(I’m afraid of confrontation, but I also have a tendency to speak before thinking. One day, I am walking to a mall with my husband. We have to cross a road for cars and a bike lane. A zebra crossing crosses both roads and both biking lanes, so pedestrians should have the right of way. Unfortunately, many forget about that rule, willingly or accidentally. In front of me, a group of three women crosses the zebra. Two kids on a bike, a boy of about 13 years old and a girl of about 11 years old, do not give way, but there is no accident as there is enough space. However, one of the women suddenly stretches her arm and tries to grab the girl off of her bike! The girl wobbles but manages to stop safely. The boy — her big brother, we assume — stops, as well. But before anyone else can react, I yell:)

Me: “Hey! Don’t you dare!”

Woman: “I had the right of way!”

Me: “I don’t care! You almost made her fall!”

Woman: “Mind your own business!”

Me: “I won’t mind my own business when I see someone pulling a child off her bike!”

Woman: “I had the right of way!”

Me: “That did not give you the right to cause an accident.”

Woman: “Just shut up, you!”

Me: “Not for someone who almost hurt a child! Right of way or not, you were in the wrong here!”

(The women walk on, while the aggressor keeps mumbling that people should mind their own business. The children also go on, though they look shocked. I can’t ask them if they are all right; they are already gone.)

Husband: “Wow, you were fast!”

Me: “I didn’t know what came over me. I just imagined that child falling in front of me…”

Husband: “I don’t know if I would have had the guts to say anything.”

Me: “Could… could we sit down for a moment? I’m so scared all of a sudden… My legs are weak.”

Husband: “No, not yet. You can’t show weakness to that b****. Just wait until she can’t see you anymore.”

(My husband then treated me to ice cream so I could sit down and calm down. We didn’t see any of those women in the mall again, and two years have passed by now. It’s okay to be upset if you do not get right of way, but that never justifies causing — almost — injury to anyone!)

(I am at the grocery store, going to the self-checkout. There are two self-checkout areas right next to each other. I see one is busy, with a line of about four people, while the other area is completely empty. At first, I assume that the other area is broken, but when I look, all the machines are on and seem functional. So, I carry my basket over to one of those lines, bypassing the line entirely. Not even two seconds later, the lady who had been at the front of the line suddenly bustles over to my station with her cart.)

Customer: “Ahem!”

Me: *turning to look at her* “Hello?”

Customer: “It is very rude to just jump the line like that! You need to go wait your turn.”

Me: *looking at the other empty stations* “I’m sorry, but that line was apparently waiting for the other area. This area was empty; it’s not my fault none of you were willing to move over.”

Customer: “IT IS RUDE!” *tries to push her cart into me*

Me: *stops the cart with my foot* “Hey! Back off!”

(At that point, the employee who is supposed to be watching the area comes over, and the lady starts shouting to him about how rude I was. While that happens, I manage to finish scanning my items, feed my money into the machine, and then grab my change and bags and start to walk off.)

Customer: “Where are you going? You need to wait your turn!”

(I just waved.)

A woman goes to my local grocery store and loads her cart up with food and goods. She goes right by the checkout and straight out of the store; she begins loading up her car with the stolen items. 

Right before she finishes, the manager and a security guard go out to confront her. Seeing them coming, the lady abandons what’s left in her cart. She dives into the driver’s seat and starts up the vehicle. Seeing she’s about to flee, the security guard yanks her back door open and jumps inside. The lady peels out of the parking lot, hitting the manager with her bumper as she does so — though at such a low speed no harm is done.

The security guard, still in her vehicle, makes demands that she stop the car or go back to the store. However, according to the lady, he tries to wrest control of the vehicle away from her. 

The car darts down the road, way over the speed limit, and to the highway without stopping at the light. An oncoming truck broadsides the vehicle, sending the shoplifter and the security guard careening into the concrete median. The vehicle is completely smashed.

The guard is ricocheted all around the back seat and knocked unconscious with a bleeding head injury. He winds up being life-flighted. A witness to the crash and the truck driver tell what they saw of the accident. However, the lady insists the security guard was trying to fight her for control of the vehicle and the crash is all his fault. 

