I go to the cinema to watch a new action/sci-fi film. The screen is full of people, and the ones next to me are a middle-aged man with two much younger women. I initially guessed they were father and daughters.

While trailers and ads are shown, all three of them don’t stop chatting with each other and giggling. I find myself hoping they’ll stop when the actual film starts, but they don’t. Not only that, their reactions are strange. They laugh loudly at every time somebody shoots a gun or there’s an explosion. I also notice that the women use the man’s name, making it seem unlikely that he’s their father.

At some point, the man (who was sitting next to me) turns to me and says something I don’t catch, as I try to listen to the film characters. Seeing I don’t reply, he speaks more.

Me: (Really annoyed at this point) Sorry, I’m here to listen to the film, not you.
Man: Well, I’ll stop if you do!

That was a strange thing to say, as I hadn’t made a sound before that time, but I don’t reply. All three of them stay relatively quiet for a while after that and I hope it’s over. Then suddenly:

Man: (Stands up suddenly, looking at me) Bloody hell lady, stop grinding your nails!

(I hadn’t been doing anything like that.) He shoots me an angry look and storms out of the theatre. The women call after him but decide to stay there. They’re almost entirely quiet after that.

When the film was over and I left, I was a bit worried that he might be waiting for me behind a corner or something, but luckily I never saw him again.

I had assumed the three of them were drunk, but it was only later when I discussed the incident with friends that I considered that they might have been on other kinds of drugs. And in retrospect, I really hope that the women were adults.

(I’m new, and I clean customer homes for a cleaning company. I’m at one with my trainer. She tells me to vacuum the floors, and so I do. Just when we’re about to leave, the customer comes rushing about to her, yelling.)

Trainer: “Did you vacuum under the sofa?”

Me: “No?”

(I’m confused because the training videos they made me watch specifically said we aren’t supposed to.)

Trainer: “[Customer]’s cat puked under there. I’ll pick it up this time but you have to do it ok?”

Me: “Ok…”

(Now I’m even more confused because the video says we’re not to clean pet vomit. I try to ask my trainer, but she’s busy, so later I ask the owner.)

Owner: “Yeah I’ll tell your trainer. We’re not supposed to, the customers know that.”

(I feel satisfied, and the next day the owner calls me into his office… and fires me. He said the reason was that the trainer complained about me. I think I dodged a bullet. People, don’t apply to cleaning companies. They’re crazy.)

I work at a build your own pizza place, and when the pizzas come out of the oven we put them on metal trays to hand to customers. Of course we have to go collect them from the front of the restaurant every now and then, and you learn to balance them carefully–they’re
metal and round, so they obviously slip very easily.

So one day I go out front to grab some trays. I’m in a hurry so I pick up a normal stack and then decide I can grab more of them. I’ll just take them all at once. Now, I’ve dropped trays in the back before and based on the way the restaurant is laid out, you can hear the crash in the whole place. Coworkers will actually come check if you’re ok. But this time was different. Instead of dropping 15 or so, I dropped 30, right in the dining room. When they slipped out of my hands, the crash was so bog that the customer sitting right next to me literally jumped out of his chair in shock! I apologize profusely, ran to the back, and vowed to never try to grab that many again!

My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and toward the end of his life, he would get very angry, confused, and frustrated. Other times, he was his old self talking and laughing. Near his last birthday, we had a family reunion (cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, other extended family, etc.) at his summer house at Cape Cod. We decided to have it there since one of his favorite things to do was sit on the deck and watch boats go by, plus his sisters lived nearby. Unfortunately, he was having a bad spell that weekend, so instead of socializing with everyone, he wanted to stay in his bedroom and lie down on the bed, not talking or eating. Toward the end of the evening, his sister had an idea that would hopefully cheer him up. My sister, his sister, and my aunt grabbed their ukuleles and went gingerly into his room. They asked if they could play him a song. Soon after, they started playing his favorite song, “On Top of Old Smokey.” After a couple of rounds of the first verse, my grandfather’s mood was lifted, and he started clapping, cheering, and singing along. To try not to overwhelm him, my mother had closed the door behind them and took a video. During the reception after his funeral, she showed me the video (I hadn’t seen it before). One by one, other people wanted to see it, then we led the whole place in a sing-a-long. Though the sad parts of the end of his life were sad and the bad parts were bad, the happy parts were truly happy.

Lady: do you have any of these *points to product* in the bigger version

Me: we dont do a bigger version in those sorry

Lady: well can you check in the back

Me: okay *checks in back and guess what we dont have it because we never ever produced it*
We dont have it

Lady: well when will you get it in

Me: i dont think we will get it in as we dont do it so i cant say for sure

Lady: so go and find someone who knows for sure
(We dont get to know our deliveries in advance and even if we did, we have never made that product)