I ordered a very nice blouse from an online catalogue company. I’ve dealt with them before, and I’ve never had any problems, so I expected this transaction to proceed as usual. It did — at first. I received my blouse, and it fit, so I thought we were done.  

Two months later, I received another, identical blouse. I checked my credit card statement, and no, I hadn’t been charged double. So, I opened a chat window with the company on my computer. Below, paraphrased, is what we discussed.

Me: “Hi. I received two blouses from you when I only ordered one. I’ve only been charged for one, so I guess I should return the extra?”

Representative: “Yes, you should. Please follow [link] to print out a return form.”

Me: “I read the return form, and there’s nothing there indicating that you’re going to pay for the shipping.”

Representative: “Well, no. You’ll be paying for it.”

Me: “And you’ll reimburse me somehow?”

Representative: “No.”

Me: “Let me get this straight. You’re the ones who made the mistake. I was nice enough to tell you about your mistake. And you want me to pay to fix your mistake?”

Representative: “Or… you could just keep the blouse.”

Me: “Really?”

Representative: “Yeah.”

The impression I got from that anonymous employee was “They don’t pay me enough to care.” So, I kept the blouse. It’s nice enough that I don’t mind having two!

In March 2020, due to the health crisis, our company instituted a work-from-home policy for all of its employees. Most of us had laptops to work on; anyone who didn’t was issued one.

The WFH situation dragged on, and on. It went from “We’ll be back by summer 2020” to “Maybe not until October 2020” to “God only knows”.  

Sometime in early 2021, I found out that a longtime employee, Chris, had been laid off. I was saddened but not surprised. My somewhat ditzy coworker Bonny, however, could NOT understand why it had happened.

Bonny: “Why would they let Chris go? He’s been with the company for years!”

Me: “It sucks, definitely, but Chris’s role was Desktop Support, so…”

Bonny: “So? What’s that got to do with anything?”

Me: “With no one working at the office, there were no desktops to support. They were essentially paying Chris to do nothing for almost a year.”

Bonny: “I still don’t get why they’d lay him off. So unfair.”

Me: “He was literally doing nothing. That’s not his fault, but I see their side of it.”

Bonny: “But we’ll go back to the office eventually, and they’ll need him then!”

I gave up at that point. As it turned out, in mid-2021, the company announced that anyone who wanted to keep working from home could do so indefinitely. Therefore, Chris STILL wouldn’t have had much to do if they’d kept him on.

Our daughters are two years apart. When [Older Daughter] was in kindergarten, she and her classmates took part in the school’s annual Christmas pageant. At the start of the pageant, one of the teachers announced:

Teacher #1: “Now, parents, don’t just watch your child’s performance and then leave. Stay until the end of the show.”

That was fair; a mass of people getting up at the end of each act would be disruptive. The trouble was that our younger daughter (who was only around three) got restless and fussy at the end of her sister’s turn on stage, and we knew that we couldn’t stay. So, we bundled her up and headed over to [Older Daughter]’s classroom, where she and her classmates were blowing off a little steam.

Her teacher physically blocked the doorway and hissed:

Teacher #2: “Oh, no, you don’t. Go back and watch the rest of the show. [Older Daughter] is happy here.”

Me: *In disbelief* “That’s all fine and dandy, but her sister is tired and needs to go home.”

She refused to budge.

Teacher #2: “Then have your husband take her.”

Me: “Excuse me? We’re taking both of our daughters home, now. Move.”

She very begrudgingly moved.

Season of peace and goodwill, my a**.

I’m at my department’s weekly meeting.

Boss: “Just a reminder that next week is the quarterly status update meeting for all employees.”  

We all groan.

Annoying Coworker: “I don’t wanna.”

[Annoying Coworker] is in her late fifties, but she acts like a kid sometimes. She apparently thinks this behaviour is cute. It’s not.

Boss: “Yes, yes, I know, those meetings are boring and mostly pointless. But we all have to attend unless you have a really good reason for missing it.”

Annoying Coworker: *Pouts* “I don’t wanna!”

Me: “[Boss], I won’t be able to attend.”

Boss: “Ah, yes, that’s right. No problem, [My Name].”

Annoying Coworker: “Hey! How come [My Name] doesn’t have to go?”

Boss: “Because—”

Annoying Coworker: “No fair! If she doesn’t have to go, I’m not going, either!”

Boss: “[My Name] is going to be out of town starting Monday. Are you going to be out of town?”

Annoying Coworker: “…”

She glared daggers at me for the rest of the meeting. I resisted the temptation to stick out my tongue; one overgrown kid in the department is already one too many.

I used to be the Social Committee representative for my department. The committee had organized a day on which everyone in the company would wear a pink T-shirt to support a nationwide anti-bullying campaign, and the president of the committee decided that it would be a good idea for every department to get a photo taken for the company newsletter.

Social Committee President: “I’m leaving it up to each rep to make sure that as many people as possible are included in their department’s photo. That means sending out an email in the morning and then going around to everyone’s desk shortly before your department’s appointment time and reminding them.”

So, on the morning of the picture-taking, I sent out an email. Approximately fifteen minutes before our appointment, I went to everyone’s desk as instructed. Most of the people had already left, so it didn’t take me long. I got to the last desk approximately five minutes before the appointment time. Satisfied, I walked over to the elevator so that I could join my department. Just then, the elevator doors opened and a bunch of chattering people emerged, all wearing pink T-shirts.

Me: “What’s going on? Why are you back? Did something go wrong?”

Colleague: “Photo’s done!”

Me: “What? Already? But our appointment isn’t until 2:00, and it’s only five minutes to.”

Colleague: “Yes! Even though it was a bit early, we did a nose count and realized we were all there, so the photographer got it over with.”

Me: “Um… not everyone was there.”

Colleague: “Like who?”

Me: “Like ME.”

Colleague: “Oh. Oops.” *Giggles* “I guess we forgot you.”

It probably sounds very petty, but I was hurt and upset to be left out. My department wasn’t very big, and it wouldn’t have taken much for someone to notice that I was missing — especially since they knew I was the department representative. I’d already had some not-great experiences with the Social Committee, and that was the last straw that convinced me to quit.