(My job is giving out free samples. This story takes place on the first of December, as of typing this it was literally HOURS ago. I had had a great day that day. I wore a pair of elf ears to work, in anticipation for Christmas, and people LOVED it, I received countless compliments. By the end of the day, I was in a beautiful mood. That was until this happened.)

At the end of the day, I placed six of each of my samples on my serving tray, put my gloves away, and packed up, all while people grabbed the few samples I had left out. I politely explained what the foods were and wished everyone a great day. The samples went pretty fast, which I was sort of expecting, but I couldn’t put more out. As I was putting my standing mats on the front of my cart, put the stool I used with them I could see a couple making a beeline towards me, literally WATCHING as I am
CLEARLY packing up.

After placing my mats and stool where they belong I released the breaks and began to walk towards the back. Well, I TRIED to. Not even five steps the, much larger than I am man, stands in front of my cart and stares directly at the almost empty bowl of trail mix.

Man: So what’re you giving away?

Me: Nothing, sir, I’m pulling off. It’s the end of the day.

Man: Oh…

He continued to stare down at the bowl. Looming over me and the cart. At this point, I couldn’t give him a sample (even if I wanted to) everything was put away save for the serving tray and the bowl.

My team lead realized I hadn’t pulled off when she had told me to, so she came out to check what was going on. When she did so she saw what was going on. I’m not a confrontational person. My mind was blank, it wasn’t clicking what I should do.

Lead: *sounding extremely angry* (my name)! Get back here! You’re done!

Me: *Looking over at her, genuinely thinking I’m in trouble.* I’m trying to! *looks back to the man standing in my way.*

The man continued to stand there, staring at the bowl, not moving an inch. After a few moments, I realized I could pull back a few extra feet and basically turn around to walk around the pod I was originally standing beside. The man WATCHING me the whole time.

As a side note, my lead wasn’t actually mad at me. She was attempting to make the guy feel guilty for holding me up, which obviously didn’t happen because the guy didn’t move.

(I am at home with my two sons. Both of them have a traditional name and an English name that they use – Traditional at home, with friends or family, and English everywhere else. This takes place when my youngest son, around 5 at the time, is watching ‘The Neverending Story’ for the first time, which is my husband and I’s favourite movie. It is important to know that my youngest son’s first name translates to “Horse Spirit” in our mother tongue.)

5-year-old: [Brother] says tha’ the names the teachers call us are from this movie, is tha’ true?

Me: Well, yes. Because it is Daddy and I’s favourite movie, we decided to give you and your brother names from the movie for your English names.

5-year-old: Wha’s my name from the movie?

Me: Well, you’re named after the Symbol of the movie, and [Horse that famously drowns].

5-year-old: Wha’s [Brother]’s name?

Me: He is [Names of both the male lead characters]

5-year-old: *Seems to think this over before gasping* You named me Horse Horse?!

(I had to pause the movie because I was laughing so hard. He took it well, though, and enjoyed the movie regardless. Even now, at 19, he still calls himself “Horse Horse” as a joke!)

This happened about 30 years ago when I worked in a liquor store. It wasn’t in the best section of town & the managers always scheduled guys to work at night. Disclosure: This story has racial elements.
So me & my coworker are doing closing duties, I’m facing shelves while he’s stocking the cooler.
Two Hispanic guys come in & I can tell they’re drunk, state law forbids me to sell to anyone who’s intoxicated. So I walk over to them & gently say “Hey guys, I can’t sell you anything tonight, so why don’t y’all head on home?”
Oops, I can see them swelling up & I’m thinking “I don’t need a fight this late”.
At that moment my coworker comes up & says “What’s up?” & they say to him “He won’t sell us beer because he’s prejudiced” (I’m white).
My coworker suddenly throws his arm around me & says “Yep, (my name) here hates n****** & s****, so y’all need to go”.
They instantly deflated & after some mumbling, left.
The kicker? My coworker was African-American & we’d gotten to be good friends.

I’m with my sister-in-law and my son and daughter, and her two sons, in a family van. We’re going to a Christmas dinner. Last Christmas, I gave my kids iPods. It’s a long drive, so I allow them to listen to their iPods.

Sister-In-Law: Oh no, you don’t!

She snatches the earphones out of my daughter’s ears.

SIL: You’re not listening to that crap!

She takes the iPod from my son, too.

Me: Um, give those back.

SIL: What? NO!

Me: Yes. Your kids are playing with their iPods!

SIL: But my kids are perfect angels!

Me: No kid is perfect. Now give those back.

My kids are starting to get upset.

Nephew: Mom, why are you acting like this? They weren’t doing anything!

SIL: SHUT UP! IF MY KIDS CAN’T HAVE EVERYTHING, THEN YOURS CAN’T, EITHER!

She throws the iPods out the window, and my kids start crying.

I step on the brake.

Me: Go get those. ANd you can bet I’m telling (Brother) about this.

SIL: (stares, then goes out and gets the iPods. She hands them back to my kids, but they are now cracked.)

As soon as I got to the house, I take my kids and talk to my brother, who is appalled. He asks his kids about it, and they confirm what happened. Then he takes his wife and asks her about it. She starts crying and pleading innocence, until I finally snap and tell her to act like a real woman.

SIL: IF OUR KIDS CAN’T HAVE EVERYTHING, NO ONE ELSE’S CAN!

My brother is furious. He tells her that she’s sleeping in the guest room tonight, and she has to pay us back. Six months later, he divorces her after she is found to have taken pills that she wasn’t supposed to have and cheats on him.

I am a call center agent who previously worked for a well known telecommunications company under their prepaid cellphones, this happened back in 2016 but this is one of my most memorable calls.

It was just a typical New Prepaid Cellphone startup with a friendly old grandma until…

Grandma: Does (Brand) record phone calls?
Me: I apologize no.
Grandma: I am sorry sir, (Brand) doesnt record your phone calls
Me: ???
Grandma: I apologize, honey. I am with a man here who needed help with the cellphone.
Me: I see
Grandma: Does the FBI get any phone calls or text messages?
Me: I apologize, I assure you that for privacy and security reasons, there is no such thing.
Grandma: (Repeats the same line to the guy)

While I am still getting details like the plan and assigning a phone number, the grandma finally got curious and ask the man.

Grandma: May God Have Mercy on your soul.
Me: ?! … I hate to interrupt but we are almost done. I have the number and all we need is to add minutes and we are done.

We proceeded like normal and the grandma walked away from the guy.
Grandma: I am sorry about the dear.
Me: I am curious, what exactly was that?

(Turns out that man, who told his wife is on a business trip, but in fact is in a hotel with his mistress. He actually randomly approached the grandma who is shopping in Walmart to setup the phone for his mistress. Realising what she just told the man moments ago…)

Me: Did you really said that him?
Grandma: Of course, I have 3 grandkids and I dont want them to end like that horrible man.
Me: I do understand, even though I am single.
Grandma: Whatever you do hon, don’t be like that when you get one someday.
Me: Let us just walk away from the whole mess we got ourselves into.
Grandma: Walking away … (literally in Walmart.)

(Even though the call ended nicely with the grandma, I never found out what happened to the cheating husband. Its bad enough that you are cheating on your spouse but let 2 random strangers know this is also a bad move on him.)