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There some things that are universally satisfying. For instance, taking the plastic film off a new gadget, smelling pages of books, popping bubble wrap... Okay, that might be just me, but there really are things that are satisfying for pretty much everyone, right? It's probably safe to say that someone rude and egotistical getting put in their place can count as one of these things.
The majority of those who have ever worked in customer service could probably attest that there a lot of people who are rude and power-hungry beyond comprehension. Hence, it's so gratifying to see egotistical people who think they have power over others getting a face full of justice. So, when someone on Reddit asked people to share their best "you have no power here" moment they've ever seen, the thread blew up massively. With thousands of replies and almost 100k likes, the thread went viral and we, the people of Bored Panda, have picked you the best 50 stories worth reading. Scroll down below to read them all and share in the comment section whether you have such a story!
More info: Reddit
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#1
A few years ago I interviewed for a job (in the US) that was labeled as a senior-level position, which is my level of experience in this field.
I go through 2 phone interviews and a stellar in-person interview. Shortly after the in-person interview, they call me and say they absolutely loved me and that I would be a great fit at the company. However, they thought I was "a little too green" (implying I was inexperienced) for the senior-level position, but lucky for me they have an opening for the junior-level position (at a salary decrease).
I kindly told them that the reason I applied to their job posting in the first place was because it was a senior-level position and that I wasn't going to take a step backwards in my career by taking a junior-level position since I had both the appropriate experience and the work history. I also let them know that trying to trick someone with senior-level experience into taking a junior-level position by stringing them along through interviews and a job offer was deceptive and unethical.
There was silence over the phone for a moment and then the interviewer said in an offended tone, "Well we've all had to make sacrifices for [company name]!" To which I replied, "You may have had to, but I don't make sacrifices for anyone."
Stunned silence.
Then the interviewer, who was so appalled that they didn't know what to say, replies, "Well ... Maybe you can think about it and I'll call you tomorrow to check in ..."
I said, "No thank you and please don't call me." and hung up the phone.
They do this a lot to young females like myself in a variety of industries. Don't take [crap] from anybody. Know your qualifications, believe in them, and tell abusers to [bug] right off. Your talents will be appreciated and paid for elsewhere, I promise you.
Ruth Mayfly 4 years ago
Why should you be asked to make sacrifices for a company you've never even worked for?
RELATED:
#2
In my first apartment, my parents came to visit, and I said "F***!" when I hit my head on the open door of the freezer while standing up from grabbing something from the fridge.
My mother said "You can't talk like that in my hou..." and stopped midsentence.
#3
I had a rough childhood with a drug addict father. My mom struggled to make ends meet and my first job was paying for the mortgage. After several months of working (again at my first job) I finally had some money to spend on myself and decided to get a computer and a decent internet connection. At the time the best internet I could buy as part of a dish combo package. I bought a dish and brought it home to install on the house. During this time my dad was still living at home with us but he was hardly there and my parents had all but separated at that point. My dad promptly asked me what I was doing putting a dish on his house. I let him know that I pay the mortgage now and I make the decisions on what we do with the house.
#4
We had an HR lady who was extremely power hungry.
She is walking around with the president of the company who flew in from Japan. She rushes him through the warehouse. Just spits out “oh these are the warehouse guys we don’t have to stop and talk to them.”
He stops walks over and starts talking to me about my last vacation. How buying my house went. You could just see her fuming behind him as we talked for almost 45mins. I’ve had multiple meetings with him we knew each other really well.
I don’t think he liked her and drug it out on purpose but I was thrilled to see her just standing there bored as hell.
#5
15 years ago, I worked for a company in Germany that was bought by a large US company. One of the first actions was a mandatory HR meeting. They used their US power point deck and guided us through the rules & regulations although directed by our local HR team to not do that: Here are some of the highlights:
We are not allowed to accept tickets for the Super Bowl. Utterly confusion - 90% of the people had never heard of the Super Bowl... a discussion about why we would want to watch that anyways, started.
We are not allowed to have relationship with anybody from a supplier or within the company. Uproar in the room:
This is against the German constitution - what you do in your free time is non of their business.
The discussion gets heated, everybody is discussing. The Americans on the line are very confused why....
The head of QA finally gets up and shouts "If I love that woman, nobody will prevent me from dating her".
People signed the sheet that they participated and read and understood the presentation with "with reservations"
People start discussing where to sign up for legal expenses insurance.
HR refrained from that day from having mandatory global HR meetings.
Management tried a couple of other stuff - at will employment (against the law - everybody has a contract), cutting vacation (against the law), canceling bank holidays (against the law). Make people work on vacation days (guess what, against the law) and a couple more.
It was a prime example of cultural ignorance and incredible funny...
#6
New CEO came to our deparment on the 1st day of his work. He didn't have a pass card yet and a lower level employee told him that he can't enter without pass card. CEO got upset and ordered a worker to let him in, but the worker insisted: show me the pass card, or you're not entering.
Few days later this worker got a bonus.
#7
Had an old boss who was a complete and total bastard. He was actually my boss’ boss, and wasn’t supposed to interact with us unless it was through our boss, but he just loved trying to make everyone under him squirm. The company had forced him to go to training twice because of how he spoke to people.
One day, I get a call at home from him and he just starts unloading- cursing, name-calling, insulting over some technical issue he just found out about. After a couple of minutes, I just looked at my phone and hung up on him.
The next day, I get called into a meeting with his boss, who basically wants to know who the [hell] I think I am hanging up on this guy.
