Business Managers Share Their Favorite Moments Of Flexing Their Power On Customers

Customer service workers the world over can attest that you have to plaster on a smile and deal with the rudest people, especially when they pull the whole “the customer is always right card” on you. And then you hear those dreaded words: “I want to speak with your manager.” But sometimes, customers haven’t really thought ahead enough to realize that you’re the manager, and they’ve been shouting in your face for the last ten minutes.

This is when the magic happens. Employees turned managers just relish in their power to prove that the customer is not always right. In fact, sometimes they’re downright lying or just trying to get something for free. The managers lurking on the internet didn’t hesitate to share those satisfying moments when they were able to finally deliver that line they craved the most: “I am the manager.”

When Your Cell Phone Rings 

I used to work in a convenience store during college. This store didn’t have the classiest of clientele. One day, this lady comes in and wants some cigarettes that we were out of. They were the cheap brand, and so she goes on to say that the manager lets her have the premium brands for the same price. I laugh right in her face and say, “Do you want them or not; they’re going to be the price they are….”

She gets upset, goes on this tirade, and tells me to call the manager. At this point, I’m tired of her, but I fancy her request. So I say, “Ok, I’ll do it.” I pick up the store phone, call my own cell phone, let my cell phone ring for a few seconds, then answer my cell phone while still on the store phone and say, “Hey, there’s this lady here who wants to speak to the manager.” The mad then confused face she made was the greatest. Reddit User: boinksession

When That Girl Is The Manager 

I worked in retail, specifically a specialist bra fitting shop. One day I was working the change room desk upstairs. It was busy, and a woman came in on the lunch rush and demanded a fitting. I politely told her that I was very sorry, but all the fitters were booked and with other customers for the next hour or so, so I could help her a bit but couldn’t give one on one attention, as I’m helping all the other rooms too….

She flew off the handle, telling me how busy and important she was, that she made a special trip, she can’t come back tomorrow, etc. I got a call from one of the till girls saying a customer was complaining about the young girl at the fitting desk and wanted to see the manager about it. I walked down those steps so slowly with a huge grin to let the horrible woman slowly recognize who I was. Reddit User: TruthBeToldToday

The Problem With The Pizza

An old man comes into the pizzeria I manage. He doesn’t say a thing to me, just hands me a piece of paper with numbers on it. We have a rewards program, and I assumed it was his code for a free pizza, so the first thing I said was, “Oh, is this your code for the VIP pizza?” and he says, “Yeah, but I want a sub with chips and a drink….” 

I say, “Sir, this code is only for a large pizza with two toppings,” and he starts to throw a little fit, and of course, I stand my ground. I tell him I’m the manager, so he can talk to me if he has a problem. He carries on demanding the sub and was being very rude. In the end, he took the pizza and clearly didn’t understand how manners work. Reddit User: BoxBopChallenge

What Do You Need To Explain? 

I used to work at a Hot Topic and was the opening manager some weekdays a few summers ago. This woman comes in with her 25-year-old punk daughter and her boyfriend to buy them some clothes. They were pretty much regulars. The shorts were on sale or something, but you couldn’t mix girls’ shorts with guys’. I let them know that….

Later, when I’m ringing her out and she doesn’t see the sale applied to the shorts she got, she absolutely snaps on me. She was getting really heated and starting to yell at me. She then says, “Little girl, why don’t you run into the back and get your manager so I can explain how this works to her.” With the smuggest smile, I simply said, “I am the manager. What did you need to explain?” Reddit User: faunprincess

Banned From The Ice Cream Shop 

I ran an ice cream shop. I must have had to say, “Actually, I am the manager” at least once a week. My favorite was this woman I eventually banned from the shop. She would come in with her husband and kids. Then she would try to order a large (three scoops) and ask me to put it in three single scoop cups, but only charge for the large. I said no…. 

