When I was in high school, I worked for a midsized retail company. My particular store was located near a state park and got super busy during the summers.

On one such busy summer afternoon, a couple came in looking to buy a kayak. The kayak was brought around to the front of the store, so it was all ready for them to purchase and go. Right as it was time for them to check out, we got hit with the lunchtime rush, and the entire checkout area was crowded with customers and staff.

All of a sudden, someone realized that the couple was taking off into the parking lot with their kayak.

Coworker: “Hey, did they pay for that?”

Front End Supervisor: “No, I didn’t see them come through any of the registers.”

My manager happened to be hanging out near the front, so he set off after them into the parking lot. Apparently finding themselves caught in their ruse, they surrendered the kayak and took off.

My manager came back with the kayak. Usually, this would go straight back to storage or display, but it was still super busy, so instead, he just puts the kayak upright in our returns section which was a couple of shelves at the far end of the registers.

We continued checking folks out and trying to clear the crowd. Folks were a bit grumpy and looking to get out of the store, and we were all just scrambling to keep up with everything. The front-end supervisor was running back and forth getting prices and returning damaged or rejected goods. As she went to return one such item to the return section, she knocked into the kayak.

I was in the process of checking out a customer but looked up when I heard a loud bang and crack. The kayak was now resting against one of the giant panes of glass that made up the front of the store. The whole busy storefront collectively held its breath as we looked at this enormous kayak resting against the front window. And then, suddenly, just a couple of seconds after the first crash, the kayak broke through the window, completely shattering the enormous pane of glass and falling to the ground.

My supervisor looked absolutely dumbstruck and terrified while everyone else just looked on in shock. Luckily, no one was injured, and not much was damaged aside from the one window, but I’ll never forget how a couple of attempted thieves did far more damage than they might have ever imagined by trying to make off with an entire kayak during a busy summer day.

I’m shopping when I see a woman with a small boy in tow. The child breaks away from the mother and, right in front of her, starts pulling jars of mayonnaise off the shelf and dropping them on the ground. She watches him shatter maybe twenty bottles before ambling toward him and slowly pulling him away. As she heads down the aisle, I see her clicking her fingers at one of the employees.

Woman: “Heeeeeey, somebody smashed a whole bunch of bottles over there. Somebody should clean it up. My kid could have been cut by all the glass!”

Me: *Passing* “If you check the cameras, you’ll see that it was her kid who broke them while she watched.”

Woman: “F****** snitch!“

And she threw a bottle at my head — in front of witnesses and on camera. I needed some stitches and she got jail time for assault.

I work security for a music venue, and since I’m one of the older guys, I usually get to roam the floor, but this day was different. I was stationed in the barricade between the crowd and the stage. The crowd started funneling in and filling up the space by the barricade immediately. I noticed that the crowd seemed to be older metal fans, so we didn’t expect it to get too rowdy.

The first act went on and the crowd was headbanging and lightly mosh-pitting along. Well, that didn’t sit well with the singer, so before the last song, he told the crowd to kick it up because security were his friends and they needed to earn their pay. Immediately, a guy crowd surfed to the front. I caught him and let him go.

The singer commented, “That’s what I’m talking about!” and then started their last song.

My coworker and I were almost overrun by crowd surfers, but we kept up until halfway through the song when a crowd surfer with no shirt, slick with sweat, came over and got shifted to the right at the last push of the crowd, and thus, we were out of position to catch him. He proceeded to fall through my coworker’s hands and hit my knee and bend it a little backward. I screamed, fell forward, hit my other knee against the barricade, and fell to the ground. Before my coworkers could help me out of the way, I got my head stepped on by a crowd surfer.

They wanted to try and stand me up, but I made them pull me out to the side. Once I calmed down a little, I noticed my knee didn’t hurt, so I tried to stand, but my right knee wouldn’t hold and I fell back down.