I calmly explain that no one gets to yell at me on my time, in my home, on my phone. You have to wait for me to be on the clock to pay me for that privilege, and I’ll gladly take that money- If I’m busy being yelled at, I’m not busy with anything else.
Seemed to work.
#8
Not sure if it fits but during an insanely busy weekend before Christmas, a Karen was complaining to every associate about how messy our store was. The manager had relieved the girl at the fitting room and was helping to hang stuff. Karen pulled her crap and was trying to make a point that we were messy and a horrible place to shop.
At the this manager told her roughly, "Ma'am we're messy at the moment because we're a popular store. And the biggest reason we're messy is because of woman like you who can't be bothered to pick up after themselves. It's not the associates making the mess. It's people like you. Your type have us outnumbered."
First time I actually witnessed someone deflate.
#9
The guy that I'd gone on a few dates with introduced me to his parents, things went well, or so I thought.
he drives me home, we end up talking and drinking a few beers, I didn't want him on the road with any alcohol in his system, and I enjoyed his company, so we end up hanging out until 3am. His mom starts blowing up his phone, demanding that he comes home, so he drives himself home to find that he's been locked out of his house. His mom said that he can sleep outside, he shouldn't be spending time with someone like me (still don't know what she meant by that), and that i'm "just another stop on the pussy train". He tells her not to talk about me like that, to which she says "when you're under my roof, i'll say whatever i want about whoever i want!" so he picks up his phone, calls me, asks if he can stay at my place for a little while.
It's been seven years, we're engaged, have a dog, a cat, and a happy life.
i also plan on throwing some subtle train themes into the wedding/celebration after the end of the plague.
#10
I have one that crosses with "I don't work here lady" a bit.
I have a job, but I will still do interviews every couple years. this means the script is flipped a bit. They have to convince me to work there.
Anyway I got the town early so I stopped at a bakery to get something to eat. the woman went in the back to get it, and this squat toad of a woman walks in, yells at me to get her order and then yells at me again for not getting up right away to serve her. When I point out that I do not in fact work there she goes off me about how important she is etc. We can skip the play by play.
I go the interview. Head of IT and the toad woman walks in. She has this evil grin on her face. I stop everything. I point at the toad woman and I say something like "I have seen how your managements treats people, and I have no interest in working for you" and I take my resume out his hands and walk out. The look on her face was priceless. Oh and he had walked in with a print of a resume, so I took his copy.
Felt great to do.
#11
I work at a hotel. Its high end, so we often take the approach of just appeasing guests no matter what, so I frequently have to bite my tounge. However, we have a very desirable parking lot, and when people poach it we boot them. I love enforcing these because I don't have to bite my tongue or apologize, as they aren't guests. My favorite one was this:
Girl parks, and walks to neighbor hotel. Our gm happens to be in the lot, and says hey just fyi this is parking for x hotel, not z hotel. She proceeds to say f*** you, flips him off, and walks into neighbor hotel.
Gm calls me, and tells me. I giggle, grab the boot and slap it on her car. She comes back screaming and ranting. I tell her the cost is $200. She calls the police. The police ask "is this a private lot?" Yes. Ok then pay them. She refuses to pay and storms off. I get a call requesting the manager. I speak with them, its the girls mom. She is trying to say "oh my daughter didn't know, she was for a job interview" yada yada. I let her go on, and when she finally stops making excuses, I tell her that her daughter flipped off the gm, and there is no way the boot is coming off without payment. On top of that, i tell her when she pays she better not come in swearing or yelling, or the price goes up to 300. She hangs up, the daughter comes back and silently hands me 200, with a look of rage on her face. I've never been so internally giggly before.
#12
I was about 12 years old, maybe younger. Often had been forced to stay with my Moms friends when she'd go out of town. The father was.... An abusive prick. He'd do things like make tomatoes every night for dinner knowing I absolutely hated them. For a week. Threw me in a pool when I was small and he knew I couldn't swim. Classic 70s "macho man". He literally tortured me every chance he'd get. As an aside if you're a kid and your own mother doesn't give a [crap] how people treat you, it's pretty much open season.
Anyway, we went out to dinner one night. Me, my Mom, her friends and their kids. We were leaving the restaurant. I don't remember what preceded it, but he said "go ahead tough guy. hit me as hard as you can right in the gut" thinking I wouldn't do it because I was scared of him.
But this was my moment and I knew it. He was a small man, 5'6". I was at least as tall as him already. And as he gave me his [crap] eating grin I pulled my fist back and [effing] belted him in the gut with EVERY ounce of strength I could muster.
He immediately doubled over. He was PISSED. He tried to turn it around on me, but his wife shut him up instantly. "You told him to do it. If you 'weren't ready' it's your fault, not his".
One of the most satisfying moments of my life. And one of the last times I had to endure mr Tough Guy.
#13
A co-worker friend of mine was flying back from a sales conference in Vegas and he was able to upgrade to a first class seat. We had this b***h sales VP that was on the same flight - she was the snobby, entitled type with a full time nanny and giant McMansion in the suburbs, and she generally treated people who worked for her like servants.
She sees him in a first class seat as she is making her way to coach and asks him how he got that seat (he used points to upgrade). As people are getting settled in, she makes her way back up to the first class cabin and asks to speak with the lead flight attendant. She tells him that one of her underlings is sitting in first class, and that she needs to switch with him since she's higher on the corporate ladder.
