Chitchat Share your work stories!

[Trevor B Harper]

The Schrodinger's Dumpling

Honestly, all around us beeps, there's probably a lot of stories that haven't been told yet. And I want to know what would be the worst, funniest, cringiest stories that happened during or at work or school, depending on your age. Share those moments!

And here he goes again with his bragging... When will it stop?..

My ultimate work story would most likely be roughly half a year ago. I was working in one of those customer service call centers. We were a third party contractor for a logistics company. As per our Non-Disclosure agreement, sadly, I can't reveal the name. Even though this is just a forum where no one knows me, I keep to what I sign.

Anyway, I received a call from what I would believe was an Indian customer based on the name and the accent. Living in the UK though. And he had a problem where one of our couriers failed to deliver his shipment in time. And once we got going into the story, he explained that our driver just passed the office without even bothering to stop. Five minutes later, a scan appeared in the tracking system showing "Consignee not available during the first delivery attempt. The next attempt will be made the following business day."

Of course, as any customer would, he got really disappointed and somewhat angry. But I remember his exact words. Before the quotation, I need to put this into context. I'm Lithuanian and the call center is based in our capital Vilnius, though we covered UK, Ireland and a few other countries. Right. So the words that he said...

"This is why the Chinese are taking over the world. But you know what, I can hear your from Eastern Europe. I respect you, you value work because you know how it was in Communism. These UK drivers don't know what works means. They just want to get home early and beat their wives."

Like, I'm not saying I agree or disagree with anything this customer had to say, however, that stuck with me to this day as I actually didn't know how to feel. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't as this was offensive to UK residents, especially our drivers. I wanted to feel warm, because he complimented me, but he didn't know what or who I was and how I feel about communism... I was so confused..

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

Okay, here's a cringey one... I have another few that I think would be cool; but one at a time...

I was working at a Wendy's shortly after I turned 18. At this location, it was common for people to goof off and do cringe worthy things when the customers weren't looking, including randomly fondling each other, screaming out "mating calls", breaking out into a free concert of whatever the hell was on our minds (So people would walk in and hear two or three employees singing "The Sound of Silence" or "Bring Me to Life" or something like that)... or just spanking that one employee who was a bit of a brat (me).

One of the managers was this big, somewhat frightening guy who occasionally fondled the guy's shoulders when they were busy, but *usually* left girls alone. He especially left me alone because few people grope 5' 0" people who look 14.

Another bit of information for those who never worked at Wendy's is that we had this refrigerator room (cooler) where we kept some of our products. I had to go in there to get something (burger meat I think). We had to open and close this thing quickly, and I personally liked to close it as I exited. This was often a challenge as I could not properly reach that handle. I always sort of groped blindly until I found it.

Well, one day, that big manager was a little too close to that door, and I couldn't see him. I groped blindly and grabbed... something warm, soft, and squishy (I think people can guess what it was). Though initially pleasantly surprised that my hand was so warm, I realized in horror what I had just done at around the same time as he realized that something had come out of the fridge and grabbed him.

The effect was some blushing and some very loud noises. A Russian guy down the hall busted out laughing as I withdrew my hand in shock. I apologized profusely and ran. Having had a similar thing happen to me in the past, I was thoroughly mortified... but soon learned that things can always, always get worse.

That manager made it clear that he liked getting "accosted". He said I wasn't the first or the last woman to do that and he wouldn't mind if it happened again. Worst of all... he told everyone about my misdeeds and said how awesome it was. When it was over, I had my little hands over my face in shame.

A year later, we have both found different places of employment. He still has not let me live down the embarrassment.... though I made a point of never, ever doing it again.

 

[Trevor B Harper]

The Schrodinger's Dumpling

Ouuuuuuuch. :|

I had a similar situation when working in a cafe. Though, then, I almost went to court as it was considered sexual harassment. And all it was, I accidentally bumped into my manager as she was bending down to get one of those frappe glasses. I had to try and talk her out of going to court for like four days, trying to explain it was just an accident. No kidding.

It wasn't cringy, though, it was just nonsense.

 

[myfanwy]

holy shit this is a great idea i'm going to post when I get back on my laptop

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

The Schrodinger's Dumpling

Ouuuuuuuch. :|

I had a similar situation when working in a cafe. Though, then, I almost went to court as it was considered sexual harassment. And all it was, I accidentally bumped into my manager as she was bending down to get one of those frappe glasses. I had to try and talk her out of going to court for like four days, trying to explain it was just an accident. No kidding.

