(My dad works for Ski Patrol, and is sitting in on a morning meeting about mountain safety…)

Lecturer: “Just remember: If you find yourself standing on slope that is moving, you are in an avalanche.”

Coworker: “Um… DUH!?”

(My father has just started disability and can no longer work, let alone as a plumber. Just for starters he’s on oxygen, has multiple broken vertebrae, and the drugs his doctor has put him on make it impossible for him to remain upright more than a few minutes at a time. One day, he receives a call.)

Caller: “Is this Mister [Father]?”

Father: “Yes.”

Caller: “You don’t know me, but you did some work for a Mrs. [Name] a few years back. You helped her, no questions asked, when no other plumber would since she couldn’t pay. And then when she was finally able to pay, you slashed her bill in half since she was having money troubles. She recommended you to all of her friends and all of them have nothing but the best to say about you.”

Father: “I’m glad they liked my service, but I’m sorry, I no longer work. I can recommend some guys to you, though.”

Caller: “Oh, I know you no longer work. You see, I’m an investigator for [Insurance Company]. I just thought you might want to know that they’ll be having an investigator shadow you next week. I thought you were a decent enough person that you deserved a heads-up.”

Father: “Well, that… that’s incredibly kind of you.”

Caller: “After what you did for my mother, it was the least I could do.”

Father: “Thank you so much.”

Caller: “You’re welcome. Oh. And by the way, have your wife take down all the pictures of you on your motorcycle from her social media. They’ll be looking at that, too.” *click*

(Our mailman has a history of delivering mail to the wrong address. The whole neighborhood has complained about it multiple times. For a while it seemed like he’d figured it out but in the past week we’ve gotten mail for our neighbor across the street once and someone in a completely different part of the neighborhood another time. Today I was raking when he arrives so I watch him put mail in the box across the street and then he hands mail directly to me.)

Me: “Hang on a second; I wanna make sure you’ve only given us our mail today.”

Mailman: *not even stopping for a second* “I did; I just checked it.”

(I open the folded bundle and immediately see that he has actually given me our neighbor’s mail, the house I just watched him deliver mail to.)

Me: “No, in fact, this is for them.” *gestures with mail to correct house*

Mailman: *rolls his eyes, takes the mail, and delivers it to the right house and then walks off*

Me: “Gee, sorry I asked you to do your job…”

(Later that neighbor came out to check his mail and he had all of ours… Yeah, Mailman, you totally checked it…)

(I’m a serious tech nerd. I also don’t have a very good relationship with our IT department, as I’m constantly questioning their old-school methods of doing things. I’m having an issue with my check reader, which has completely stopped working. I’ve called it in. As I’m waiting on customers, I get several pop-ups on my computer that someone is trying to remote log in. I hit “cancel” and continue waiting on my customer. My phone rings…)

Me: “[Bank] in [Town]. This is [My Name]. How can I help you?”

IT Guy: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Me: “Excuse me?”

IT Guy: “I’m TRYING to fix your reader software, and you keep kicking me out.”

Me: “I’ve got a customer, you didn’t tell me you were trying to remote in, and it’s not a software issue. I need a new reader.”

IT Guy: “I was almost done!”

Me: “And you have to give me a five minute warning if you’re going to remote in. We have a lot of customers today, and you need to give me time to finish up and shut down my station.”

IT Guy: “JUST CALL ME WHEN YOU’RE READY!”

(A few minutes later, I do this. He remotes in and runs a software update. As expected, my reader still malfunctions. I call him back…)

Me: “Yeah, I told you. I need a new reader. This still doesn’t work.”

IT Guy: *loud sigh* “I’ll be over to look at it.”

(I manage to track down a replacement, which works perfectly. The IT guy shows up and makes a great show of taking the bad reader apart while saying how quick this is going to be.)

IT Guy: “Oh… Would you look at that…”

Me: “What?”

IT Guy: “So, the software’s fine. There’s something actually wrong with the reader.”

Me: *sarcastically* “What?! You mean I was right?!”

IT Guy: “Yeah, yeah.”

Me: “I TOLD YOU!”

(He ended up having to take it with him because it was not a quick fix. This did not help my relationship with IT…)

(A new member has recently joined my gym, and it’s obvious from the start that he’s incredibly socially awkward, tending to strike up conversations with the other members while they’re trying to work out. I don’t mind him, because even though he’s slightly inappropriate, he’s very sweet and it’s obvious he’s just being friendly. One day he stops showing up.)

Me: “Hey, [Receptionist], I’ve noticed [New Member] hasn’t been going to his regular classes.

Receptionist: “Oh, yeah, he hasn’t been in for a few weeks.” *quietly* “Are you asking because he was making you feel uncomfortable? We’ve got a lot of complaints about him, and I’m sorry if that’s the case. Nobody should be made to feel like that.”

Me: *a bit agitated at her* “Yeah, I’m sorry, too. I hope he didn’t leave just because everyone here gave him a hard time for being friendly.”

Receptionist: “Uh… sorry?”

Me: “I mean, I agree; nobody should be made to feel like they’re not welcome just because they’re a little odd. It’s obvious coming here to get fit was a big deal to him, and considering how socially awkward he is I think it’s really great he’s taken this step.”

Receptionist: *sheepishly* “Oh… uh, yeah.”

Me: “I’m so glad you think so, too.”

(Luckily he came back the following week, and with a bit of time and encouragement he started to catch on to social cues a bit better. Shows how far a little self confidence can get you!)