(It is my first year working at the amusement park. I am 16 years old. I work hard in the area I was placed in, always show up on time or early, and get along great with my coworkers. Towards the end of the year I get called into the office by my manager.)

Manager: “Ah, [My Name], there you are! You have been a model employee and you work like two of your coworkers combined. Do you plan to come back and work next year?”

Me: “Yes, ma’am. I really love working here.”

Manager: “Good! Good, I plan to make you the manager next year because I’ve been bumped up to area manager.”

Me: *slightly confused* “But… I’ve only been here for one season and I know [Coworker #1] and [Coworker #2] have been working here for years! Shouldn’t they have the manager job?”

Manager: *snorting* “They both slack off too much! You work harder than them both! So are you going to take the manager job or not?”

Me: *timidly* “But isn’t there an age requirement for being a manager?”

Manager: “Yes, but it’s only 18, and you’re like 25, so it’s no problem.”

Me: “But… I’m 16… I’ll only be 17 next year.”

Manager: *stares at me blankly for a few seconds before angrily waving me out* “Oh s***, I completely forgot. Get out!”

Me: “Yes, [Manager].”

(I leave and head to the back where my coworkers are waiting.)

Coworker #1: “Did you get into trouble?”

Coworker #3: “I bet she got in trouble.”

Coworker #2: *in a sing-song voice* “She’s in troubleeee!”

Me: “Nah, [Manager] just tried to give me the manager’s position next year.”

(My coworkers’ jaws drop.)

Coworker #1: “Did you take the job?! The pay raise would be awesome! And you’ve only been here a season. That is a hell of a feat!”

Coworker #3: “I wish I was offered that job…”

Me: “I didn’t take it. [Manager] forgot I don’t meet the age requirement.”

Coworker #2: *suddenly goes dead still* “Wait… What do you mean you don’t meet the age requirement?”

Coworker #1: “Yeah, aren’t you 21?”

Me: *suddenly very curious* “How old do you all think I am?”

(They all make various guesses between 21 up to 25. I burst into a fit of laughter before collecting myself.)

Me: *still laughing a bit* “Guys, I am 16. I am still in high school!”

Coworker #3: “Oh, s***, man!”

(While the rest are laughing and talking about how they had no clue about my real age Coworker #2 has gone rigid and looks horrified. After a few moments while the rest of us are still chattering he yells out.)

Coworker #2: “Oh, my god! *runs out the back of the building*

(Everyone stops and stares in shock.)

Me: “Wait… How old is [Coworker #2]?”

Coworker #1: “He’s 22.”

Me: “Oh, s***! I thought he was 18!”

(Coworker #2 and I had been flirting with each other almost all year. I thought he was 18, and he thought I was 21. When he realized I was under age he had quite the reaction!)

(Because we have to have a certain number of people in the room at all times, my coworker is covering my lunch.)

Coworker: “Hey, are you off to the shop?”

Me: “Yes, need something?”

Coworker: “Can you pick me up another one of these?” *holds up half empty Pepsi Max bottle* “I don’t think it is going to last until the end of the day.”

Me: “Er, sure, but you know we have juice, right?”

Coworker: “Nah, I need the sugar.”

Me: “Er… You know that doesn’t have any sugar in it?”

Coworker: “Sugar, sweetener, same thing.”

(I pick up her sugar-free sugarfix, which apparently was the pickup she needed.)

(My favourite coffee shop doesn’t have a points card. Instead they have a cardboard card that they stamp. Unfortunately me being me, I would forget to get it stamped or leave it at home, so it has taken several months to fill it up. I’m two coffees away and I have just ordered two coffees.)

Me: “Oh, my card.”

(The barista looks at my card, looks at me, and looks at the coffees I’ve just ordered, stamps it twice, then instead of passing my card back to me, she takes a free coffee off my bill.)

Me: “Thank you for not understanding your own policy of buy six get one free!”

(A sandblaster has been ordered to sandblast 600 tubes from both ends. Each tube needs to be ‘blasted’ for 5 seconds, thus the job ought to take at least an hour. Twenty minutes later, the sandblaster leaves the cabin and starts taking off his gear.)

Foreman: “What happened? Something’s wrong?”

Sandblaster: “No, I’m finished.”

Foreman: “What do you mean you’re finished? Did you blast both ends?”

Sandblaster: “Yeah.”

Foreman: “Did you count five seconds per tube?”

Sandblaster: “Yeah.”

Foreman: “Then there’s no way you can be finished. Get back in and start over.”

Sandblaster: “It’s not my fault I count seconds fast!”

(I am volunteering at a call center and all the volunteers are very eager. We have headsets, but in order to take a call, you need to physically pick up the phone. As soon as the phone rings, every volunteer grabs the phone. If you’ve got the call, you can start talking, if you don’t, you’ll hear a long beeping tone. I am always too slow, so I’m used to picking up the phone and having to put it down immediately. However, in this instance I did get the phone call.)

Me: “Hello. This is [Organization]. You’re speaking with [My Name].”

Caller: “Hello, my name is [Caller].”

(As the caller is saying this, I put down the phone, like I usually have to do.)

Me: “What can I help you with?”

(I hear beeping sounds, as though the caller hung up on me.)

Me: *to coworker* “Oh, weird. He hung up on me.”

(I look up to see everybody around me staring at my phone, shocked.)

Me: “Huh, what? Oh, no! I hung up on him!”

(My supervisor was not angry and assured me that he would call back. I hope he did!)