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Imagine trying to pay cash at a restaurant, and an employee accuses you of paying with counterfeit money. If you knew the money wasn’t counterfeit, what would you do?

In this story, one dad is in this situation, and he offers to pay another way. That’s not good enough for the employee who threatens to call the police.

Keep reading to find out what happens when the police arrive.

WingStop tries to steal from my dad

So this was a few years ago, my dad and his girlfriend went to WingStop for lunch. They were on the nicer side of town, and had just got done hiking at a local park, so they were kinda sweaty and gross.

My dad also has this big, wildly bushy beard, which doesn’t help him look any less funky.

Either way, they order, and both of them get a pretty large order with drinks and such, and their total comes out to $30 something.

I can’t remember exactly why, but he only has a $100 bill on him, not including his credit and debit cards.

Here’s some more context about the $100 bill.

Now this was pretty soon after they changed the look of the $100 bill, and both the new ones and the old ones were in circulation.

More often than not, you’d see the new ones, but the old bills popped up from time to time.

So he hands the cashier (C, for reference) the bill, and their conversation goes something like this after he “holds it to the light”:

C: I’m sorry sir, but I believe this bill is counterfeit. I’m going to have to confiscate it.

He offered to pay another way.

Dad: No that’s okay, give me the bill and I’ll pay with my card.

C: I can’t do that sir, it’s company policy for us to keep counterfeit bills. It’s to keep them out of circulation in other businesses.

Dad: That’s nonsense, give me my money back.

C: If you keep this up, I’m calling the police and they can handle this.

He was all for the police handling it.

Dad: You know what? Call the police. I want them here now.

By this point, there are several people in line behind them, complaining about what’s taking so long, etc.

The police are called, and they wait another 15 minutes or so for them to get to the WingStop. They aren’t taking any other orders or being remotely productive at all. My dad is getting visibly mire irritated by the minute.

Finally, the police (P) arrive.

Let’s see how the police handle it.

P: So, what’s the issue here?

C: This man is trying to pay with fake money.

Dad: Um, no, I’m trying to pay with my $100 bill and this cashier is trying to steal from me. Told them I’d pay with my card if they would just give the bill back, they said that it was “company policy” to keep counterfeit bills.

P (to C): Did you check it?

The police know what’s really going on.

C: Of COURSE I checked it, I held it to the light and the bar wasn’t there.

The police man is noticeably irritated as well at this point, snatches the bill and checks it with his fancy pen. The bill “passes the test,” and the cashier pales as they realize they’ve been caught.

P: So what you’re trying to tell me is that you wanted to steal from this man? Give the man his money back and stop harassing people.

Here’s how it ended.

The cashier takes the bill from the police officer and shamefully hands it back to my dad.

The cashier, who is— SUPRISE!— the manager, offers my dad his lunch on the house, and a gift card.

My dad refuses, and they go to the McDonald’s across the street.

My dad (and the rest of our family, surprisingly) has not been to another WingStop since.

So, was the manager trying to steal, or did he really think it was counterfeit?

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

Here’s a fun fact.

A former manager weighs in.

Another person thinks it was just a mistake.

Nobody seems to think the employee was stealing.

Calling the police really was the best way to handle the situation. I don’t think the manager was trying to steal. I think he really believed the bill was fake, and it sounds like, according to the comments, that employees are not supposed to give counterfeit bills back.

The manager did the right thing, but so did the customer and the police.

The post An Employee Stopped A Customer From Keeping A Bill She Thought Was Fake, Then Called The Cops, Only For It To Be Legit appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Pets with traumatic histories need boundaries, especially when unfamiliar visitors enter their safest space.

This bird owner moved his cockatiels into a locked bedroom and explicitly denied two children permission to handle them.

Ignoring that answer, the children entered the room, approached the birds, and found out why the warning mattered.

Their parents blamed the birds anyway.

AITA for not caging my birds when my relatives visited?

I (21M) have 2 cockatiels, Mordy and Charmy, they are both male and old. I have to give some context about them for the story to make more sense.

Every bird is different.

Charmy as his name suggests is very friendly and loves affection.

He can get anxious at times but generally he allows himself to be touched and carried around with no problem, however Mordy isn’t the same

He is missing half of his right wing, and so he can’t fly, not to mention he is missing a few toes, and this may have been done by his previous owner who gave him up.

That poor bird.

Point is, Mordy has had a rough past before me and it definitely still affects him to this day. He is very specific about who he trusts and lets handle him.

There are days where even I can’t touch him, so it’s entirely dependent on his mood.

All of my family is aware of his problems and understand it completely and never push to hold him if he doesn’t want to be.

Sounds like a nice setup for them.

The birds have a cage that opens up on the top, and they just like perching up there.

They don’t tend to fly off and aren’t startled by people walking by them so they’re generally very calm.

They are completely fine with the majority of my family (they visit me frequently enough that they are used to them).

The birds don’t recognize these visitors.

The problem however was with my German relatives that came to visit. Now, I barely know these people, I haven’t met them prior to this incident, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

They came to my house last Friday as they were hanging out with my parents and aunt, and they all decided to drop by.

My house was very crowded as a result and so I opted to move my birds to my bedroom, but I kept the top of their cage open as always because they don’t like being caged in.

He took all reasonable precautions.

Keep in mind, I locked my bedroom

The topic of my birds came up during conversation and the two kids who I’ll call Jan(11M) and Judy(9F) lit up and began asking if they could see and hold them.

You have to be really careful with kids and pets.

I told the kids no, they dropped the topic afterwards. They went to the living room to play and I thought this was the end of it.

Around 10 minutes later we heard a scream coming from my room, and when I rushed in there I found Jan and Judy by my birds.

This is way out of line.

Apparently the two got into my room and unlocked it so they all could play with my birds. Mordy ended up biting Judy, and Charmy got scared and flew away.