The guy can't believe what he's hearing, but she won't take no for an answer. Finally he tells her she has to go back to her seat, or she will be escorted from the plane. She made a complete ass of herself in front of the whole first class cabin.
#14
When my [crappy] father kicked me out of the house and then demanded he have access to my bank to "control my financial situation" and I got to tell him "you have no control over me anymore. You set me free when you kicked me out and now you can't do [anything]"
#15
When I was in high school I worked at popular warehouse club selling computers on the weekends. I was hired by the store manager via referral of a friend. I loved computers and they thought I'd make a good salesman, so my job was to stay in the computer department and sell computers; nothing else.
Well, one of the shift managers didn't like that, and started insisted that I needed to go fold clothes for a while. As in, half my damn shift. I told him that the store manager had instructed me never to leave the technology department, but he insisted. This went on for several weeks.
The store manager showed up one weekend when both the power trippin shift manager and I were working. The store manager walks up with the shift manager close behind. Store manager slaps a stack of greenbar paper (this was a while ago) down onto a shelf and points to some highlighted numbers.
He looks at the shift manager and says, "Do you see this? This is our average technology sales numbers for the weeks you are on shift. See this number over here? This is our average technology sales numbers for weeks you are not. At this point, it would be more cost effective for me to simply fire you. What do you think of that solution?"
The guy stammers and stutters like a toddler caught bullying another kid on the playground. Fortunately, the dude wasn't fired, but the store manager made it clear that when I was on shift, I was not to leave the technology department unless I was on break or there was a fire in the store. That shift manager never said another word to me.
#16
My parents were yelling at me and then my grandpa walks over and tells them both to sit the [hell] down. They both shut the [hell] up and sit their ass down on the couch. It was by far the most powerful thing I've ever seen him do lmao.
#17
When I was working customer service for a restaurant delivery service (not unlike Door Dash) I had a customer send in a complaint about hair in their food. The hair was sitting on top of the food. I check their account, and they had ONE order on their account, which is a red flag.
I check their phone number and find multiple accounts, each other 1-2 orders, ALL of them complaining about hair in the food. I deny a refund because the customer has actually used the same identical photo for the last order since they ordered the same thing. The customer tries to argue with me, threaten to never use the service again, typical stuff that they always say.
Eventually the customer gives up and ends the call, then immediately tries again. I get the support request. See who it is, then deny the refund again. She ends the call, then tries again. The person behind me gets the call. I tap the person on the shoulder and show them what I pulled up on my screen and that person denies the refund.
The next day she calls back and tries again and is outside of the refund window, so the customer demands to speak to a supervisor.
The supervisor bans her from the service for multiple fraudulent refund requests.
#18
So my uncle is a deputy sheriff, and one time he was at an airport talking to my aunt over the phone in Spanish. Once he got done with his call some nearby Karen that overheard him went up to him and started demanding to see his green card (uncle has an accent too so you can tell he's wasn't born in the US). Uncle decides to [mess] with her and tells her he doesn't know what a green card is and has never heard of one. She gets more pissed and keeps demanding to see it. He messes with her some more then eventually he goes "Well I don't got a green card but I got this" then takes out his wallet and shows her his badge. She immediately walked away while my uncle laughed his ass off.
#19
I wasn’t good at returning library books when I was a kid. I got lectured by my school librarian about it a lot.
Fast forward twenty years and I’m a supervisor at the local public library and my former now retired school librarian goes there. One day I see her sneaking around the front desk instead of coming back to say hi to me and I immediately figure something’s up. I go up to say hi and she acts exasperated and tells me she was trying to avoid me because she had overdue books.
So I put on my reading glasses, pulled them down over my nose, and delivered the same lecture she’d given me countless times about being responsible and turning in books on time.
#20
This is a bit silly, but gave me a great feeling of satisfaction. Due to the bad economy and poor money management, my parents have moved into the spare room of the house my husband and I bought a year ago. Things are mostly smooth, tho I’m not the closest to them for several reasons I won’t go into here.
The other evening I was out gardening (because it’s hot during the day and we have the luck of having a streetlight right next to our front yard, keeping it pretty well illuminated even after sundown, I mostly garden at night), and I thought I had gotten the hose twisted, as it kept getting stuck. This went on for a bit, when I realized that it wasn’t stuck, but being pulled. I looked into the dim area just past the illumination of the street light and spied my father, crouched over and tugging the hose. Well I did the only reasonable thing to do, and I sprayed him. He yelled and ran inside with me chasing.
Once he got inside he made a face and goes “You can’t get me now! I’m inside!!” In that father-to-daughter-don’t-you-make-a-mess tone of voice.
I readied my hose, looked him in the eye and said, “It’s my house.” And just let loose with the hose. He was soaked. Worth cleaning up the mess for that moment of true fear in his eyes.
#21
In college I worked for a small catering company that was started by a guy who was barely much older than college age himself, no more than early 30’s. All of us that worked for him were college age or just over as well, so it was a young looking crew in general.
One day we were working an outdoor black-tie wedding reception for over 300 people, and it was a scorcher out too temperature-wise. So not only was it hot out and we’re all in tuxes serving a [crap]-ton of people, the family of the bride who are funding this affair are some of the rudest and most-demanding people imaginable, so it was not the most fun gig in general.
Well, one of the aunts on the bride’s turned out to be the rudest of the bunch and kept trying to pull the “I’m related to the bride so give me give me give me”-act (even though she wasn’t even in the [damn] wedding party), and was just making the lives of any one of us who came in contact with her even more of a living hell than what we were experiencing, including the owner of the company, who was lead bartender at the main bar.