You either order three single scoops, or you order a large. The difference in cost is quite a bit. First, she said, “Well the manager let me do it last week.” “No I didn’t,” I told her flatly. “Well, then whoever was working let me do it, and they said they were the manager.” She then called the next day to report me, and that’s when I once again told her who I was and that she was banned. Reddit User: SalemScout

The Return Of The PS1

I was the manager at an EB Games. This was probably about 2000-2001. I was there for the launch of the PS2 and Diablo 2. We had an older lady come in one day and wanted to “return” a system she had bought for her son. She claimed he had gotten bad grades in school and was returning it as a punishment. She handed me this ridiculously old and beat up cardboard box…. 

I opened it to find a dirty, dusty, Cheeto fingerprint covered PS1. I paused, looked back at her, and for whatever reason, asked if she had the receipt. She actually did. Sure enough, it had the date printed on it, and it was from some time in ’94. I said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be able to return this; this is six years old and clearly used.” She tried to argue and said the manager told her she could return it. I was here six years ago as the manager, and the policy is 30 days from purchase. Not six years. Reddit User: docholoday

All Thanks To A Note 

I worked at one of those mall pretzel stores back in high school. The owner trusted me with everything. This particular human was maybe my 3rd customer of the day; that’s how slow it was in this place during the week. A woman walks up, orders multiple orders of pretzel nuggets, three large smoothies, and a pizza pretzel. I tell her the total amount….

“Oh nu-uh, I was here earlier, and you all were out of the smoothie mix. I paid and talked to the manager, and he left a note in the drawer.” I open the drawer and grab a random piece of paper and tell her she’s right. She snaps her hand in front of my face and tells me to throw in extra dipping cheese for the inconvenience, and she’ll be complaining to the manager. I am the manager. Reddit User: weasel13

He Won’t Be Able To Speak To You 

This guy came up to my coworker and I with a problem with his cell phone; being familiar with the issue, I took the lead on helping him while my team member was listening. Every time I would ask the customer a question, he would look to my male coworker and answer it while trying to only speak to my coworker. The guy wasn’t taking my advice….

Near the end of a brutal back and forth, I asked my coworker to go to the back room, as this guy was completely sexist and I needed him to pay attention to me. He demanded I let him speak to the manager, as HE would be able to give what he wants. I replied with, “Listen, I’ve tried to be pleasant. I am the manager. Everyone here answers to me, so what I say goes.” Reddit User: jennamay22

Go Get Your Manager

I worked as a manager in a sportsman’s warehouse for a few years. I started at 21, so I was fairly fresh still. Anyways, I had a guy come in who told me that some $3000 pair of binoculars was selling on eBay for like $2100 and wanted me to price match. I told him no, we don’t price match from eBay. He starts having a huge fit, and all of a sudden, he puts his hands on the counter and stares at me…. 

“Do you really want to make this worse for yourself?” Then he says, “Go get me your manager.” I looked that guy right in his eyes and stared at him, put my hands on the counter, and said, “Sir, I am the manager.” He proceeded to say, “Yeah right,” and so I pointed him to my name tag, which literally said my name + hardgoods manager. After he saw that, he started yelling that he was going to call the Better Business Bureau. Reddit User: Dinostormasaurus

Too Young To Be The Manager 

I was a manager of Blockbusters when I was about 19/20 due to the previous manager getting involved in some stuff. I was given the acting manager’s position awaiting training to become the actual manager. A man came in wanting to trade in some old games, and I went through all 20 games; every disk was scratched beyond belief, so I said, “These are all damaged, sir, I can’t accept them….”

He assured me they worked and to test them, so to appease him, I ran them one after the other in the store’s Xbox 360, and every single one failed to recognize. He then said, “Well, they work on mine fine.” He got quite irate and then demanded to speak to the manager, to which I said, “I’m actually the manager, sir, and I’ve said we can’t take them.” He then went on a tirade about how I’m too young to be a manager. Reddit User: MrHadrick

In A Position Of Power 

One time, as I was coming back from break, I saw a man and his wife at the register starting to yell at our brand new 16-year-old employee. When I walked over to see what was going on, they were furious because they couldn’t pay their credit card with another credit card. I understood his frustration because we had previously allowed this, but since our credit cards switched to a new company, this was no longer an option…. 