How about you get upset at your kids breaking into a room!

The parents obviously flew into an outrage and started asking me why would I not cage my ‘rabid birds’.

My parents were quick to defend me saying if their kids had listened to me and not gone into my bedroom, they wouldn’t have ended up bitten.

Judy’s bite was treated but the parents were still upset and left.

Just tell the relatives to never come back.

Now, my family doesn’t think I was in the wrong at all but my mother is getting a lot of backlash from the parents and other relatives (as they are from her side) since the incident so she asked me if I could apologize to keep the peace but I don’t want to.

It took me 30 minutes to calm the birds down after they left and I’m worried this might have negatively affected Mordy.

So, AITA?

These kids were out of line for disobeying and for breaking into the bedroom.

The parents should be mad at them, not the birds!

Check out the comments below to see what other people have to say about it.

I don’t see how the parents can be mad at him.

These kids broke into his room and deserved to get bit.

This commenter went through something similar.

Maybe the parents should teach their kids respect.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about siblings who don’t think they should have to give up their own sports’ seasons to help with their younger siblings.

Exactly, they were ‘caged’ in a locked room.

This young man secured his birds behind a locked door and clearly said no, but the children entered anyway and frightened them.

One child was bitten by the defensive bird, yet her parents blamed the owner instead of addressing the ignored boundary.

The post She Tried Keeping Her Pets Separate From Visiting Children, Yet The Kids Ignored The Closed Room And Learned The Hard Way Why It Was Off-Limits appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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School pickup turns competitive when one parent invents a parking space.

In this story, the car overlaps two neighboring driveways every day.

It only stays briefly.

Still, everyone else follows the obvious boundary.

Let’s see how this one played out.

AITA for telling someone not to park in front of my house?

I live near a school. Parents park on my street every day to pick their kids up.

There’s room for about 4 cars to park legally on my little cul-de-sac.

My yard and my neighbor’s yard narrows to a very thin strip at the curb, less wide than the width of a car, so you can’t park there without overlapping the driveway on either side.

One parent has started parking in this space to drop off and pick up their kid from school for the past week or so.

It results in their car hanging 1-2 feet over my driveway and 1-2 feet over my neighbor’s.

It’s not enough that I wouldn’t be able to get in or out of my driveway if I needed to, but it’s still partially blocking my driveway.

Their car only sits for about 10 minutes while they walk to the school and back.

Realistically it’s not actually affecting me unless there was a large delivery truck that needed to get into my driveway, or if they block my garbage from being seen by garbage men on garbage day with their car.

It’s the entitlement that’s the problem.

They must feel like they found a great life hack because now they basically have a reserved parking space every day, because every other parent is too considerate to do it.

And this is what ticks me off.

On the surface it feels like not a big deal, and confronting the parent could lead to unnecessary conflict, drama, and potential retribution. So maybe I should just let it slide.

But on the other hand, I am a petty witch who doesn’t like to see people get away with bending the rules.

OP is trying to decide how to handle this situation.

Would I be a jerk if I went out and told them it’s not a parking space if their car can’t fit without partly blocking driveways, and not to park there any more?

What if I take a more passive-aggressive approach and simply report them to city bylaw without warning, or give their license plate number to the school and ask them to do something about it?

What is the right way to deal with this entitled parent who seems to think they’re above the rules?

Let’s see what the comments on Reddit suggest.

This person offers a suggestion.

This person wouldn’t resort to getting petty right away.

Here’s another suggestion.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who doesn’t think their painters should use their water spigot on the job.

Or there’s always a tow truck.

This parent’s daily shortcut partially blocks two driveways, creating a reliable parking spot only because considerate drivers refuse to copy it.

A calm request through the parent or school would be reasonable before escalating the issue to city enforcement.

The post One Resident’s Frustration With A Parent Blocking Their Driveway Has Reached The Point Where They May Escalate The Issue To Local Authorities appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Imagine working at a furniture store, and employees are not supposed to help customers load furniture. Would you ever make an exception?

In this story, one employee was in this situation and made an exception, but first, he had the customer sign a form.

Instead of protecting him and the company, the situation escalated to a legal battle, but thankfully, the now-former employee has a friend who’s a lawyer.

Keep reading to see how the story plays out.

Malicious Compliance that almost got me fired !!! Revenge is unexpected but oh so sweet

One of the most entertaining things in a customer service/ dealing with the public role is the Husband and Wife dynamic.

Sometimes the Husband is the more reasonable of the two.

Sometimes the wife is the calm and understanding ones.

Other times they’re both a bunch of crazy apples.

This story is about one particular husband and wife.

On this particular day, I had a lovely wife with an extremely aggressive husband come into the warehouse and pick out a storage ottoman they wanted.

Now the storage ottomans were a frustrating item, as the metal mechanisms that allowed the lid to be opened and shut made the ottomans extremely heavy, needing at least 2 x people to lift it.

Naturally aggressive awful husband flat out refuses to pay delivery for his ottoman he’s just purchased. In his words

“We’ll just pick it up”

He knows that’s not what the customer really means.

Yeah right buddy… more like, we will drive our small car round back and your ware house staff can do it.

The husband and wife conclude the sales process in store and the sales associate passes a copy of the paperwork onto me.

I scan it over and make sure they’ve ticked off and signed off on the Terms and conditions :

• that all clearance sales are final
• that all clearance sales are “as is”
• that warehouse staff / sales staff are not covered under any insurance for loading or unloading customers goods and customers are responsible for the pickup of any items them purchase / order etc etc

But the customer is going to have to load it himself.

The customer pulls their car round… and it’s a smallish car, but should be fine.

The husband walks over and I show him where his freshly bagged ottoman is and hand him a trolley.

Man – what’s that for?

Me- to load your ottoman sir

He doesn’t seem to think OP is serious.