Now that point is key because, by some grace of whatever higher power/force/fate/kismet or whatever you call it, I was also working that same bar, which gave me the opportunity to bear witness to the most beautifully constructed instance of comeuppance to which I had ever seen to that point, and don’t expect to ever see it bettered again: the nightmare [witch] aunt is in young bossman’s bar line, and loudly complaining the whole time how long it’s taking, and she shouldn’t even have to be waiting in a line anyway because she’s whatever-the-bride’s name’s aunt, blah-blah-blah, just making a huge stink. When she got up to the head of the line to place her order, she said something along the lines of how slow and ineffectual he was, to which he responded something along the lines of “we’re going as the fast as we can, here’s your drink, have a nice evening” (through gritted teeth I’m sure), which led her into the following diatribe: “That’s because you’re nothing but a bunch of dumbass kids - don’t you have any adults back there working this wedding? I want to talk to your manager or the owner or someone who’s an adult who can get you out of here and get the job done right.” To which a huge [crap]-ass-eating grin washed over his face as he replied, “Hi! My name (his name). I am the owner of this catering company, please note that if you would like for me to go, then this reception will have no food or beverages or bar service.”
I swear you could almost hear a hype crew descending from the heavens shouting “OHHHHHHH!!!” after he said it. It was a moment of transcendence I don’t think I’ll ever experience again. Plus, the [witchy] aunt didn’t bother us again the rest of the night.
#22
I worked at a movie theatre and some customers were adamant that a staff member had stolen their wallet after they dropped it. Turns out that these people just couldn’t see and found the wallet once they actually looked for it. They got irate with literally everyone, from the mall security to the managers to the staff. Mall security finally said “get the [hell] out” and the customers went “you can’t say that! This isn’t your theatre, we’re customers.” Mall security guy promptly said “this is my mall, and I can do whatever the [hell] I want.”
#23
IT services for a client of mine. They paid for me to come to their office and address a problem. 8 hrs minimum time. The issue was resolved in about 45 minutes, they'd set up something incorrectly and it was pretty obvious once I got into the system.
I was packing up to leave and the client stopped me.
"What are you doing?"
"The system is fixed so I'm headed out back to my office."
"No, I paid for 8 hours, you'll do your 8 hours. If I tell you to wash my car for 8 hours that's what you'll be doing."
"Right...so anyway, I'm leaving. I'll notify the office to send you the invoice and in all likelihood we'll no longer be working with you and withdrawing your lease on our equipment."
#24
My job right before my current one.
Property manager - the owner was an absolute prick. He was heartless and rude and racist and I loathed him. I hated every day going into that job but I needed the money. I was applying daily to my dream company in hopes that eventually I’d be accepted.
In the meantime, every time I complained or mentioned something to my supervisor I was told to shut up and get on with it. “He was paying me too much to have opinions”
Three years after, we were a small office and the receptionist and assistant prop managers had quit. I finally got accepted into my dream company and happily put in my two week notice.
In desperation, he offered me more money, a higher position, better benefits (which were laughable). When I said no, he asked why. I have never felt more gleeful than the moment of when I said “I don’t know, I’m not paid to have opinions here.”
That was a year ago and even now the look on his stupid old face gives me joy to this day.
Edit: typo and uh, obligatory “didn’t expect this to blow up” but ....yeah. I’m petty, what’s new? lol thanks for the awards!
To those who mentioned: this was a very brief summarized version and yes, he did remember saying it to me. He told me I was being too sensitive and should take more money. I’ve kept in touch with my (awesome) supervisor and in the year since I’ve left, the position has yet to be filled. Everyone keeps quitting because they can’t work with someone like him.
So, bahahaha.
Edit 2: also, since a few people asked - the new job (a yearish in) is doing great and still to this day almost cry at the thought that I have benefits that include - health insurance and a boss that doesn’t call me sweetie in a tone that indicates I can’t chew gum and walk at the same time.
Serbob 4 years ago
I had a great quitting moment like that too. The place was absolute Hell and when I gave them my notice they asked if I would accept a pay raise. I told them I was accepting less money at the other job just to get away from them. I said that if they valued me that much they should have offered the money before I quit. I enjoyed that moment.
#25
I used to work at a few Subways. Thing is, the owner inherited them when she already had a busy and lucrative career elsewhere. She mainly held on to them to employ immigrant family members, I think. One time, she was in the back when she heard me interact with an angry customer. Afterward, she came out and said, “You know you don’t have to take [crap] like that. I trust you, you can use your judgment and just toss anybody out who talks to you like that.”
After that I wouldn’t take any [crap] from anybody. Slightest hint of backtalk to your Sandwich Artist, and you were out on your ass, still hungry. It was so much fun.
“Let me speak to your manager.”
“No. Get out.”
“I’m going to call and complain.”
“OoOoOoOoOh I’m terrified. Go nuts, but you can’t call from in here, because you’re trespassing now.”
The sheer indignance of an entitled customer when you don’t bow and scrape before them is really something to behold.
