I am in need of a new pair of shoes, so I stop at a store I’ve never been to before, to see their bargains. I enter the store but all of the employees are busy, so I browse until I find a pair I like. They are a half size too small. I look around for help but the workers seem to be ignoring me. I thought maybe I looked like I knew what I was doing, so I waited until one young man came over.

“Excuse me, do you have this in a size 8?”

The worker gave me a curt “No!” and kept walking, then stopped to start straightening the boxes just a few feet from me, never even looking at me.

I walked out. I will definitely not be going back there!

It was 2017, a hard year for many people. I had just gone through a breakup for reasons and was bitter about true love. My family didn’t know because our mother is from a culture that doesn’t understand dating, and my siblings can get very nosy about it. I think my older brother knew, though, because I accidentally messaged him calling him my ex’s pet name.

For context, I have four siblings, and three were with us for the holiday. We were on the beach, and my older sister and I walking ahead and out of Mom’s earshot. Big Sis asked me what I thought about dating. During the breakup, I was a mess and hid it from my family. It must have been obvious.

“Guys suck,” I said quite bitterly.

Unknown to me, Big Bro was behind me. Cue two large arms hoisting me just above the sand.

“Guys suck! Guys suck! Guys suck!” Big Bro sang happily, swinging me around like we were kids again. I’m two heads shorter than him, and he worked out a lot before the pandemic. He had to put me down after a few seconds.

I think Big Bro was trying to cheer me up. If that was the case, it worked. I laughed as he set me down and clarified that brothers were excluded.

This year we are in a pandemic but Big Bro is engaged to a lovely woman that we all adore. It’s convinced me that no, guys do not suck. You just need a sibling that will help you laugh during hard times.

High school was a difficult time for me. I was the “smart kid”: straight A student, top of my class, the one everybody wanted for group projects. And the one everybody forgot was there when recess came. I wasn’t quite bullied, for the most part, but I was ignored A LOT.

To make things worse, I was diagnosed with a tricky disability in my senior year, and was extremely ill, in and out of hospitals all through that year. My grades naturally slipped a bit, and at that point the few people who talked to me regularly dropped me like a hot potato, and some became full out bullies. Obviously, now that I was only a B student and couldn’t do the whole group project on my own, I was no longer necessary. By the middle of the year, only the “weirdos” from 2 classes below me even acknowledged I existed (great guys, we’re still friends!)

Fast forward several years, my disability was well under control and my career was taking off. I was to be the project manager of a big project in a prestigious engineering firm, and was involved in hiring more hands to the team. We call in a guy whose resume looks promising, and this exchange happens as soon as he is introduced to the interviewing panel.

Candidate: [My Name]?! Wow, it’s been so long I didn’t recognize you! How’s it going?

Me: I’m sorry, do we know each other?

Candidate: What, you don’t remember me? I’m [Candidate]! We went to high school together.

I figure maybe he was someone from another class aiming for a leg up, but I still have no clue who he is.

Me: Ah well. That was almost 10 years ago, and was a difficult time. I’m afraid I don’t remember you. But anyway, your resume mentions…

Candidate: Oh come on! You have to remember me! [Candidate]? We were in the same class all the way through! I think you even had a crush on me!

Me: I beg your pardon?

Candidate: Yeah, you totally had a crush on me! You were always up for helping me with homework, and was game to include me on group projects and then do my share. Pretty sure you did everyone’s share! Ha, no point risking your grade being lower, right? You were a weird little girl!

I remember him now. I did have a crush on him for awhile and “helped” him a lot with schoolwork (meaning I did it). Bad enough to bring that up in an interview, but…

Me: Ah I see. [Candidate]. I remember you now. You were the one who started yelling out that the [ableist slur] was coming when my disability first started. And stepping back on corridors or crossing the street when I walked by. And telling people they should stay away from the [other ableist slur] or they’d become losers like me too.

Candidate: Er… I… Well, I was young and…

Me: Thank you for reminding me of all this. Turns out it saves us some time.

Candidate: But uh… My interview?