Man ( chuckles ) – no no no, you’re helping me

Me – there’s two of you sir, you’ll be fine

Man – well then I’m cancelling my order and filing a complaint against your company

I just sigh… I don’t want to cost this sales person a sale, but my gut is trying to tell me something.

He has an idea.

I quickly go into the office and grab a release form which we use for anyone picking up clearance , but make a few handwritten notes of my own.

I bring the paperwork back out and show it to the customer

Me – sir could you fill out your full name, contact details and initial these handwritten comments and sign this release

Man – why?

I wonder what it really says.

Me – it just says that you’re happy to have me help you load up your ottoman and that if anything happens you won’t hold us liable .

Man (smirks ) – wow, you guys sure take things seriously

I just smile as he signs the document. I pass it to my offsider , asking him to make a few photocopies for the sales associate, the manager, the Area Manager and the General Manager.

The wife grabs one end along with her husband and I grab the other end.

The husband is the weak link.

We all lift it up and begin walking it toward the trunk of the car.

The wife seems fine but the husband is struggling. He keeps asking to put it down so he can take a break.

We pick up the ottoman again, and as we are just about to reach the car, the Husband lets go of his end, the lounge tips to the right, i lurch forward and the ottoman smashes into the back of their car, taking out the right hand side tail light.

The wife immediately starts laughing as the husband loses his mind. He is inspecting the damage and is looking at me with wild eyes, wanting me to offering him an admission of guilt.

This is far from over.

I calmly stand there as they load up their ottoman and drive away.

Is that the end?! Absolutely not…

The next day the husband calls the store, he is filing a lawsuit against the company for damages and has provided HR and head office with excessive estimates.

Immediately I am called into the board room upstairs. There’s the General Manager, the Manager, HR and a legal representative who is there for the shareholders.

Now, remember those notes on the form the husband signed?

GM and HR explain to me that they’re not risking a lawsuit, that they’re going to pay for this guys car and that they’re going to fire me.

Without a word I take out the document the customer signed . I hand it to the HR rep , who hands it to the GM.

Me- the customer signed off on a release form after I explained that the company didn’t cover or expect me to load his goods. The customer clearly stated here that if I helped him he was absolving me of any liability including vehicle damage.

The GM hands the document over the lawyer who scans it. And his face changes – they know they can’t do anything.

He explained what really happened.

Me – ( I couldn’t help but add this ) ask your lawyer over there… I did EXACTLY what the customer asked me to do… I helped them. It was the customer who dropped his end of the ottoman… he caused the damage … not me.

There’s silence in the room

I turn and walk out. I’ve had enough.

I go to the warehouse, grab my bag, get a bus home and play some Dead Space 2.

It’s time for revenge…

There was aftermath… I went to my best friend with was a lawyer and put my own lawsuit against the company, for a variety of issues, and also sent a few emails out for the company to be investigated…

The Aftermath and Revenge –

the aftermath and my legal battle- ( trying to keep it vague-ish and not AS detailed just in case )

Time to do some digging.

After this nonsense transpired I got together with my best friend and we started looking into the company and the safety procedures they were breaking….

• the fact they were not hiring enough staff to safely lift items
• no lift access in the store which breaches safety laws regarding moving heavy items and also breaches a few laws around access for people on wheelchairs or disabilities
• no Overtime pay when people are forced to worked OT

Now a few other things that my best friend uncovered in his investigation

Let’s see what OP’s friend uncovered.

General Manager ran a special promotion during my time there , that proceeds would go to a Cancer Charity… and guess what? The $50,000 meant to go to charity disappeared… and somehow found it’s way into his bank account

there was also some claims made about the furniture that were false , made in Italy ( made in China ), 15 year warranty ( 2 year warranty ), unlimited cleaning for the entirety of you owning the sofa ( claims were always denied ) stuff like that

Armed with all this, my lawyer and I went to a mediation, where and their legal team tried to pressure me into NOT taking a payout of my wage, my holiday pay, and a payout of all my other benefits … if they made this lawsuit against me “go away”

Imagine their surprise when my lawyer began bringing up all the safety violations, staff wage discrepancies, not to mention the out right lies and stealing carried out by management ….

Here’s how it worked out…

The meeting was quickly postponed and the lawyer for my ex employer and the General Manager asked for a private conversation outside.

They asked me what it would take for me to not go ahead in court… my lawyer asked for all my benefits paid, and to pay out the rest of the year as if I had been working a 5 day week.

They deliberated for 15min before they agreed.

What they didn’t agree on… is that we couldn’t send off the violations to All the necessary government bodies.

Last I heard the GM AND MANAGEMENT team were fired and the company was fined $250,000

He’s lucky he had his friend to help him. The company sure didn’t see that coming!

Let’s se how Reddit responded.

This person loves how it worked out.

Another person needs advice.

Here’s some good advice.

Another person loved the story.

Really, he could’ve just refused to help the customer with the ottoman. Assuming the ottoman was a clearance item, all sales are final, so he couldn’t return it. I expected OP to point that out instead of helping.

But getting revenge was satisfying too, I guess.

It’s helpful to have a friend who’s a lawyer!

The post A Simple Act Of Kindness Cost Him His Job, And Now The Employee Who Carried An Ottoman To A Customer’s Car Is Lawyering Up appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Adopting a rescued animal should begin a happy chapter, but sometimes the past arrives asking for custody.

This young woman formally adopted a wounded kitten after the shelter completed its recovery, spaying, and microchipping.

Days later, a stranger tracked down her private number and claimed the kitten had escaped while searching for her.

See how it all played out.

AITA for adopting a kitten & refusing to give her back to her previous owner?

I (21F) went to an animal shelter about 2 weeks ago and fell in love with this gorgeous 6-month-old kitten, who was so friendly and needed a home.

Apparently this kitten had a troubled history.

I asked the team about her history to find out why she was there, and they said she was found in the road, abandoned and bitten by a dog.

