I suffer from schizophrenia, but don’t take medicine or therapy for it as I can control my condition without their help. However, there are times when I just lose control and snap. This is the first time I lost control in about three years.

I was under a lot of stress at that point in time. Problems with family, work and university. I went to a fast food outlet in the neighbourhood to eat dinner and ran into one of my high school friends there. I should mention that she is like me, with mental issues but not on meds or therapy. We decide to share a table and catch up.

Then this teenager comes along, sidles up to our table and starts making inappropriate comments about my friend. Throughout the entire time he is nearby, the voices in my head are getting louder as I get more irritated with him. We try to be polite and shoo away the teenager, but then he made a very horrible sexually offensive comment about us and I lost it.

I flung my drink straight into his face and called him an a**hole. My friend followed suit and the two of us took our trays and left the sputtering boy behind. We left the restaurant and she left on the bus. I had just seen her off when the teenager storms up to me at the bus stop.

Teenager: How dare you do that to me! I should report you to the police, b*tch!

Me: *Sighs in irritation* I did warn you. You pushed one of my triggers.

Teenager: Shut up! Do you have any idea who I am? My dad’s a minister! My sister’s a lawyer! I know all of the people who’s somebody in this neighbourhood, so you better apologise or I’ll have you sent to prison!

(He rants for another minute, which I didn’t really pay attention to, as the voices telling me to punch the boy are very loud in my head at the moment. It doesn’t help that I actually want to punch him in the face.)

Me: *After regaining some control* I apologise for what I did, but you should not have done that. I’m schizophrenic and you pushed one of my triggers. I didn’t have control over my actions then.

Teenager: I don’t care! A [Mentally disabled slur] like you should be locked away from proper citizens like myself!

We go on like this for another three minutes or so, and he is threatening to sue me or report me to the police, even after I tried to apologise to him. Meanwhile, I am barely restraining the urge to beat him up. Our argument then draws the attention of a passing police officer, who walks up.

Officer: Gentlemen, is there anything wrong here?

Me: No, officer, just a gentlemen’s disagreement. *Shoots glare at [Teenager] indicating that he better agree with me* Nothing we want to escalate up.

Teenager: Actually, I do want to escalate this up. Officer, this man assaulted me! Arrest him immediately!

Officer: *Looks at me* Your side of the story?

Me: He made some very provocative comments about me and my friend, who just left. I flung a glass of water on him.

Teenager: See! Lock this [Mentally disabled slur] up now!

Me: *Mentally counting to twelve* Let’s try resolve this peacefully.

Officer: *Gives a look of serious disdain at [Teenager]* You heard him, let’s try resolve this without me taking anyone to the station.

We go back-and-forth for a while, but eventually I win the argument as I was civil and apologetic throughout the whole thing while he was shouting and ranting. It helps that [Officer] is quite offended with some of the things [Teenager] was saying and backs me up most of the time. After he failed to get dry-cleaning bills off me (He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans), [Officer] promises to ‘take care of [Me]’ and [Teenager] leaves. As soon as he’s out of sight, [Officer] lets out this great sigh.

Officer: God, he’s such an a**hole. I’m off-duty right now, so I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything.

Me: Thank you. Did not need criminal charges on my record.

Officer: Don’t blame you for throwing water on him. He deserved it. Besides, I can tell that you’re fighting with yourself at the moment.

He then explains that he’s the leader of a mental health support group. No psychologists or medicine, just a bunch of people whom share their struggles dealing with mental issues with one another. He also suffers from schizophrenia, which was why he was very offended at the slurs [Teenager] was shouting. He invites me to their next session, which was at a place not too far away so I agreed to go. It was a wonderful experience and helped me through a tough time in my life. I cannot thank [Officer] enough, even when I moved to a different country and lost contact with everyone in that support group.

I’m a cashier for a high end grocery store. On this night, I was closing with one other cashier and my manager. I’m twenty-five and female, and the other cashier is in her thirties. My manager and coworker are away on another closing errand when this couple comes through my line. They both look to be in their thirties. Right from the start, the woman does not look very happy.

For brevity, literally everything she does is ridiculed by her boyfriend. He constantly insults her and gripes at everything she does or says. I’m just scanning the groceries, not quite sure what to say or do other than that.

Eventually, he turned his attention on me. I should note that he was black and I’m white. All throughout, he kept calling me ‘white girl,’ rather than my name.

Boyfriend: I can’t believe you’re doing this. You’re supposed to be making it EASIER for her (referring to me). You’re supposed to put your shit like this!

*He proceeds to demonstrate how to do it ‘correctly.’

Boyfriend: So, tell me, white girl, have you worked here long?

Me: I mean, yeah. Five years.

Boyfriend: And do you have a boyfriend? He’s one lucky guy. I bet you know how to act, right, sweetheart? Not like this one. Just look at her. She’s been acting a fool all day.

*He reaches out and tries to grab my hand, but I pull it back.

Boyfriend: Hey! I was only joking! Calm down, white girl. So jumpy, damn.

Girlfriend: You should just leave her alone.

Boyfriend: You should mind your own damn business. Now pull the cart over and load the bags.

I watch as she wordlessly loads the bags I packed into their cart. I can hardly move. I don’t know what to say or do and no one other than him is around me at that moment. Before they’re about to leave, the boyfriend turns to me once more.

Boyfriend: Your boyfriend would like you better if you smiled. You damn women just don’t get what men want at all. Jeez, lighten up, white girl.

When my manager and coworker returned, my coworker asked me why I looked so petrified. When I told her, she said, ‘I thought something was up.’

(I’m a paraplegic, and use a wheelchair. I had fallen, and severely injured my ankle. I have my roommate take me to the emergency room.)

ER doctor:We’ll get you an X-ray, but your ankle doesn’t appear to be broken. You should be up and walking in a few days.

Me: I can’t walk at all.

Doctor: I know it’s sore, and you should take it easy, but you can walk.

Me: NO, I CAN’T!

Doctor: It’s not that bad, you just need to buck it up.

Roommate: He’s a f***ing paraplegic, you dumba**!

I stop for morning coffee at a popular coffee chain.
Speaker, with a thick accent: “How can I help you?”
Me: “Can I just have a medium frozen coffee with French vanilla and caramel (said care-a-mel)”
Speaker: “We dont have that anymore.”
Me: “Frozen coffee?”
Speaker: “Yes, what flavor?”
Me: “French vanilla and caramel.”
Speaker: “We dont have that anymore.”
Me: “…..french vanilla?”
Speaker: “Yes! (Total) at window.”

Absolutely bewildered but not one to make a fuss I drive up and take my coffee. The next day I place my order online with caramel and when I picked it up the same woman handed me my coffees.
As she did she announced: “Frozen caramel (said car-mel) coffee.”

If you dont understand what someone says just ask to clarify, dont just say we dont have that!!!

Me to my 13-year-old son as he gets ready to bike to school: “Where’s your helmet?”

Son: “Oh, it’s in my bedroom. I know because I accidentally slept on it.”

Me: “…”

Me: “Okay, well, don’t forget to go put it on…”