The cops on the scene arrested her for abduction, but her lawyer is arguing that the security guard was at fault, that there’s no abduction since he forced himself into the vehicle, and that he should be charged with assault himself. With him still unconscious, all they have is her word to go on.

(I’m running the front of the restaurant alone during an extremely busy dinner rush while my coworker helps my manager cook in the kitchen. This hasn’t ever been a problem; people are usually much nicer when I’m out there solo. I’ve been able to remember drinks orders pretty well tonight, so I’ve been doing my best to keep people happy. One table has been taken over by local regulars; no problem, even easier for me to remember their drinks, so I keep them well topped up. I’m summoned into the kitchen momentarily to answer a question my manager asks while my coworker comes out to the bar to get her phone as her daughter is ill and needs to be kept on her. Unbeknownst to me, she also serves the regulars some more drinks and doesn’t tell me, and I’m unable to see this as the table is around the corner. I’ve never had any issue with one of the regulars, but as she has caused problems for my coworkers before, I keep an eye on her, being sure to remain friendly. I come out of the kitchen, smiling at the regular customer since she has brought up her empty glass and placed it on the counter, and she is now watching me and waiting silently.)

Me: “Oh, hey! I’ll be right with you; I just gotta wash my hands! Accidentally got covered in ketchup out there!”

Regular: *overly sweet* “Oh, take your time, sweetie! I’m in no rush here!”

(I quickly wash my hands off and make a big show of thoroughly drying them; we can get in trouble if a customer thinks we have dirty hands so it has to almost be theatrical. I pick up the empty wine glass with a smile and hold it up, as I usually do before I refill.)

Me: “Oh, same again? It was [red wine], if I remember correctly, right?”

(The regular suddenly goes from a sweet expression to a rage that I honestly cannot describe, and before I can react she’s brought her arm back and PUNCHED ME hard enough in the face that I almost fall over, barely keeping my feet under me.)

Regular: “How dare you suggest I’m an alcoholic, you little b****?! Can’t you see I’ve got already got another glass?! I was being kind and bringing the old one back; clearly you don’t deserve it!”

Me: “I… I…”

(I’m in so much shock I can’t speak; I’m hurting and confused as to what just happened. Every table, which had all been fairly loud, has gone eerily silent. I can only watch as the regular goes back to her table, still not understanding what I did to deserve such an attack. The silence in the restaurant must have been noticed by my manager because she comes rushing out and sees me.)

Manager: *concerned* “[My Name]! What’s going on?!”

Another Customer: *pointing* “That crazy woman on that table just punched her for doing her job! She just asked if she wanted another drink!”

Manager: “What?! [My Name], is this true?”

Me: *nods, and I’m only just noticing I’m crying, trying to rub the tears away because I already felt embarrassed enough in front of the customers* “Y-yeah, [Regular] just went nuts at me…”

Manager: “All right, you go finish helping [Coworker] in the kitchen for me. I’ll sort this out for you.”

(I did as I was told, and within a couple of minutes my manager came back and told me [Regular] had run off with the rest of her table. I finished my shift out front again, still fairly shaken, but my other customers were extremely kind and patient, with many of them leaving huge tips as they left. Thankfully, we were able to get the CCTV footage after my shift finished and handed it to the police. The regular hasn’t been back in since, and I’m still waiting for the final outcome for the assault charge against her.)

I work at a place that is a historic mansion during the day, a haunted house at night. For the most part, we avoid scares where people lunge out at you. The way the house is built doesn’t really allow for it, and the risk of guests panicking and damaging walls is too high. This year, however, we have constructed a maze in an unfinished area, which we call “the Grinder.”

I did not give this tour but was told about it later. A man was scared by an actor in the Grinder who popped out of the fake wall — the intended purpose of this. This man had also happened to purchase a toy, a stick with a horse head, earlier. 

Instead of any kind of rational response to being scared, this man stayed behind, waited for the actor to pop out again, and then hit him in the face with the horse. Four times. 

The most frustrating part? Not only was he not arrested, but he was also given a full refund, despite going through a good 90% of the house and assaulting an actor.