I immediately filled in the adoption paperwork for this kitty, but she was still healing, so I couldn’t take her home straight away.

After some time passed, the day finally came to take her home.

On Saturday she was finally spayed, microchipped, and ready to come to her new home, which she has slotted into perfectly.

But that’s when she received a strange message.

So tonight I received a call and message from an unknown number that says she is the owner of my kitten and she wants her back.

She said she saw a post on Facebook that I had adopted her kitten and tracked me down on Instagram to find my phone number on my business’s account.

She had quite the convenient story.

She explained that she moved out of her parents’ house where the kitten lived and that she had to wait for her new landlord to tell her if she could have a kitten or not.

She said the kitten kept trying to find her, and one morning the kitten went outside to find her and wasn’t seen again.

Then she had a big request.

She asked me if she could have her kitten back. She even offered to pay for her because she’s been looking for her for a month and sent me photos to prove it is hers.

But she knows she doesn’t want to comply with this stranger.

I told her that I adopted her from an animal shelter, where she was recovering from a dog bite and kept in a cage, and that I am NOT interested in giving her back.

AITA?

She shouldn’t feel threatened into giving up a pet she rightfully adopted.

What did Reddit think?

Unless this alleged owner can prove she really was the rightful owner, this commenter thinks she should just move on.

She did everything right in adopting her new pet, so she should have no qualms about keeping it.

This commenter thinks that if the cat really was hers, she would have put more effort into looking for it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an artist who made sure to leave the walls of her home blank and boring before moving out, even though they were covered with gorgeous murals before then.

This cat appears to be in a much better home now.

This young woman completed the shelter’s adoption process after the injured kitten was found outside and nursed back to health.

The former owner may be genuinely heartbroken, but any dispute belongs with the shelter rather than the unsuspecting adopter.

The post Woman Adopted A Kitten From A Shelter, But A Stranger Later Tracked Her Down Claiming To Be The Animal’s Owner And Demanding It Back appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Every child deserves to feel chosen sometimes.

Yet one autistic boy keeps watching his brother receive all the special outings.

Their aunt plans to balance things with an amusement park trip just for him.

Grandma calls that unfair…

Let’s see how this one played out.

AITA if I only take 1 child to an amusement park and not the one that everyone else favorites

I (29F) have 2 nephews CM (10M) and CK(9M) that my mother/their grandmother (51F) has custody of- we’ll call her SR.

CM gets favorited by their grandma and can do no wrong in her eyes and is neurotypical, while CK is autistic and is often left behind and can do no right in her eyes.

Back story: this past weekend SR took CM camping but left CK home with his grandfather.

When I asked why she didn’t take CK she said that he didn’t want to go, to which he interrupts saying he wanted to but SR wouldn’t let him.

The kid was telling the truth.

When questioned she admitted that that was true.

I again asked her why she took CM and not CK and she said because CK doesn’t like to do the same things as her at the camp and that he’s too difficult.

And that she enjoyed the 1:1 time with CM.

So I asked when her 1:1 time with CK is going to be, to which she replied that they are all going next week and that there isn’t going to be a just the 2 of them.

That she will only do 1:1 with CM.

She wants to do something nice for CK.

CK is very upset that he is being left out.

So I have decided that once school lets out that I’m going to take just CK to an amusement park so he gets some special time that’s just for him.

SR is calling me the AH for not wanting to take both kids and leaving out CM.

WIBTA if I only take CK so he finally gets 1:1 time and favorited for once and not taking CM?

I think that sounds like a fair way to make it up CK. It might be good for CM to know what it feels like to be left out for a change.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Her nephew is lucky to have someone who cares about him.

Oh, snap!

There are definitely double standards here!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this postabout a man who thought he was staying with his brother for a month in his 1-bedroom Tokyo apartment, then got hit with a list of local hotels.

This is a good point. CK might want to do something else.

This aunt simply wants to give her overlooked nephew the one-on-one attention his brother regularly receives.

Taking only him would not be favoritism, but a small attempt to correct an existing imbalance.

The post She Planned A One-On-One Outing For Her Nephew Because He Frequently Gets Left Out, Yet His Mother Said The Other Child Should Come Along appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Living with roommates means signing up for a marathon of small negotiations.

One student studying abroad ran into a big one when a flatmate decided that two visiting friends would be sleeping on the living room couches for days.

The plan was presented as settled, even though the living room belonged to everybody and the student spent most of his evenings in it.

The student soon found himself in a difficult situation. Pushing back felt rude, but staying silent felt even worse worse.

Was one honest conversation worth the tension it would inevitably bring into the space?

Read on to find out what Reddit had to say.

WIBTA for not allowing random ppl in our living room?

I want to start this off by explaining my situation. I am currently studying abroad for one semester and live in a shared flat.

In total, we are 6 people, all with our own bed- and bathrooms and one shared kitchen/living room. Also, I am autistic, which my roommates know.

I keep to myself, and there haven’t been any conflicts until now.

Soon his roomie comes to him with an uncomfortable request.

Now, one of my roommates is being visited by two of his friends from back home and asked if they could stay in our living room for multiple days (on our two couches).

But he’s immediately wary of this.

And honestly, I don’t like the idea of people sleeping in our already limited communal space. It’s an open space where we normally spend a good amount of time each evening.

He starts feeling like this is more of an advanced warning than a conversation.

From his text, it sounds like it’s already planned like that. Also, saying no would mean that they would need to get a pretty expensive accommodation.

WIBTA for speaking up that I don’t want it?

If he really wants a different outcome, he needs to speak up now before it’s too late.

What did Reddit think?

This user thinks this student’s feelings are completely valid.

If his roomies ask him a question, they need to be prepared to accept the answer, even if it’s one they don’t like.

This commenter shares their experience in a similar situation.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a neighbor who documented times of noise spikes and turned their neighbor into a model tenant.