My boss: I think we can all agree we’re done here.

He seemed sincerely shocked he didn’t get the job!

Before my cell phone number was mine, it was my mom’s number. This has been my number for over 15 years. I have my own phone plan now, and live in a different state, but my area code is still from my home state. I still occasionally get calls asking for my mom, usually with my home state’s area code, and that’s a signal to me that it’s a scam. Here’s the latest weird one.

Me: Hello?

There is a long pause.

Me: Hello?

Scammer: Hello? Is this [mom’s name]?

Me: Oh, you have a wrong number.

At this point, there is a pause. Everything from here on out is said very slowly and with odd inflections, as if she is reading from her call script for the first time.

Scammer: Oh. Are you a homeowner?

Me: No?

Scammer: Are you hoping to buy a home in the next two years?

Me: Sorry, who is this?

Scammer: I work for a real estate agent in your area, and I’m calling to ask –

Me: What area?

Scammer: What?

Me: What area are you in?

I ask because, as I said above, I don’t live in my home state anymore. My area code means I sometimes get targeted not-scam calls meant for people in that state.

Scammer: We are in your state, but…

She trails off.

Me: Right, but what state are you in?

Scammer: *mumbles something*

There is a rustling of papers, and a long pause. The papers continue to rustle. After a solid minute, I decide I have better things to do with my day.

Me: Right, can you put me on your do not call list?

Scammer: Oh, okay m’am, I can update our records.

Me: Bye.

I hung up. By far the weirdest scam call I’ve ever gotten – it sounded like a genuine wrong number at first, but who doesn’t know what state their boss works in?

(I used to be a manager at a fast food restaurant. During the time of this story, employees of my chain were only required to wear masks, meaning gloves were optional at this point. Note: I am white, and the customer in this story is black. I’m not racist, but in general I don’t use terms like reverse racism since the official definition of racism does not specify whites hating on blacks and vice versa. On the day this story took place, the customer pulls up to the window as I am ready to hand him his food)

Customer: “Why don’t you have gloves on? We have a pandemic going on. You are putting me at risk.”

(Note: this man is not wearing a mask, and never does when he comes to our store.)

Me: “It’s not required by our chain for us to wear them. We are only required wear masks and wash our hands every half hour, and I am very strict about us following this policy. If it makes you more comfortable, I can put some on.”

(the customer says yes, so I wash my hands and put on a clean pair. As I turn to make another drink, my black coworker-a senior employee comes up to me.)

Coworker: “Did he just tell you to put gloves on?”

Me: “Yeah, why?”

Coworker: “I was in the window the other day without gloves on, and he didn’t say anything to me. He’s a bit of a racist, and has been taking advantage of the pandemic to make the white employees wear gloves.”

(This particular employee is known for her bluntness and honesty, and has been with the company for years. Because of this, I decide to see if there is any truth to her words. The next time he comes in, a dark skinned employee is working the order taking booth without gloves, and I am again working the window. He says nothing to the order taker, but has me put on gloves. On another occasion, a white employee is working the booth, and he makes her put on gloves. A few weeks go by without him coming by, and I think that this is the end of his presence here. Silly little me. On his final day, we are short staffed, so I am running the front of the store-drive thru only- by myself like a jackrabbit. I am about to hand out another order when:)

Customer: “What did I tell you about those gloves?!”

(After many occasions of seeing the truth in the senior employees words, combined with being short staffed and overworked, I snap)

Me: “You know what?! I don’t care! You come in claiming that you are at risk with us not wearing gloves, but I never see you wearing a mask when you come through. You are putting ME at risk!! You CHOSE to leave your house during a pandemic, knowing that we have contact with many people every day. You could have stayed home. Also, I know for a FACT that you only make the WHITE employees put on gloves, as I have WATCHED you take food from the darker employees with nothing but a thank you coming out of your mouth. If you have such a problem with white people handing you your food at any time, pandemic or no pandemic, you can take your racist ass out of my drive through and never come back!!”

(The customer immediately shut up, and slunk out of the drive thru with his food. He ended up listening and never came back.)