#26
One of my new employees came from a competitor who is, shall we say, not as put together as we are. Her former boss had actually called me to yell at me about "poaching" his consultants. Which, in and of itself, is weird enough. However, a few weeks after she started the dude rolled up to our office. He had apparently been calling her to get her to finish an analysis for him and she just ghosted him. I went to the lobby to see what the [hell] he was doing here. He started in on me again and then she happened to walk by. I didn't fully understand the conversation but at one point he literally "demanded" she do this analysis. She just said, "or what?" and waited a few beats before turning on her heels and walking away. I did the ol' hand on his back point to the door universal symbol for "leave or a large security man will make you leave." Never heard from him again.
#27
My dad is 6'3". I'm 6'10". Sometime in my early teens, I shot past him.
Dad was a yeller. Not doing what he thought I should be? No discussion, just yell.
But I realized at some point that he wouldn't yell at me if he had to look up while he was doing it.
I don't remember what our last argument was about, I just remember that I'd sort of caught on at this point. So I'm in my room in front of the computer, Dad comes in and starts yelling at me. I eventually stand up and start yelling back. Dad makes an excuse to leave.
Dad comes back about a half hour later and starts yelling again, but at this point, it's all I can do to not just laugh. I know that the instant I stand up, the argument will end.
It actually wound up being really good for our relationship, because Dad realized that he actually had to make valid points, rather than just going into former drill sergeant mode.
#28
One of my jobs is in a hotel/restaurant/bar.
A guest came into the bar after having been refused service at our sister hotel down the road. He was very drunk and had been rude, abusive and threatening to the staff.
He insisted we serve him as he was a guest, but we’d already been phoned by our sister hotel so they could let us know what the situation was.
We refused, but offered him some water and suggested he go up to his room.
He then went on about how he had nearly bought our hotel and that he was practically our boss so we should serve him or he’d have us fired.
We refused.
He told us he was a very rich man and would tip us hundreds of pounds if we served him.
We refused. He was getting abusive at this point, so we again suggested he have some water and head up to his room.
He went on to tell us that his brother was the mayor so we should serve him.
We refused and told him he should go on up to his room yet again.
He then said he was going to the pub across the street but all the pubs/restaurants in our town have a barred from one barred from them all policy. We telephoned the other pubs to inform them of the situation.
Many of them got back to us and said they had been offered money, been threatened with losing their jobs and also told the story of the mayor. All of the pubs stuck to their guns and refused to serve him.
Eventually, he came back to the hotel and went to his room.
#29
Some White House lady sat at my bar and tried to get a drink without ID. She pulled out her White House ID card which had no DOB. "I work at the White House". I told her that her bosses would be very proud of me enforcing their laws when I didn't serve her a drink.
#30
I taught my 6th grade students about democratic processes, and we ran a simulation. Without fail, every one of my classes tried to impeach me.
#31
When an unhappy client threatens to go hire a better lawyer. They don’t seem to get that this isn’t a threat when they aren’t paying me...
#32
A few years ago a guy stopped me in the hardware store and asked if I was a painter. I looked down at my painters whites and said, yeah I do historical restoration work. He asked how much I charge per hour, and when I told him, he immediately told me I was too expensive and dropped my rate by 25%. I had already given him my number, but he kept belittling me, and saying I wasn't worth it. I just told him that I already had a full time job, and this would be in my off hours, so it needed to be worth my while. He finally let me leave the store, then called me 3 or 4 times, each time hemming and hawing over if he wanted to actually use me or not, he's got a bunch of properties, it would be a sweet gig, but not at those prices. And I just kept telling him that's fine, don't use me if you don't want to. Eventually I recognized his number and stopped picking up.
He really thought he had some sort of power over me, and I'd jump at the opportunity. Luckily I didn't have to take the work, I was making good enough money as it was. He would have nitpicked absolutely everything, and probably not paid me at the end anyway. But he was so certain he'd have power in the situation, that he didn't seem able to comprehend me not wanting to barter with him.
Kathryn Baylis 4 years ago (edited)
Was his name Trump, perchance? (Yeah, I know he wouldn’t be caught dead in a Lowe’s and talking to someone he would consider “the help”, but you know that senile people do tend to wander off occasionally...)
#33
I worked in management at a theatre for a while. If the concession counter was slammed and I was able, I’d leave my post and help them sling popcorn.
One night while helping out, a particularly belligerent man started cussing out a 16year old girl on a cash register for being too slow, even suggesting she quit since she clearly couldn’t handle pushing buttons or scooping popcorn. It was pretty disgusting and I felt so bad for the girl, I stepped in and told the guy that our employees have the right to refuse service to customers who harass them as part of our anti-harassment/discrimination policy, empathized that the lines were longer than usual, and suggested he should apologize and move on. He was PISSED. Left half his order on the counter and started fuming off.
Anticipating his next move, I went back to my original post that night - as manager of the customer service kiosk. Oh boy, the look on his face when he saw me. (Didn’t want a refund of his tickets though so I assume he watched the movie, without popcorn).
#34
I worked for 8 years servicing communications equipment on-site, 5 of those years were as the department manager. When oil was found in our area, we got so busy we could barely even think. Most of my team were pulling 12+ hour days 6 days a week and we were struggling to hire people quick enough.
One day, the CEO texted and said he hired an assistant manager for me, which was something I desperately needed. I was dirty as hell from my previous job and swung by the store to pick him up and take him to one of our sites where he would be doing paperwork. The moment he got in the truck, he immediately started talking [crap]. He started telling me about how everything we were doing is [messed] up and the department manager was a total moron and he would have my job within a few months.