It’s time to push this roommate for a little more specificity.

All things considered, this student has been the model flatmate for months. That good reputation should earn him the right to be honest about his feelings on this.

It’s clear this roomie was sketchy about the request because, deep down, he likely knew it wasn’t a good deal for anyone else but himself.

And if the student refuses to speak up now, he could find himself turning into the resident doormat in future disagreements.

The visitors can find a hostel for a night or two, and the roommate can learn to ask first.

The post Student Learned His Roommate Invited Two Friends To Take Over The Living Room For Days, So He’s Torn About Speaking Up appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Sometimes customers do the strangest things, and after working in a retail job for a while, you might begin to think that you’ve seen it all – only for another customer to blow your mind again the next day.

Because if there’s one thing that human beings are, it’s emotionally unpredictable. And when you throw the stress of finances and shopping in chaotic and sensorily overwhelming stores (sometimes even with kids in tow) in, you have a real recipe for some drama.

For the returns desk worker in this story, unusual customer behavior was nothing new. After some time spent working in the customer service department, he’d witnessed a lot from other human beings, and had stayed measured while helping them out of all sorts of sticky situations.

But there was one customer with a scheme so audacious that even years later, he couldn’t quite believe what she had tried.

Read on to find out what happened.

My favourite story from when I worked returns

I worked on a customer service/returns desk at a big box home improvement store during college, and this is the one that still makes me smile at humanity’s brashness.

A woman comes in with an entire cart full of individually boxed CFL bulbs. “I want to return these. You can look it up on my card.”

She tries to hand me her credit card. I am no slouch at this game, but even I am astonished and simultaneously amused at her gambit.

Read on to find out why he was so amused.

“Ma’am these are the Earth Day CFL bulbs we gave out for free with purchase. All day yesterday.”

She is completely unfazed by this: she had her next lines practiced.

“No, I purchased these. Look it up on the card.” Waves the card at me again, trying to get me to take it.

Nope. I pick up a box from the cart.

Let’s see how he dealt with this.

“Ma’am, look here where the barcode usually is? No barcode. It says ‘Promotional Item’. I cannot look it up, or return it.”

She pauses to consider this, as if it is news to her.

“Okay, I’ll take store credit then.” I almost fell over the counter laughing.

I went over the tapes with the LP later, and she sat out there in the parking lot for hours the day before, asking customers for their free CFL bulbs.

Yikes! This is either financial desperation on the part of the woman (in which case this story is incredibly sad) or one of the best attempted scams this store will have ever seen.

It’s a rookie error, overlooking the fact that the promotional bulbs lacked the barcode and were, in fact, marked as such.

Credit to her, though; this would have been a genius plan if it had actually worked.

Let’s see what the Reddit community said about this.

This person had a similar silly returns desk story.

While others thought of ways he could have complied with her demands.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought her light bulb haul was a win in any case.

Genuinely, this woman must have been so disappointed that her master plan failed. Because if she had actually been able to return these bulbs for their RRP, she would have made a tidy profit from her day of sitting in a car park and persuading folk to give her their free light bulbs.

But she missed one key detail – the fact that the staff knew exactly what the promotional bulbs looked like, and weren’t about to be fooled that easily.

But let’s be real, light bulbs are expensive, and thanks to the refused return, she now has a lifetime supply.

She might be upset that she doesn’t have the windfall she expected, but in twenty years’ time, when another of her bulbs blows, she’ll be delighted that she doesn’t have to go to the store for a replacement. A lifetime supply of light bulbs, all in a day’s work. Now that’s not something to frown at.

The post She Rolled Up With A Cart Full Of Light Bulbs To Return — Her “Genius” Scheme Wasn’t As Clever As She Thought appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Magnific

Family can make even a simple favor feel like an obligation.

For one 19-year-old student, babysitting her little brother has become a source of growing resentment, especially after she felt that her dad and stepmom had failed her financially.

She had saved around €2,000 as a teenager, only for the money to disappear from the account where it was being held.

Now her parents expect her to help with childcare, even though they don’t financially support her.

When she finally said no, the consequences were bigger than she expected.

And suddenly, everyone had something to say.

AITA for refusing to babysit my little brother after feeling like my dad and stepmom screwed me over financially?

I’m 19 and still a student. My parents have been divorced my whole life, and I’ve basically grown up with family drama between both sides.

When I was a minor, I had a student job and saved around €2,000.

The money was on a bank account in my stepmom’s name, but it was my money.

Recently, the money disappeared (by “concidence” it was on the same day my dad allegedly cheated on her, which makes it more suspicious). I was told it was because of fraud.

Yeah, her stepmom’s fraud.

I can’t prove that my stepmom took it or kept it for herself, but I feel like I was financially screwed over. My mom believes my stepmom took the money.

My dad and stepmom also regularly expect me to babysit my little brother whenever they want. They don’t financially support me.

My dad has often told me that I don’t work enough and don’t do enough, and that his house isn’t a hotel.

He says I should contribute to the household and not only come over when it suits me.

I understand that I should contribute when I’m at their house, but I’m still a student and I don’t think I should always be available for childcare.

They make her feel guilty when she can’t go.

Recently, I had agreed to babysit on certain days, but I later said I couldn’t come. I feel really guilty about this because I don’t want to disappoint them or feel like I’m betraying them.

After I told my stepmom, I called her, and she said I was lying and that she was disappointed in me.

My mom is now very angry and wants to call my stepmom. She wants to tell her that I feel like my €2,000 was stolen.

I never wanted my mom to tell her about the money because I’m scared of my stepmom’s reaction.

She gets angry quickly when things don’t go her way, and I’ve been scared to be completely honest with her for years.

So confronting her could cause serious trouble.

Now I’m terrified that my mom’s call will make everything worse.