I explained this to them, and they asked if there was a manager they could talk to instead. When I informed him that I was the manager, he demanded to know why he wasn’t notified of this switch. I said, “I see this is the new card you were issued. It’s really strange that it wouldn’t have come with some kind of notification. It’s legally required to come with a booklet of information. It should have been stapled to it.” He gave it up and left. Reddit User: [redacted]

The Cupcake Crisis

I was promoted to manager a few weeks ago in a small bakery. The number of people who cause drama over cupcakes is ridiculous. We’re normally pretty good about replacing a cupcake if we accidentally got your flavor order wrong or giving a refund if there was something actually wrong with the food itself. I was working the closing shift one night…. 

It was exactly two minutes to close. Cue the crazy lady. She comes in with a dozen boxes of cupcakes and demands to speak with someone. Not telling her I was the manager, I asked what was wrong. She explained that the cupcakes were not baked all the way, and all the flavors were wrong. I apologized and asked to look in the box. The order was correct, the cupcakes were baked, and she clearly liked them because they were all eaten. She demanded to speak to the manager and was not happy when I told her it was me. Reddit User: broadwayrocks

The Only Person You’ll Be Speaking To 

I work in the automotive industry. I’m the service center manager of one location and area manager over both. Customer rolls up and asks for an oil change. She drives her van in, hops out, and walks around the side of the building. Once we finish the service, she walks back around and gets in the van. She starts to pull the van out and starts yelling about her window, saying we broke it and that it wouldn’t roll up now….

I immediately pulled up the camera footage clearly showing that the window was down when she pulled in, and she didn’t want to hear it. She promptly asked for the manager. That sounds good to me. I explained that I was the manager. She demanded to speak to my “regional manager.” I explained that I was the only person she’d speak to. Reddit User: Photographitti

The Look On Her Face

I worked at a restaurant where you filled in a ticket with all the ingredients you wanted on your pasta/pizza/salad. There were large boards above the counter explaining how to order correctly. A woman came up to the counter. The cashier told her that he needed a ticket. She got annoyed about the “inconvenience.” I came up to the cashier and told him to ring up the people behind her while she took her sweet time making the important decision….

She finally finishes, pays, and sits with her gaggle of companions. Later she comes up to me and tells me that my behavior of having the waiting customers pay before her was extremely rude. She tells me that she’d like to speak to the manager to complain about me. With a gleeful grin, I reply, “You already did. I’m the manager.” The look on her face. Reddit User: KedynsCrow

The Double-Secret Manager

I’m a manager at a clothing retailer, and occasionally I get asked to help open new stores around the country. I was at a grand opening and happened to walk past a register when one of the new cashiers had a question. A lady was standing there, wanting to buy a $50 gift card with a $10 off coupon. I explained that we don’t do discounts on gift cards….

“Could you check with your manager?” she says. “I am the manager,” I tell her. She then verbatim said, “Can you check with your double-secret manager?” To which I replied, “Ma’am, they flew me out here to help these new people with the grand opening and specifically to figure out questionable situations. I am the double-secret manager, and we don’t do discounts on gift cards.” Reddit User: hurricanecook

How May I Help You?

Manager for a soaps, lotions, and candles store here. I saw a woman being sketchy and walking around all shifty-eyed. I tried approaching her, and she bolted, but I saw some of our sprays in her bag. I called security with a detailed description of her clothing. Two hours later, security calls and asks me to come back to the mall office to identify items….

The woman was sneering at me, but all of the stuff she had shoplifted from our store as well as others was on the table in front of her. I filled out a report and didn’t think anything of it. The next day, she showed up at our store screaming that she wanted me fired because I filled out a false report and made security track her. My associate said, “I’ll just call the manager.” I stepped out from the back, smiled when I saw who it was, and said, “I’m the manager; how may I help you?” Reddit User: Catalystic_mind

The Polaroid Of Shame 

A late thirties smelly guy was hanging out at the store being rude to customers and my employees. I walked up to him with our store Polaroid, told him to smile, took his picture, and sai,: “This picture is going up where every employee can see it; if you ever come back into this store, 911 will be called, and you will be removed for trespassing. Your behavior isn’t welcome in this store….”

