely are going to need to go outside and wait while we clear things.”

The other passengers standing around and I kind of looked at each other in surprise. I glanced at the manager.

Me: “But what about our stuff?”

Manager: “You’ll have to leave it here and come back through security when we let you back in.”

I pointedly glanced down at my bare feet and held up my arms in my short-sleeve T-shirt.

Me: “Um, but what about this? It’s currently snowing, and I don’t know about them, but I don’t want to stand out in the cold with no shoes and no jacket. Plus, no offense, but if any of my stuff ends up missing or stolen because you made me leave it unattended, I’m going to come looking for it.”

The agent running the X-ray kind of started side-eyeing the manager, and he met our eyes and kind of shook his head no. I’m not sure if he was trying to stop me from getting into it with her or if he was trying to tell us they’d do what they could to not send us outside unprotected.

Manager: *Slightly huffy* “If you have to go outside, you’ll need to come back for it.”

Before I could point out the likely health hazards of forcing us outside like this, the alarm shut off. The manager just glanced up and then walked away, and we were allowed to go through the X-ray. I start putting everything away and getting everything back on.

As I was finishing up, I noticed the manager kind of half-hovering nearby and glaring in my general direction. She didn’t actually do anything, but I wonder if she was staring because we were holding things up (which was her fault in the first place, but let’s not talk about that) or if she was hoping for me to give her a reason to detain me. 

Luckily, I’d gotten there early enough that, even with the delay, I was able to take my time getting to the gate. The rest of my Christmas was just lovely, but I do wonder about that manager every so often.

One of my friends was obviously feeling rather down, so a group of us decided to get together and have a day together to cheer her up. It seemed to be working, and we were having a great time. Then, the topic of conversation shifted to how she and her boyfriend were doing.

Immediately, several red flags started popping up. Her boyfriend was upset with her for not leaving work on no notice to hang out with him. Her boyfriend had refused to touch a meal she’d prepared specially for him and had gone and gotten a takeout burger instead. Her boyfriend had gone through her closet and thrown out several of her clothes items that he didn’t like.

It went on and on. We, as a group, quickly started assuring our friend that that wasn’t normal and that his behavior was what was wrong, not her. We shared what a good relationship should be like, and we encouraged her to either sit down to have a serious talk about boundaries or simply to move on from him and find someone who would treat her right.

She did end up breaking up with him, and is much, much happier now.

While we were having that discussion, another friend got very quiet and was visibily rather upset. She ended up leaving without saying a word to the rest of us. At the time, I just thought she was upset for our friend.

However, after talking with some other mutual friends, I found out that she was actually offended at us for describing the boyfriend’s behavior as wrong, because it very closely mirrored how she treated her own boyfriend, and she was upset that we were indirectly calling her a bad person for acting that way.

Sadly, her response to this was to choose to minimize contact with us until we apologized for offending her rather than taking it as a wake-up call and actually improving her behavior.

I’m a contract-to-hire employee for an IT outsourcing company. My job consists of performing onsite warranty repairs for a major PC manufacturer. I have no office besides my car, and I usually only see my coworkers when I pick up our parts at a shipping facility near the airport.

Every morning, I open up my laptop and log into our ticketing system to review my work orders for the day before leaving for the pickup point. One morning, I do this and find that I have no tickets, which has never happened before. I frantically call, text, and email my manager, my coworkers, my former boss, and multiple contacts at the temp agency to get an explanation.

I get zero responses until, finally, I call the recruiter from the temp agency. He tells me he hasn’t heard anything, but then he checks his email and tells me that my contract and several other employees have been terminated without explanation. I’ve never been written up or reprimanded by my boss. I have heard talk of furloughs because the company is not doing well, but since I haven’t heard a word from anyone, I’m angry and confused about this whole ordeal. But, c’est la vie. So long, jerks.

Fast forward a few weeks. After not responding to my calls, texts, or emails for weeks, I get an unexpected email from my former boss on my personal email account.

Boss: “Do you still have a [Major University Customer] parking pass?”

Fortunately, I got a new job soon after that paid fairly well and lasted for four and a half years before I was laid off — with plenty of warning and six months’ severance. I eventually did return the parking pass, but needless to say, I was in no rush to do so.

I used to work as a tech support representative. We offered several methods for customers to verify their identity over the phone, and they were listed in their account details. The first was a security question, and customers had the option of picking from a list or choosing their own.

One day, I was working on a case and saw this question.

Question: “Who’s the biggest a**hole at [Company]?”

Thankfully, I didn’t recognize the name, and it was an email ticket anyway. I feel bad for anyone who had to ask the customer that question.

Several years ago, I was working as a field tech for an IT services company. I’ve just finished my last ticket for the day, but I don’t have enough gas to get home. I’m also feeling a little worn out and decide to get some coffee, too, but I’m in an area where almost everyone is Mormon. For those that don’t know, Mormons aren’t supposed to drink coffee.

I’m also near a university that’s run by the Mormon Church, and drinking coffee is grounds (no pun intended) for expulsion. I pull up to a gas station, fill up, walk inside, grab a bottled coffee drink from the fridge, and bring it to the cashier. I’m feeling a little silly, so I decide to pull the cashier’s leg as she rings me up.

Me: *Dead-panning* “Do you need to see ID for this?”

Cashier: “The register just told me to ask for your ID.”

Me: *Laughs*

Cashier: “No, really. It said to card you. I’m not joking.”

She didn’t actually card me like the register told her to, but we both had a good laugh that I desperately needed!