I’m scared my dad and stepmom will be angry with me, stop wanting me around, or that I’ll lose my relationship with them completely. I feel like I could lose everything.

At the same time, I’ve been living with this family drama for 19 years and I’m exhausted.

I feel guilty for saying no, but I also feel like I’m constantly expected to put everyone else’s feelings before my own.

They keep guilt tripping her.

I don’t know if my mom is trying to protect me or making things worse. I also don’t know if I’m being selfish or ungrateful by not always babysitting my brother.

She told me not to come over anymore to babysit because she can’t rely on me & that I can’t stay over because the new person babysitting is taking my room… + She was very cocky to say: we’ll see u whenever it fits your schedule.

AITA?

They don’t respect her. What did Reddit have to say?

A reader shares their thoughts.

Exactly.

Yup.

Some tough love.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about siblings who don’t think they should have to give up their own sports’ seasons to help with their younger siblings.

Another reader shares their opinion.

She doesn’t feel comfortable and safe around her stepmother for a while, and with good reason. Her gut feeling is telling her what’s going on.

Expecting a 19-year-old student to regularly provide childcare and guilt-tripping her is just wrong.

Not to mention the suspicious disappearance of the €2,000.

I say it’s time to call her stepmother out.

The post A 19-Year-Old College Student Refused Free Babysitting Duties—Only for Her Dad and Stepmother to Launch an Relentless Guilt Campaign appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Forgetting a phone charger at a friend’s house is understandable. Forgetting what sounds like the majority of your closet, bathroom and skincare routine requires a little more explanation.

One woman recently moved into a new house with two friends and accepted some moving-day help from a longtime buddy they affectionately describe as quite the “character.”

He can be incredibly loyal and helpful, but he also has a history of being oblivious to other people’s boundaries—particularly when weed is involved. So when he offered to help with the move, his friends agreed on one condition: the visit would last only three days.

Initially, everything went great. He helped them move, everyone went out together and the new roommates appreciated the extra set of hands.

Then his behavior started getting a little strange.

By the time he drove home, however, the bigger surprise wasn’t what he had done during the visit.

It was what he had somehow managed to leave behind.

What started with a few forgotten skincare products soon became an estimated 50 pounds of personal belongings—and apparently, he expected his friends to package and ship every last bit.

AITA for refusing to ship my friends stuff back?

Me (F24) and 2 friends ( S (F24) and H (M25)) just moved into a new house together. S and I have known each other for 15+ years and so have a few shared friends from each others respective schools.

One of them is “Hambo”(M25). Hambo is quite a character; a ride or die kind of friend but he also can be extremely oblivious to the point where it’s disrespectful.

Weed also makes this 10X worse. There was a prior incident that led us to believe he might revalue his intake and a conversation with S about being more mindful of others and their boundaries.

Yikes.

Fast forward to move in day, he offers to come help us and me and S agree as long as he only stays 3 days ( we love him to death but he can be a very stress inducing personality and we are in the middle of moving).

Moving day arrives, he’s super helpful and we have a lovely move in and night out afterwards.

However, the next night he begins acting weird. Eating all of the brownies we made, dumping an entire storage container of pasta in cold water to cook, all fairly small things but reminiscent of the other visit I previously mentioned that turned out not okay.

Definitely sounds odd.

The next morning, I leave for work pretty early and when I get back i see his location is on the road so I assume he’s left.

I notice some small things in the house that we gave him are still here that he left. 15 minutes later he texts me he is at the door because he left his stuff so I let him in and help him gather the things I saw in the living room.

Well by help I mean he stands on the porch with the door closed and asks me to get everything for him. I do and he drives off.

Byeeee.

An hour later, he texts the group chat asking if someone could mail his skincare that he left on a shelf. I text him separately and say yes.

Around 30 min or so later, as I’m unpacking my room, I come across an entire laundry hamper of his clothes. I text him and say he probably just needs to come back and get it ( he lives around 1:30 from our house but will be leaving for school in another state 6 days from then).

He says no, ship that to me too. It’s like 20lbs of clothes and that’s not going to be cheap.

No way.

We exchange some texts basically saying it’s too much stuff for us to ship and it’s going to be cheaper to just drive back and he can hang out with us another night. He claims we are holding his stuff hostage.

We later find two more FULL book bags of his clothes, blankets, skincare, and a caddy of bathroom stuff and medications.

This all adds up to like 50lbs at this point. We tell him this and that it’s too much for us to ship ( he said he would pay the fee fyi) and that it would be cheaper for him and easier for him to just come up and visit again before he has to leave the state.

Just trying to help a brother out…

No response.I decide to offer to meet him halfway but when I go to text him I see his location is already headed to school out of state 5 days early.

I don’t know how he forgot it all, it’s like his entire closet and bathroom.

AITA for saying I won’t ship it to him?

Agreeing to mail a few forgotten skincare products is a reasonable favor. Discovering an entire hamper, two backpacks, blankets, toiletries and medication changes the scale of that favor considerably.

Even if the friend offered to pay the shipping costs, someone would still have to gather everything, find suitable boxes, pack roughly 50 pounds of belongings and get those packages shipped. That’s a significant errand created entirely because he left an astonishing amount of his stuff behind.

His friends also gave him alternatives. They told him to come back, invited him to stay another night and were even considering meeting him halfway. Instead, he apparently left for school several days earlier than expected without arranging to retrieve anything.

Calling that “holding his stuff hostage” is unfair. They aren’t refusing to return his possessions or demanding something in exchange. They simply don’t want responsibility for transporting them across state lines.

The medications may deserve some urgency, so finding a practical way to get those to him separately would be considerate if he needs them. But the rest can wait for a mutually workable pickup plan.

Forgetting your belongings creates a problem. It doesn’t automatically assign that problem to whoever happens to find them.

This. person says just let him pay for it.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who calls on dozens of whirlygigs to combat the neighbor’s complaints about the fence.