I just sat and mostly listened. He obviously didn't know [anything] about my industry and every time he would say something wrong, I would try to politely correct him and he'd either backtrack or insist that I was trained wrong. When we got to the site OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEST TEXAS DESERT, he complained about the layer of dust on everything and "ordered me" to clean up the entire site.
When I sat down at my desk, the guy continued to [complain] my ear off about everything that was wrong and chastised me for sitting down at my desk when he told me to clean up the site. So I called for a taxi, filled out a notice of termination, and handed it to him. He looked absolutely shocked. Then he defiantly protested that only could fire him. I said and , right? He sheepishly nodded. So I stuck my hand out for a handshake and introduced myself.
I can teach anyone how to service equipment, but I don't have a clue how to teach someone to not be an asshole.
#35
When I was still a child I saw how abusive my grandparents were to my parents when they used to stay in their house during their early years of marriage when they were broke.
They are forced to accept the abuse and swallow their pride knowing that they're still indebted to them and had nowhere to go. Once they have enough money to leave my grandparents they moved to a small rented house.
My grandparents came for an unannounced visit and berate my dad for living in such a shanty house and how ungrateful he was for leaving their home. My dad was silent until they start blaming my mother for being a wife that brought "bad luck" to my dad and how she "poisons" him into moving to a new home. My dad weren't having any of their bile anymore and kicked them out.
They stop talking until my grandfather was dying of leukemia. My mom was the one who persuaded my dad to see him before he passed.
#36
Pretty much every time my in laws come over. For over twenty years they have attempted to dictate how I should live my life, raise my kids, dress, cook, etc. I always just nod and say, "I'll consider that", but not in a genuine way, in a condescending "[damn] you" way. When they press it, I simply say, "You may leave my house now".
#37
I was working as a consultant for a company, there was a bit of a competition between me and this guy, company starts to have some financial issues so I leave and start working for a client of theirs. Shortly after joining they bring in this guy I was competing with at my old job, he was technically my equal except now I was employed by the client and he was just a consultant. He was trying to one-up me during meetings and my boss told him that decisions are made by the company not the consultants. It felt good.
#38
Some secretary of some branch of a state agency would go on a power trip and stamp, "Do not copy" on things that she sent to local agencies. Well, I work for an oversight agency and I needed a copy. Locals were terrified so I rolled my eyes and called to explain that the locals and I were basically the same entity. Woman started to have a conniption fit, but she got real quiet when I cut her off and said, "Fine, I'll issue a subpoena. What's your name and job title?" She answered, and the sheriff served her a subpoena for what I wanted. Guess she wasn't used to that.
#39
I worked at a Walmart as a cashier, and the assistant manager there was an [ass], he would insult everybody working there and forced us sometimes to do work above our pay grade. 6 months later me and him got transferred to another Walmart that was just built and they needed to pick a manager and assistant manager some random got manager but I got assistant manager (I guess all the complaints on the assistant manager basically gave him a demotion) so one day he was ordering the other cashiers around then I pulled him to the side and told him that if he kept pulling the same [crap] around he would be out of here. I haven't heard anything from him since.
#40
My mother made my childhood hell (unpredictable moods, every second weekend would be family drama weekend with day long tirades about how everyone hates her and we are horrible to her and surely we are so vile and want her to leave; yelling and abuse got so bad I got panic attacks and nothing was done about it, random beating, crying, insults, very controlling, went through my letters and diary, called me a [prostitute] or dumb as a cow when I came home 15 minutes too late, the works)...After what seemed like ages of struggling, I finally managed to move out at age 21, to an address within the same city.
Her whining continued. Why would I not give her keys to my apartment? Why did I not phone in every day? Where was I, who was I with, what was I doing at every time of the day? I must hate her! I must be looking forward to dancing on her grave!
I tried to not react and give her more ammunition, but when she ended up asking at some point "Why are you not coming by and visiting us every day??", I finally replied "because I don't live here anymore", and THANK GOD it shut her up.
#41
I worked at the flight service station in Yellowknife, Canada. There we have a control tower and FSS. Tower had the radios at that time of day. Pilot reports smoke in the cockpit, declares an emergency. He was ~20 minutes out, and there's nowhere else to land, so he just continuing to come here. In the interim, emerg procedures put in place, Airport Firefighters are out in force. EMS is on standby, the town firehall comes out. And out comes captain jackass from the cops. BANGING on my door.
"HI IM HERE TO TAKE CONTROL!"
..... of what?
"THE SITUATION, IM IN COMMAND."
... ok, well, tower has the radios right now, so theyre the ones dealing with the emergency.
"THEN IM GOING UPSTAIRS TO TAKE CONTROL"
Alrighty, you do that. He starts to head up the additional floors to the control tower. Thing is, tower's door, like mine, is locked and can only be opened with our keys or from the inside. I call upstairs and relay there's a cop coming "to take control" Naturally they do not let him in. There's really nothing he could possibly do except make noise and be in the way. Not long after he stomps back down and I hear him radio some nonsense about "who do they think they are? IM IN COMMAND!"
#42
sort of a you have no power here moment... but funny none the less.
My dad and I went to lowes one time, and the guy helping us had on a veteran hat and a few pins kept trying to insinuate we didnt know what we were talking about, and that we didnt need what we were there for, and kept trying to argue about everything. so my dad asked what service he was in trying to break ice, and the dude said he was in team 6 1970-1974 in Vietnam, and trained in Great lakes. which was the wrong answer, So my dad asked if he meant seal team 1 or 2. the man recognizing my dads service ring immediately buffed up on my dad and got tomato faced red and tried to assert dominance as a superior. So my dad immediately called the guy on his shit for stolen valor explained why he was full of [crap] and threatened to turn him in for it and get his management involved.
i havent seen that guy in town in a while.