He said, “You can’t do that to me. I demand to see the manager.” I pointed to my manager, who was on the phone with the police, “He’s the manager, I’m the owner, and unless you want to be arrested, I’d leave now.” He waited around to be arrested. It turns out he had a record as a pedophile and shouldn’t have been in the store in the first place. Reddit User: Galaxy_Ranger_Bob

I’m Sorry, But…

I work in a retail outlet store. We receive all the older merchandise from the main stores in the district so they can make room for newer collections. We won’t take returns or exchanges. Before every transaction at the cash register, we remind the customer that their purchase will be the final sale. A lady comes in, and I can tell she’s one of those customers…. 

She cuts me off as I’m greeting her to tell me that she wants to return an item because it didn’t fit her or something like that. I explain to her, “Look, I’m sorry, but there’s nothing that I can do, everything is final sale.” She finally finishes her tirade by saying that she shouldn’t listen to a lowly employee like me, and then she asks for the manager. I looked her dead in the eye with a grin on my face. “I’m very sorry for you right now, but I am the manager.” Reddit User: Frostedflockss

The Best Boss Ever

I used to work for a particularly large ISP doing tech support. One day the guy working next to me was dealing with a particularly rude business customer. Right then, the owner of the company happened to be walking by with another one of the execs. He asked what the issue was with his customer, and after it was explained, he took the headset and picked up the line….

After listening for about 4-5 minutes, he said very flatly, “That’s never going to happen, especially not when you have an attitude like a 13-year-old girl.” Again listening for a minute, he said, “I don’t have a manager. I own this company, and I don’t have to listen to this rubbish from an idiot like you, and neither do my employees. I’m terminating your account with us.” Reddit User: inappropriate_jerk

Love It Or Leave It 

My parents owned a franchise deli some 12 years ago. Well, this lady came in one time and ordered her food. When it arrived, she claimed that the kitchen made it incorrectly. My mom apologized for the inconvenience and comped her meal as well as gave her a certificate for a free sandwich next time the lady came in. So the lady comes in again….

Orders her food, and again claims it was made incorrectly. My mom again apologizes and gives her another coupon for a free sandwich. This happened probably once or twice more. Well, the next time the lady comes in, my dad happens to be working in the kitchen. He brings it out to her and tells her they own the place, and if she doesn’t like it this time, she can leave. Reddit User: Beaker93

Taking It A Bit Too Far

This guy wandered into the lobby after we had locked the doors because one of our doors malfunctioned. I politely told him that our lobby closes at 10 pm and that he was more than welcome to go through our drive-thru, which is 24 hours. He started screaming at me saying that he would have me fired and that he used to be a manager at so and so place….

He asked for the manager on duty. I smiled really big and said, “Sir, I’m the manager of this establishment and the manager on duty. You have two options. You either leave and don’t come back until you’re sober, or you can leave in handcuffs. It’s your choice.” He left, and I caught him hanging out by my car. So I called the police, and they arrested him on the property. He slashed everyone’s tires. Reddit User [redacted]

Wearing The Wrong Badge 

I worked as a supervisor in an optical retail store. We got issued name badges with our first name and job title written on them, and as I was only recently promoted, I put on my badge saying “optical assistant,” with my supervisor badge in my pocket. This isn’t a massive issue, as normally when dealing with customers, if you tell them you’re a manager, they respect that….

Enter customer C. They had a problem that I was very easily able to offer a solution to but were absolutely adamant they wanted to speak to a manager. They said, “Can you please get me your manager?” Me: “Actually, I am a manager. How can I help?” C: “No, get me your manager. You know, the person in charge?” So at that point, I realized I didn’t have the correct badge on, so I turned around, switched them over, and turned back to the customer. “Hi, I’m the manager. How can I help?” Reddit User: scottishwanderer

No Ice Cream Sundae For You

I’m a 22-year-old low rung manager of a movie theater. The guy tearing tickets took a lunch break, so I’m tearing tickets. A lady comes in like an hour before her show is supposed to start; the end of the film is still going on, and she’s holding what I can only guess is an ice cream sundae made for four people. I tell her we aren’t letting in for that film yet, and she can’t bring outside food into the theater…. 