This person thinks this was done on purpose.

And this person has a lot of questions and opinions…

Leaving 50 pounds of your belongings behind doesn’t turn your friends into a complimentary packing and shipping department.

The post Man Left Nearly 50 Pounds Of Clothes And Toiletries At His Friends’ New House, Then Accused Them Of Holding His Stuff Hostage appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Deadlines are the one thing in life that don’t care about your feelings, your sports schedule, or how close you were to meeting them.

The following story is about a father who watched his teenage daughter get a zero on part of a school project because she submitted it a few minutes after the midnight lockout.

The teacher had a clear policy, the project had been assigned a week and a half earlier, and the daughter still waited until the last night to finish.

When she asked her dad to go to bat for her, he declined.

Now the daughter is giving him the silent treatment, and his wife thinks he’s being unnecessarily harsh.

Keep reading for the full scoop.

AITA For Refusing to fight the teacher on my daughters grade on her project?

My daughter is 15, a sophomore in high school.

In her history class, she has this quarterly project that is divided into 3 parts.

He further explains the assignment in question.

Each part required a work cited page, as they’re mostly analyzing some type of document or something.

Basically, it’s printing out the document, the page analyzing it, and the works cited page.

This teacher has a rule that if the analyzing page and works cited isn’t turned in on Google Classroom by 11:59 the day before it’s due, you get a zero for that third of the project, even if you did it. This teacher locks it at 11:59.

They also have to be printed out as well as turned in online.

But this semester, his daughter had a lot going on, so her academic performance started to slip.

My daughter does sports in the fall, so she was working on it late at night the day before it was due, and it was done by 12:01-12:05.

So she got a zero for that portion of the project, and got a 61 overall for the project.

Soon his daughter comes to her parents for help.

She talked to the teacher about it, but she wasn’t budging, and my daughter wanted me to intervene, but I’m not going to.

In his mind, she needs to be held accountable, but his wife takes a very different stance.

The project is assigned a week and a half in advance, and she had time to work on it. It shouldn’t have even been turned in anywhere near 11 p.m.

I wasn’t mad at her, she made a mistake, but she was mad at me for refusing to fight the teacher on this and is being cold.

My wife thinks that the teacher is being harsh and that I’m being mean by not intervening.

AITA?

Disagreeing with your spouse on the best way to parent is never easy.

What did Reddit have to say?

This father is actually doing his child a big favor in the grand scheme of things.

This all comes down to procrastination.

This user actually takes the daughter’s side.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this postabout a man who thought he was staying with his brother for a month in his 1-bedroom Tokyo apartment, then got hit with a list of local hotels.

Intervening could teach his daughter the wrong lesson.

This dad is playing the long game, but his daughter is too busy sulking to notice.

A teenager who gets ten days’ notice and still finishes after the lockout has learned something no lecture could teach her. Ultimately, the zero stung the most exactly because it was fair.

Stepping in would have shown her that rules bend when a parent complains loudly enough.

Good parenting rarely gets applause from the kids, but this dad should stay the course.

The post Father Refused To Intervene After His Daughter Missed A School Deadline By Minutes, But His Wife Called Him Mean appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Sharing a college dorm room requires accepting that another person will occasionally annoy you. Maybe they leave clothes everywhere, hit snooze six times or somehow consume an entire semester’s worth of snacks in a weekend. What probably shouldn’t be part of the deal is attending their 2 a.m. phone conversations from your bed.

One 20-year-old says she actually gets along extremely well with her roommate, Sarah. They share things, enjoy spending time together and haven’t had any major conflicts.

There is, however, one habit slowly testing that harmony: Sarah loves a late-night phone call.

And these aren’t exactly hushed conversations under the covers. Sarah will talk and laugh loudly for hours while her roommate is trying to sleep just a few feet away.

The frustrated student has already tried a fan, an eye mask and even earplugs to make their shared room work.

But after waking up multiple times during another call that stretched beyond 3 a.m., she’s wondering whether it’s finally time to establish a rule.

Namely: at some point, Sarah has to hang up the phone.

AITA for asking my roommate to get off the phone

Hi everyone! I’ve never posted on here before, but I really need to figure this out. I (20F) share a room at university with my roommate (19F). For the sake of this post, I’ll refer to her as “Sarah.”

Sarah and I get along really well. We have no arguments, we share things well, and overall have a good time together. However, one thing has been bothering me from the very start with Sarah: how much she talks on the phone.

As I’m writing this post, it is 3:09 a.m. She has been on the phone since at least 1:00 a.m. and is still talking, laughing, and being loud.

My ears hurt reading this.

From the very beginning, I expressed how I personally have a pet peeve with people talking on the phone loudly and openly in front of me when things are supposed to be quiet. I can admit that this might be a little selfish of me, so I won’t be too upset over that.

But personally, if we live in the same room and sleep only a few feet away from each other, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for phone calls to be cut off at 1:00 a.m. or 2:00 a.m. at the latest.

Tonight especially, I woke up to her laughing on the phone and just sat up in bed. I hoped that if she saw she woke me up, she would quiet down.

That didn’t work, did it?

However, this did not work, and she woke me up once more. This time, I looked over and asked, “Is everything okay?” to which she responded, “Yes,” and kept laughing. I tried really hard to go back to sleep, but I just couldn’t.

I already sleep with my fan on high so it puts out noise, I sleep with an eye mask so the light from her phone doesn’t bother me, and I even slept with earplugs for a while until I lost them. But now it feels like my needs and preferences are being lost in the space.

On top of all of this, she never wakes up to her alarm.

Oh brother.

So this morning, she missed class and texted me: “Why did u let me lay back down?” I just responded with, “I thought you were getting up,” because she woke up to her alarm, looked at me, turned off said alarm, and then rolled back over.