#43
I worked at a grocery store for five years putting up with crazy customers and their awful attitudes.
At the end of my tenure our store was set to be closed, and for the last month the store was sold to a liquidation company. Meaning we were no longer under our parent company's umbrella and were no longer concerned with retaining customer loyalty.
I got to tell customers "no" and respond with every bit of sarcasm and disdain to every Karen i encountered for one month until the store officially closed.
#44
I joined the Army Reserve in 1983, in between my junior and senior year in high school.
Going to drill one weekend and we were doing war games with another reserve unit.
They mailed everyone a letter with the challenge and response to be let in to the unit.
As a lowly private, I was standing guard at the entrance and had to say the challenge.
Everything's going good until a city police car pulls up and the cop is a new lieutenant . I give the challenge and he just looks at me. I say it again and he said to just let him in because he didn't know it. He starts getting belligerent and I ask him to turn off the car and step out.
He gets out and starts yelling at me. The Sergeant Major heard the commotion and comes over and tears the young lieutenant a new asshole.
It was very satisfying to watch and I learned that day that even though a 2nd lieutenant outranks a sergeant major, it really doesn't matter because the sergeant major had been in for 20 years and didn't put up with any [crap].
Chris DiFonso 4 years ago
I don't think the rank is the issue. The issue is a civilian trying to enter a military area.
#45
Probably watching a few Texas DPS Officers realize they couldn't shut down a whole airport.
I was working as a flight instructor at small airport on a Saturday afternoon. We had one plane that had an issue on takeoff and veered off the runway, it cartwheeled and totaled the airplane but fortunately the pilot was not serious injured. I had a student who was next in line for takeoff when it happened, he called me from his phone as it happened. I hopped in the airport car with one of the rampers and drove out to the plane with a radio to inform inbound planes to use the other runway (we had no control tower). On the way to the runway I called the airport manager who drove to the airport and on his way he made a phone call to officially closed that runway.
About 30 minutes later a metric ton of DPS officers showed up and immediately tried to close the whole airport, treating it like a giant crime scene. They were carelessley driving around the airport like they owned the place, ignoring the planes that were moving around, and crossing our only open runway without regard to inbound traffic. A mechanic and I tried to tell them to be careful and they got mad at us. One of them told me they were "locking it down" a couple times, meaning the whole airport. Now I was a broke ass flight instructor and I had a flight that afternoon that was ultimately going to help pay for me to eat that week.
The airport manager was a short stereotypical country guy, also former Navy. He was not intimidated at all by the cops trying to close his airport. When he showed up I was about to go out with a student who was preflighting for a cross-country. There were about 5 cops in the lobby, me with my flight bag, the airport manager, and a mechanic. One of the cops saw my flight bag and said "I don't know why you have that or why he's out a the plane, you aren't going anywhere", the moment he finished his sentence the airport manager said "it's one runway that's closed, the airport is still open. This pissed off the cops.
I was about to head out the door, and one of the officers said he was driving out to the disabled plane. Idky, the pilot had been gone for about an hour. The mechanic said "you need to be careful" and the cop quickly retorted "AND WHY THE HELL IS THAT?" and he said "because this is still an airport, and the first thing that hits you is going to be a propeller" a few seconds later a plane took off as one of the cars was approaching the runway intersection ironing in that point.
I walked out, and as I was hopping in the plane with my student the same cop came up to me and said "you aren't going anywhere, we're locking this down!" I looked at the airport manager who followed all of us out to the ramp, he said "have a nice flight AjaxBU!"
You could see these cops just fuming that they didn't have the authority to close down an entire airport because one plane went off the runway. The airport had two runways, where the disabled plane was located was probably a mile or so away from the open runway. Why they were making a big fuss, I don't know. The occupant was relatively uninjured, his wife was the worst thing he had to deal with that day, he told her he wasn't going to fly.
We had a good flight, and I got to eat dinner that week.
#46
I was working a lab assistant shift (I'm a tech) receiving specimens and such, when a doctor phoned the lab. He was very upset that there was a test that was taking far too long in his opinion. I said okay, let's look at it, and asked what the test was. A fungal culture...
A fungal culture takes at least two weeks to see if anything grows. The patient was in the ER. I politely told him the test was a send out and they generally take about about two weeks or longer depending on the fungus.
He got all huffy and asked why it took so long and is there a way to speed up the process since he wants to discharge the patient. I chuckled a little because this is a common problem with cultures, we're literally waiting for stuff to grow, we can't just make them grow faster. I told him we don't have magical wands that make fungus grow really fast.
He then asked for a lab tech because I was just a lab assistant. I then let him know I was in fact a lab tech with experience in microbiology and I can tell him from first hand experience that fungal cultures are some of the slowest cultures, right up there was AFBs, and assured him that if anything comes of it, we'll let ER know.
He didn't really like that, but said fine and hung up.
Chris DiFonso 4 years ago
What's the difference between a doctor and God? God doesn't think he's a doctor!
#47
That would be a customer we had named Nick. I'll leave his last name out to protect the stupid. He would e-mail us and always cc editor@.com and most of his e-mails were things like "NOTHING [GODDAMN] WORKS". None of the national newspapers responded, I imagine some underling just rolled his eyes and deleted them. Finally, he said, fix this in 5 minutes or I cancel.