It wasn't cringy, though, it was just nonsense.

Here's another of mine...

I was pushed into the GM, resulting in me spanking her hard (which required a profuse apology). I was also once grabbed and bumped so hard, some manager ended up picking me up by the spanked hips and partially bending me over the grill. I wasn't sure whether to be concerned more about the potential results of making physical contact with the cooking surface... or with the naughty look in her eyes as she held onto me. The noise I made was interesting enough that she decided to knock it off.

Spanking was considered an acceptable behavior in the small space. Eventually, I got sick of it and spanked her with a grill spatula. That was the end of that. She had a blush for quite some time and later claimed that the grill situation was an accident.

 

[myfanwy]

mine isn't nearly as ~naughty~ or risque, butttt

Lumpia Lover
so at work we sell lumpia and we have a "combo" meal called the lumpia lover which comes with six lumpia, fried rice, and a can of soda. so this dude comes in with his girl friend(?) and ordered "two lumpia lovers". as i read off the price, he interrupts me and says that he doesn't want the fried rice.

no biggie, right?

lol no. so i ask "just the twelve lumpia and two cans of soda, right?" to which he gets angry and repeats "i want two lumpia lovers with no fried rice. i still want the can of soda." and i sat there, for five minutes, explain calmly to the man that it would be cheaper to simply get twelve lumpia and two cans of soda. my boss even tells him this, and he finally accepts this, all while huffing and puffing.

like dude. chill the f u c k o u t l o l. he hasn't come back since, thankfully.

 

[Trevor B Harper]

The Schrodinger's Dumpling

This is actually the first time I've heard the word lumpia lol.

But yeah, people are stupid like that sometimes. I had plenty of people like that when working at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Honestly, they usually think you are just trying to scam them lol.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

mine isn't nearly as ~naughty~ or risque, butttt

Lumpia Lover
so at work we sell lumpia and we have a "combo" meal called the lumpia lover which comes with six lumpia, fried rice, and a can of soda. so this dude comes in with his girl friend(?) and ordered "two lumpia lovers". as i read off the price, he interrupts me and says that he doesn't want the fried rice.

no biggie, right?

lol no. so i ask "just the twelve lumpia and two cans of soda, right?" to which he gets angry and repeats "i want two lumpia lovers with no fried rice. i still want the can of soda." and i sat there, for five minutes, explain calmly to the man that it would be cheaper to simply get twelve lumpia and two cans of soda. my boss even tells him this, and he finally accepts this, all while huffing and puffing.

like dude. chill the f u c k o u t l o l. he hasn't come back since, thankfully.

Ugh. I hate when they can't handle basic addition and subtraction logic! Though I suppose it's less annoying than the ones who eat their entire order and then demand a refund, claiming that "It was the wrong order" or "The onions blew chunks" or some other related thing that is no longer provable due to all the evidence being eaten.

We actually had some dude whine at us that he'd gotten the wrong order, then proceed to hold up all the other customers while he yelled at the poor teenager behind the counter, yelled at the manager, made some racist comment about the guy on fries, and demand to speak to the director. I'm like, dude, you realize you're not helping anyone else's experience here, right?

I then ordered my own meal (my shift was over) and a large soda for the stress. It was the wrong order, but it was delicious and I didn't want to make the new kid's first day any more stressful than it already was.

 

[Apocalyptic]

I could sit here and almost write an entire book about the disgusting experiences in the fast food place I left a few weeks ago. And most of those come from the management, and the lack of real upkeep the place had.

But I'll talk about retail and how I've literally had to get a ladder to get a pair of converse down from a hanging fixture because I guess a customer thought it would be funny?
Or maybe they were trying to hide them? I don't even know.
Or how black friday last year I was the only one working in the shoe department/my department and it literally looked like every pair of shoes had been thrown out of every box just because. It was absolutely trashed.
Mostly now I work in shoes by myself and I'm not even treated as a supervisor. But that's a whole other story for another time.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

I could sit here and almost write an entire book about the disgusting experiences in the fast food place I left a few weeks ago. And most of those come from the management, and the lack of real upkeep the place had.

But I'll talk about retail and how I've literally had to get a ladder to get a pair of converse down from a hanging fixture because I guess a customer thought it would be funny?
Or maybe they were trying to hide them? I don't even know.
Or how black friday last year I was the only one working in the shoe department/my department and it literally looked like every pair of shoes had been thrown out of every box just because. It was absolutely trashed.
Mostly now I work in shoes by myself and I'm not even treated as a supervisor. But that's a whole other story for another time.