She gets into a tizzy and tells me that she always brings her own food. I tell her, “It’s been a rule since before World War 2, you should get out more.” She says, “I want to talk to the manager.” I say, “Sure thing, I’ll go up to the office and he’ll come down.” And then I walked up to the office, came back down, and told her I’m the manager and she can’t come in with outside food. Reddit User: a_monomaniac

What A Beautiful Moment

I was bartending one night at this restaurant that I worked at for a while when I was younger. Later in the night, these two girls come in, treat me like garbage, run me ragged, and don’t tip. Afterwards, they come up to me, each with resumes in tow, and ask for the manager on duty. They’re now all nice and friendly because they want my help now to get the manager….

I had the biggest and brightest smile when I told them it was me and held my hand out for the resumes. They paled and went downstairs; the lounge is upstairs and the dining room downstairs, and I figured they would leave. I got paged to the front hostess stand, by the hostess, and there were the girls. They thought that I was lying to them! It was beautiful. Reddit User: keight07

Rules Are Rules 

I used to be a manager for a female clothing store at the mall. Because of our inexpensive price points, our store policy did not provide any refunds for purchases aside from exchanges and store credits. So we were always having customer issues when they would try to return something. Working there for so long, you become numb to customers yelling at you and creating scenes….

Heck, sometimes it’s hard to keep yourself from laughing when they escalate to yelling over a $1.90 camisole. One day, my cashier calls for “customer service” at the register. She has a customer wanting to return some heels she bought claiming she just bought them yesterday, no receipt of course, and I take great joy in telling her that I’m the manager and that rules are rules. Reddit User [redacted] 

 Revenge Of The Card

I worked as the assistant manager of a popular video game retailer. On a slow day, I had a guy come in and tell me he wanted to buy two PS2s, two copies of all the popular games, controllers, etc. Personal experience told me that something was fishy. I gathered up all he wanted and proceeded to ring it up. He whipped out a credit card and told me that this would be tax exempt…. 

His credit card was for the local airport authority and said “Tax Exempt #” on it with no number. So I asked the guy for a copy of his tax exempt certificate. He said that he didn’t have one, and anything charged to the card was tax exempt. He told me he’d call the manager and tell them I’d lost out on a big sale; I told him I was the manager and it was fine by me. It turned out the guy had been fired and was getting revenge using the card. Reddit User: BizzyM

Two Managers On Duty 

I worked in a movie theater with a full bar in it. I was helping sell tickets, and the other manager on duty was working at the bar since our bartender was running late. I had two guys come up from the bar, fuming mad. I immediately jumped on a register in order to take care of whatever was going on. These guys then proceeded to complain about how the ‘idiot bartender’ wouldn’t serve them without an ID…. 

They demanded to speak to a manager. I informed them that’s who I was, and I told them that our policy is that no matter how old you may look, we need to see a physical ID. Unsatisfied with my answer, they asked if there was another manager on duty. “Yeah; he just kicked you out of the bar, though, so I don’t know how much help he’ll be to you.” They then stormed out, and we never heard from them again. Reddit User: ethanandstuff

A Sale Worth Losing 

We had a special promotion where we were handing out promotional cards at the front of the store, and the customers could text a code and receive 15, 20, or 25 percent off of their total transaction. A teenage girl was at check out and had a decent amount of clothing I was ringing up and then told her the total. There were multiple people waiting in line….

“I tried texting the code, but it didn’t work,” she stated. This isn’t the first customer to say this, so I jumped in with the prompt, “You may have to go to the front of the store and try it, as some people aren’t getting signal back here.” She slightly scoffed. She said, “Can you just get the manager to sort this out?” I told her I’m the manager, and no, I can’t just give her 25% off. We lost that sale. Reddit User: thatismywife

It Helped That He Was Drunk 

I used to work in the box office for an MLB team. The actual manager was usually extremely busy and couldn’t easily respond to issues at 15 different windows, so we frequently pretended to be each other’s managers. It was the easiest way to get back up when an annoying customer would not accept one of our policies that we were telling them about….