Hot take: it’s not my job to get you up in the morning. I get up to my alarm every morning without fail, so it’s possible, I assure you.

I’m thinking if she went to bed earlier instead of talking on the phone all night, she would be well-rested and ready to wake up to her alarm. However, this is not the case, and Sarah continuously talks on the phone until she decides it’s time to stop.

This girl needs help.

I want her to have friends and talk to them; I want her to be able to talk to her boyfriend and stay connected with him, but I don’t know how to balance these things and also express how I’m feeling.

I’m really stuck in a tough spot because I feel like I’m not being respected in the space.

So, if I ask her to stop or cut phone calls off at a certain time, AITA?

Asking for quiet in a shared bedroom during normal sleeping hours isn’t an unreasonable restriction on Sarah’s social life. It’s a basic roommate boundary.

Sarah can absolutely talk to her friends and boyfriend, including late at night. But once her roommate is sleeping, she has other options: lower her voice considerably, take the call somewhere appropriate or wrap it up. Regularly laughing and chatting beside someone’s bed at 1, 2 or 3 a.m. isn’t exactly considerate shared-room behavior.

The alarm situation only adds another frustrating layer, although it should probably remain a separate issue. Sarah is responsible for getting herself to class. Her roommate doesn’t need to become her morning wake-up service simply because Sarah stayed awake half the night.

That said, hinting clearly hasn’t worked. Sitting up, asking whether everything is okay and hoping Sarah notices the problem leaves too much room for misunderstanding.

A direct conversation during the daytime would be much more effective. Rather than demanding absolutely no calls after a specific hour, they could agree on quiet hours when calls need to end, move elsewhere or become genuinely quiet.

College roommates don’t have to follow identical schedules. They do have to let each other sleep.

This person says OP is definitely NTA.

This person says she’s in for a rude awakening (literally).

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who doesn’t think their painters should use their water spigot on the job.

And this person says boundaries are necessary here.

If Sarah wants someone involved in both her 3 a.m. phone calls and her morning alarm, her roommate definitely didn’t sign up for either shift.

The post She’s Tried To Ignore Her Roommate’s Late-Night Phone Calls, But Getting Woken Up At 3 AM Finally Pushed Her To Want A Cutoff Time appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Canva

It goes without saying that customer service isn’t for everyone. Because honestly, working with people day in, day out can be grueling – even if they are the nicest people on earth. It doesn’t work for folk whose social battery is easily drained, nor for people who don’t enjoy building a rapport with other humans.

And if you’re not someone who is particularly good at regulating your emotions or staying calm under pressure, then dealing with emotional customers could just be your downfall.

Because as much as we might like to think that people are generally nice, working in customer service, you get to witness both ends of the kindness spectrum, usually on a daily basis. You meet lovely people, but also plenty of folk who are having a terrible day and decide to take it out on the person serving them.

And for the colleague of the guy in this story, one of those very people pushed him too far.

Read on to find out what happened.

Workplace freakout

Close to twenty years ago, I worked at a small hardware store in Massachusetts.

Most customers were just typical New Englanders (fast paced and uppity from a diet consisting mainly of Dunkin Donuts). Some customers, usually 10-20% of ’em, were nightmares.

Some of my coworkers were already cold, hardened misanthropes from dealing with the general public. Don’t get me wrong, I was cynical but I still tried to be pleasant and helpful to people.

One coworker, let’s call him Greg, was one bad interaction away from going postal.

Let’s see what working with Greg was like.

We usually worked weekends together and overall he was a hard worker, but he would vent non-stop about how much he hated the town, the people, the store, the boss, and anything else.

He would get finished dealing with a customer, they’d no more than leave the store, and he’d loudly yell something like “yeah, leave, don’t come back! Slip fall and break your spine on the ice you putrid *****!” He was always coming up with colourful curses for everyone.

One particularly crummy day we were getting inundated with customers looking for snow shovels.

We’d show them that they walked right by them, as they were on display outside and along the entire 30′ wall they walked by to ask us the question. The vein on the side of Greg’s forehead was about to explode.

Read on to find out what eventually caused Greg to flip out.

One customer started throwing a fit at him, might have been over price, and Greg had enough. He screamed out “you’re all ******* animals! All of you! Rahhh!!!”

He lifted up a bag of dog food over his head, bit it and split it in half, launching dog kibbles all over. He threw both halves at the nearby end display, knocked over a few shelves, and ran screaming down the center aisle, burst through the doors, and across the parking lot. Our boss walked over all nonchalant, holding his clipboard, and said “yeah he’s not coming back…”

Except, he did come back that night and rearranged the letters on the big display out front near the road to say “Greg Rules, **** [town].”

We didn’t know until the next day.

Well, if you’re going to quit your job, might as well do it in the most intense way possible, right?

Greg was clearly done with his job and this town, and he knew exactly how to make a dramatic exit.

Not the best for the business reputation, but for Greg’s reputation? That was a moment that would go down in history.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person admired Greg’s gall.

While others thought he quit in style.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had heard similar threats.

One can only wonder what was going through Greg’s head in this moment, but it’s pretty clear that there was a long amount of time leading up to this explosion in which Greg was deeply unhappy in his job. Or if not in the job itself, with the folk he was having to deal with day in, day out. It’s probably something that his manager should have picked up on beforehand – but then if he had, we wouldn’t have this story to hear about.

Let’s hope that Greg found a new career, and one that suited him much better. Because with a bit of luck and plenty of hard work, Greg could have built a much better life for himself – one in which he wasn’t constantly antagonized by customers or snapped at by rude folk in the store. It would be much better for his mental health, as well as his physical health, since this level of emotional turmoil really isn’t good for the body. But kudos to Greg. At least he left with a bang.

The post A Snowstorm Brought Out The Worst In Customers, And It Finally Broke His Already-Jaded Coworker appeared first on TwistedSifter.