My prankster co-worker once had me cook an extra patty so that he could hide it out of sight. People didn't notice it for days.

Another strange cleaning method involved the trash. It was my duty as the nerd to stomp it down when it got too high.

 

[myfanwy]

i have another great one bc i love being a cashier .-.

"Can I Help You?"
Disclaimer: i go after appearance with some not nice ways of putting things bc i get irritated easily.
so today two guys came in when we were busy, which is no problem. i'm a great cashier and am pretty fast. the first dude orders and pays with no problem.

but his friend. kept. staring. at. me. now, i'm not a nice person and i could only see how short and pudgy he was. like. booboo my type is tall and my best friend, get outta here.

not only did it take him five minutes to answer my question of: "do you want the large or the small shrimp fried rice?" but paying was another ordeal.

"your total is 10.23"

*keeps staring"

ookayy? i'm thinking he has a card and doesn't want to use the chip reader yet. so i set it up and tell him he can use the chip.

"oh, i have cash."

well why the f r i c k f r a c k d i d n ' t y o u s a y t h a t ? ? ? ?

i think he legit thought it was c u t e that he was acting stupid and bumbling bc he had this s t u p i d smile on his face the entire time and it's like, lol honey no. just no.

i have so many creepy guys hitting on me but this honestly takes the cake because of how much i remember this. i would have legit screamed if he asked for my phone number because ever since these meds i can't control my temper and i was already irritated bc of the whole IF YOU HAVE CASH LET ME FUCKING KNOW I'M NOT A GAWTDAMN MIND READER LIKE B O I Y O U A I N ' T C U T E

i shame people don't judge me i already shame myself

 

[Tove]

I had a customer come through drive thru asking could he get some chicken for 39 cents. I told him no but he would be able to get a Jalapeño pepper. He responded by telling me we were too expensive.

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

I had a customer come through drive thru asking could he get some chicken for 39 cents. I told him no but he would be able to get a Jalapeño pepper. He responded by telling me we were too expensive.

Sheesh, some people need to be thankful for what they can have. Cheapest fast food thing I've heard of is the 50 cent Wendy's frosty, and that doesn't even work in Alaska.

 

[Tove]

Sheesh, some people need to be thankful for what they can have. Cheapest fast food thing I've heard of is the 50 cent Wendy's frosty, and that doesn't even work in Alaska.

They never are though. Oh, yeah I forgot about the frosty!

 

[Rachael of the Shire]

They never are though. Oh, yeah I forgot about the frosty!

$1 any sized soft drink at McDonalds is also nice.

 

[IG42]

$1 any sized soft drink at McDonalds is also nice.

You Americans are bleeding nuts.

 

[Dair]

So these people drive by every so often and I sometimes sit out and smoke when there is nothing to do and no customers and sometimes I catch them drive by. I know its them because of the car the drive and because every time they drive by they shout out of their windows as loud as they can, "Fuck you!!!", and I think they add something along the lines of they hope I get cancer or something. To my knowledge I've never talked to them or interacted with them at all so that tells you how stupid small town Texas can be.

 

[Wert]

This isn't really cringy, but its kind of funny. I used to work in a nursing home as housekeeping and one day we were finishing up our shift so we had to put everything back. Well, my partner decided to disappear and I had no idea where he went so I just continued. When I got into the storage room for that floor I began to unload and didn't bother really turning both of the lights on. So, while I was unloading he decides to surprises me by jumping out of the darkness and ends up nearly getting a stack of heavy cones thrown at him as I yelled "Son of b****!". He had been trying to scare everyone all day and hadn't been successful with me until then so I didn't get to live that down for a while, and would've gotten in trouble if it wasn't for the fact that the office woman across the hall had a sense of humor.

Here's a slightly worse story than that. At that same job, I got pulled from my work because someone had reported me for "sleep standing", which I can promise is impossible for me. My boss decided to make that her excuse to ask me to resign even though it was the first time I had "made a mistake" even though I didn't make it to begin with. This was just so that she could hire her niece later that day and think I wouldn't notice when I had family working in that same facility who knew her. I complied to resigning because that place was worse than high school when it came to maturity levels and I was pretty okay with having a reason to quit. I just didn't like the reason.