One night, I was helping a very drunk customer who refused to accept a policy; I don’t remember exactly what it was. He asked to speak to the manager, but he and everyone else around me were crazy busy. So I turned my back on the customer, turned back around, pretended to be a different person, and backed myself up. He accepted this without issue and went on his way. Reddit User: Norman1515

Old Friends With The CEO

I was working at a chain bookstore in the same town that the CEO lived in, and he would frequently come into our store to get things. Had a customer blowing up at me over a return and that an exception should be made because he knows the CEO really well; they go way back. Not the first time I’ve heard similar things. It didn’t help that he got the CEO’s first name wrong….

I wish I could have some sort of memento from this, but the CEO was in the store that day. The CEO was in the very line for the registers that the annoying customer was holding up with demands to return something he didn’t buy from us. It was nice when the CEO came up to us at the registers to ask if they needed help, and it was nice to have two store managers stand there, confirming that he was talking to the CEO that he was supposedly good friends with. Reddit User: brandnamenerd

 The Best Way To Prove It 

I worked in HR and was in charge of enforcing the dress code. There was a very strict rule about piercings, and basically, women were allowed one matching pair in the lobe of the ear, and any other piercing, on men or women, was out of code. So this girl was trying to get into work with a septum, nostril, eyebrow, and lip piercing in. The security sent her to my office to review policy….

This was to either remove the piercings or get a grooming code pass to go to her job site. So I began talking to this girl and got her paperwork out that she had signed, stating she knew the grooming code. She then asked for the manager, which was me, and I told her that, and she called me a “lying sack of rubbish” and spit at me. I terminated her employment to prove to her that I was, in fact, not lying. Reddit User [redacted]

Assisting A Customer 

I work in retail, and this one time, this woman comes to our desk and says she wants to lay a complaint about something that happened to her in the store the other day. At this point, I recognize her, and then it all comes back to me, and I realize that I’m the person she wants to complain about. One of our staff members called in sick, and we had no one to replace her with….

So I stepped in to help at the tills, but I was a bit rusty since I haven’t had to fill in for someone in years since I’ve been promoted to manager. She says that there was this useless girl who was working the till and she can’t believe someone that incompetent was allowed to work. I go up to her and say, “Hi, I’m the manager. How can I assist you today?” Reddit User: [redacted]

Don’t Mess With Me Today 

I’m the president of the company. Back in the 2000s, our business model was outsourced IT for small companies that didn’t have IT staff of their own. I had about five guys in total. One day my senior engineer and I were installing some servers at a new startup. I had a ponytail at the time, and my tech was more clean-cut, so they assumed he was my boss, even though the company is in my name….

I could already tell they were fools, but I had to take a 5-minute phone call while I was working on a server. Dude goes to complain to my guy about me, talking about my phone call; my guy comes and tells me what happened. I told my guy to pack his stuff, walked up to the head idiot, and told him that I was, in fact, the owner of the company, that he was out of line, and that we were leaving. Reddit User: timsstuff

Woman On A Mission

I was an auto parts store manager. In that retail setting, you don’t see too many female employees, and when some customers come in, they want to talk to a male employee. I was working with another employee, a female manager, when a guy came in and started asking her questions. He clearly knew little, as he was the one asking questions. Our female manager was answering them….

The guy didn’t like or believe the answers coming from her. I was in the back around the corner but listening to the conversation. The guy said she clearly couldn’t help him and that he needed to talk to a man. I came out from around the corner about this time, and the customer came down to the register. He started asking me questions, and I said, “Let me ask our expert,” and I called over our female manager. Reddit User: TruthBeToldToday

The Downfall Of Looking Youthful 

Army lieutenant. Mid-20s, but looked like late teens. I was accosted by a new sergeant major, a 6’4” loud, angry guy, during physical training. This means that I was not wearing any rank. He shouts, “Hey, you! C’mere!” I respond and say, “Yes, sergeant major?” I’m not standing at parade rest when he’s talking to me, which irks him. He says, “Um, what is this? Are we buddies?”