My manager says "let me see that e-mail". He responded "Thank you, I cancelled your account. We don't want customers like you anyway. If you want to contact the media, that's your call, I'll happily provide the months of threatening e-mails you sent to my staff".
He gave us months of headaches over a £45/quarter account. We definitely didn't need him.
#48
At my university, it was always fun to watch the people who had been High School Popular People think that this sort of popularity would just naturally carry over and that on this campus of thousands, they'd be a big shot or something. Was always fun to see just how many people could not care less about their attention-[seeking].
M O'Connell 4 years ago
I saw quite a few people like this. Also people who were perhaps used to skating by on their other "attributes" who were faced with the harsh reality of being expected to produce real academic achievement.
#49
Oooo I have a good one! I was responding to a call with our volunteer fire dept a couple years ago. I was west of town and a vehicle rolled halfway between where I was and the fire hall. So I called the responding people and said I’ll meet you there.
It was a single vehicle that rolled and they were all immigrants from the Pakistan/Afghanistan region. Before I got there, a doctor from the same region had stopped to lend a hand. She was from the similar region as those involved in the crash and I had assumed she was the eighth person in the van. She started to try to order me around and tell me I only needed to know certain information about the patient she was with. It went something like this. Dr: “She has midline neck pain and sore ribs.” Me: “Okay, and crepitus or deformity to the.....” Dr: “That’s all you need to know!” Me: “Uhhh wha?” Dr: “I am a doctor and that’s all you need to know!” That’s when I figured maybe I should ask what kind of doctor, in case this is some whackadoo who just claims to be a doctor like we’ve had happen before.
She tells me she’s a podiatrist. I gave her my best look of trying to be nice but their feet are fine right now. When doctors or nurses show up on scene, they ultimately can trump EMS. But they have to actually do the work and sign off as having taken patient control. As soon as I asked her to sign the paperwork and ride with us to the hospital she realized she was out of her knowledge area and disappeared.
#50
My wife and I moved to WA state and my MIL tried to tell me that she was going to call the police because I had pot in the house.
Dorothy Parker 4 years ago
Legal there. They arrest you if you don't have cannabis in the house.
What do you think ?
Bunny Wood 4 years ago
I had a similar time with a corporation I worked for. A casual employee had complained that I cut her shifts becuase she was Muslim (she was european and had never told me her religion and I dont care anyway) in fact she had taken a full time job and also worked weekends. HR behaved like I was Attila the hun and began bullying staff to try and dig up dirt on me. They even rewrote the original complaint etc. Started harassing me whilst on annual leave, and looked to try and sack me at a meeting away from the company property. However all my staff had let me know what was happening, and I actually knew company policies really well. At the HR "meeting" I detailed at least 20 of their OWN policies they had broken, handed over a lawyers letter detailing how they had defamed me (calling me racist etc) and basically tore in to them. The HR people had assumed I would go quietly and it turned out they didn't know policy as well as I did. They actually asked to stop the meeting. Bliss.
Patti Vance 4 years ago
the power moment that both healed me & allowed my to grow: this happened almost 40 yrs ago. i had escaped my abusive husband with my 18 mos son to a battered women's shelter where i stayed for about 6 wks. during that time i had filed for divorce, restraining order, etc. & then moved back in w/my parents. since no one but the friend who had taken me to the shelter knew where i had gone i found out he had been harassing everyone i knew to find out where i was but hadn't gone to my parents. finally he showed up. my mom tells him yes i am here, no i don't want to talk to him, & there is a protection order. he started to verbally abuse her & made like he was going to storm the house. without thinking i literally hit the screen door that almost took it off the hinges, making him back off the step, got eye to eye & told him to never speak to her like that & to get the hell off their property. it was the mouse that roared as he was so stunned he just stepped back & got in his car.
Bunny Wood 4 years ago
I had a similar time with a corporation I worked for. A casual employee had complained that I cut her shifts becuase she was Muslim (she was european and had never told me her religion and I dont care anyway) in fact she had taken a full time job and also worked weekends. HR behaved like I was Attila the hun and began bullying staff to try and dig up dirt on me. They even rewrote the original complaint etc. Started harassing me whilst on annual leave, and looked to try and sack me at a meeting away from the company property. However all my staff had let me know what was happening, and I actually knew company policies really well. At the HR "meeting" I detailed at least 20 of their OWN policies they had broken, handed over a lawyers letter detailing how they had defamed me (calling me racist etc) and basically tore in to them. The HR people had assumed I would go quietly and it turned out they didn't know policy as well as I did. They actually asked to stop the meeting. Bliss.
Patti Vance 4 years ago
the power moment that both healed me & allowed my to grow: this happened almost 40 yrs ago. i had escaped my abusive husband with my 18 mos son to a battered women's shelter where i stayed for about 6 wks. during that time i had filed for divorce, restraining order, etc. & then moved back in w/my parents. since no one but the friend who had taken me to the shelter knew where i had gone i found out he had been harassing everyone i knew to find out where i was but hadn't gone to my parents. finally he showed up. my mom tells him yes i am here, no i don't want to talk to him, & there is a protection order. he started to verbally abuse her & made like he was going to storm the house. without thinking i literally hit the screen door that almost took it off the hinges, making him back off the step, got eye to eye & told him to never speak to her like that & to get the hell off their property. it was the mouse that roared as he was so stunned he just stepped back & got in his car.
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