An ambulance was called, and the poor paramedics that showed up couldn’t lift my rather large self onto the gurney. I pulled myself up with the barricade enough to get the gurney under me and was wheeled out of the venue, to the cheers of the crowd. That was the first time I ever had a crowd cheer for me.

I ended up missing a week of work due to a hyperextension/sprain of my right knee, and then I was put on light duty for another week. But the venue changed their policy on crowd surfers to where you can once, but if you are caught again, you are kicked out.

I work at a large retail chain. One time, a group of older teenage boys came into the store at around 10:30 at night.

The boys grabbed some cartons of eggs, and they decided to throw the eggs up over the aisles to hit stock on top shelves, other customers, and me (almost). They were swiftly thrown out.

Apparently, we missed a few eggs and found out later.

Our Homeowners Association built a fence around the neighborhood — a lowest bidder type situation. It looks okay. It’s reddish colored and tall enough, but the boards are flimsy. It’s been a few years and it’s starting to fall apart — nails missing, boards fell off, etc. I let the HOA know about it a few months ago. I’ve hammered a few boards in to keep my dogs safe when I let them out, but mostly I’ve been waiting for them to fix it.

They haven’t touched it in months.

I notice one of the panels has come loose — no nails in the upper and middle part, just one in the bottom. Anyone could pull on the fence and walk right into my backyard. I say enough is enough and I go out to fix it all. I replace boards that have fallen from the outside, put the panels back together, and get a solid fence line.

My house backs up to a busy street, and when the red light is on, cars back up all the way past my house area.

I’m on the outside of my fence, trying to get nail holes to line up and screwing things into place, when I become aware of honking noises. Before I can take off my headphones, a large cup of melted ice and watered-down soda slams into the fence next to me and splashes its contents on my right side, soaking my shirt and some of my pants.

Needless to say, I’m startled.

I pull out my headphones and turn to look at the street. The light is green but a husband and lady are holding up traffic. Apparently, they’ve been trying to yell at me and get my attention. When yelling failed, the lady in the passenger seat thought throwing a half-full cup at me was a good way of getting my attention. It worked.

I’m looking at her with a “WTF” look and cars are driving around them honking. I don’t even get to say anything before she starts screeching at me.

Woman: “You need to get off your a** and move down to my fence! I’m tired of my fence being s*** and no one fixing it. How dare you ignore my fence and start down here?!”

No apologies. No civility. Just screeching and throwing her s*** at people and blocking traffic for everyone else.

I’m usually a really nice person, but I’m done with being yelled at for things and putting up with ignorance, so I don’t try to hold back on my anger. I might feel badly later, but for now, I’m more than done.

I put my drill down, grab my water, and take a few steps toward them.

Me: “I don’t work here. I live here.”

Or at least, I attempted. She and her husband aren’t listening. They are both still going off about their fence and lazy, fat, useless employees and the HOA.

I unscrew the large cap off my water bottle. The water splashes on my fingers. It’s ice cold.

Me: “I DO NOT WORK HERE! F*** OFF!

Both of their faces go full pucker. As the lady draws breath and starts to shriek again, I toss the contents of my water bottle toward their open window. She gets a decent bit to the face, which shuts her up. I doubt I got the hubby, but enough went in the SUV that I know he’s annoyed.

Me: “And if you ever throw something at me again, I’ll beat your g**d*** a**.”

Then, while her screaming in rage was going on, I gathered my drill and went back to work.

The husband jumped out of the SUV, but he was 5’6’ and 150 pounds tops and I’m 6’1” and 300 pounds, so he yelled at me but didn’t try to make contact. I responded with a finger and he got back in his vehicle and flew off with tires screeching. They went thirty feet and had to stop at the light, well within my sight and hearing.

The F-bombs were glorious. Plus, knowing my fence is better than theirs helps.

I shouldn’t be surprised at the way people treat people on the job. But did they think going off and yelling at people would actually succeed? Let alone throwing a cup of old soda at me?