I smile and shake my head. “I think what you mean to say is ‘are we buddies, SIR?’” Someone chimes in, “That’s Lieutenant Roughneck16, sergeant major.” He looks baffled, and all he can say at that point is, “Oh!” He salutes me, I salute back, and I’m back on my way. I got this kind of stuff all the time for looking young while in the Army. Reddit User: Roughneck16

A Story About A Trucker 

This guy runs refrigerated freight, gets a load from a broker, they sign the contract, and he sends them without any fuss. The load is ice cream. In the contract he sent, it clearly states, “I don’t like to sit and wait for loading/unloading. If a shipper or receiver takes longer than 2 hours, YOU (the broker) pay me $500/hour, within 24 hours, including the first two hours of waiting.” So the shipper takes an hour and a half to load two pallets….

He’s getting antsy about sitting so long and goes in to check on why they’re so slow, and the place is empty. He goes around the front of the building and knocks on a window where someone is working inside, and they say to him, “Oh yeah, shipping’s left for the night. They’ll finish loading you in the morning.” This doesn’t fly with him, so he calls the broker and reminds them of his contract terms. Don’t mess with a trucker. Reddit User: Mecharuva

 

Pointing Out The Obvious 

I was a sergeant with my city’s Transit Enforcement department. I was just making casual rounds when I overheard a lady scream profanities at one of my officers. I walked over to provide backup, and she started cussing me out too. She was upset because the officer had asked her not to smoke in the train station and was ‘harassing’ her….

She was cussing me out for standing there. Lots of ‘blah blah, get a real job,’ the typical daily abuse we deal with. I hadn’t really said anything to her until she told my officer to call her supervisor so that she could file a complaint against him for unlawfully harassing her. I stepped in and identified myself. I simply pointed to the ‘no smoking’ signs that were nearby. Reddit User [redacted] 

Women Empowerment 

This is just to put the story in context. I’m a 30F with tattoos, and I’ve been in management since I was about 18 years old, so I’m used to it, but this one was funny and just happened. My whole admin team hit one of their big goals a couple of months ago, so I took them to the spa as a reward. I was busy making small talk with the person taking care of the event….

I explained why we were there, and he said, “Oh, how’s the manager handling everything without the whole office there? He must work you ladies hard!” So I got to reply, “Well, I run the place, and I’m handling things just fine, but thanks for the concern.” It still amazes me how people assume that the manager is a man just because the ladies are at a spa day. Reddit User: chokeword

Can I Speak To Sally Mae? 

My aunt used to own a second-hand furniture store. She called it “Sally Mae’s Secondhand Shop.” I would occasionally go over and help her clean or rearrange furniture there. One afternoon I’m watching the front, and she’s in the back and the phone rings, so I answer. It’s this woman who sold an old armoire and is upset about the amount of money she was given for it…. 

This was told to me after the fact because I couldn’t decipher anything from the banshee screech through the phone. My aunt comes back and takes the receiver from me. She explains that the armoire was only worth about a hundred bucks. Banshee isn’t having any of it and demands to speak to “Sally Mae.” “Who?” “Sally Mae. It’s her shop, isn’t it? I want to talk to her. You’re rude.” My aunt laughs and says she’s the owner and Sally Mae is just a name she liked. Reddit User: mamblepamble

The Choice Is Yours 

An elderly man in a wheelchair came into my restaurant. He was very animated, saying stuff like, “I don’t need a menu. I just want to know where the food is!” And when I tried to sit him at a large table that was close to the door and bathroom, he exclaimed, “Don’t seat me there, looking like the last supper for me!” I sit him at a two-top, and I can already tell the female server whose section he’s in is not happy…. 

The man has been licking his lips and saying things to the first server like, “Are you on the menu tonight?” and “Let me get a slice of you for dessert.” So I go over and ask how the food is. He actually has the gall to complain. I tell him then that he needs to start behaving like a gentleman in my establishment, or I can wheel him right out the door. The choice is his. Reddit User: Norwejew