The amount of frivolous personal complaints seems to have hit new levels.
Whether it's complaints from co-workers or customers, nonsense is nonsense. The things I've heard people complain about in the workplace boggles my mind.
"Your smile isn't bright enough."
"I didn't feel appreciated."
"The color of your shirt is too loud."
"Your name is offensive."
RedditorInfiniteCalendar1wanted to hear about some of the drama that's been thrown people's way, so they asked:
"What is the most ridiculous thing someone has filed a complaint against you or someone you know about?"
I once had a customer complain I didn't read the menu to her.
Not make suggestions, but literally read the menu to her.
"you guys have a great day"
Giphy"Working in retail I once said 'you guys have a great day' I was reported by an elderly women who objected to not being addressed as 'ma'am'."
"She also objected to 'have a great day' because she had come into the aquarium store because her fish was dead and she was upset that someone would tell her to 'have a great day' when her fish had died."
A measly grand?
"I got sued in small claims court by a mentally ill man who said I stole $1000 worth of roast beef and 2 sun tanning lights from him."
"It got continued twice and by the time we had our day in court, he forgot what he sued me for and just went off on a tirade about me being an a**hole."
On Camera
"I once had a complaint filed against me for calling someone a slur in the elevator. My boss called me in, and we watched the camera footage from the elevator."
"Me and the other person were talking and having a good conversation and laughing with each other. My boss just said 'yeah I watched it earlier and I have no idea what they are talking about'."
"So someone tried to get me fired for no reason."
(manager and up)
"I once was told there was a high-level (manager and up) meeting being held about me… on account of my emails being written too well. :/ "
"I can write quick, well-worded emails, and someone in upper management thought that I must have been spending too much time writing my emails, possibly as a means of appearing to be superior to others."
Closed
Giphy"I worked at McDonalds. A man put a complaint in because I wouldn't let him in after we'd already shut."
Yeah, closed means closed.
You had time to get there during open hours. See you tomorrow.
We have lives too.
No thank you...
Giphy"Got a complaint filed against me by a customer for unnecessary rudeness because I turned down a guy's offer to take me out on a date."
"He asked me (repeatedly) while I was working. Dude was at least in his mid 40s; I was 16."
a scarlet letter...
"When I was a teenager working at an ice cream store, a secret shopper wrote that I was 'friendly but did not smile'."
"This write up was posted on the bulletin board like it was a scarlet letter of shame and the manager talked to me about smiling more."
"30 years later, I am still friendly but unsmiling."
A Little Off
"I had a coworker from a different department call me this morning and threatened me for something his boss had done regarding something I have no control over."
"I eventually got him to sheepishly admit that there was nothing I had control over in the situation and he was mad his boss had made the decision without consulting him first."
"Government work attracts some odd balls."
People Reveal The Things That Are Unnecessarily Expensive | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Sometimes shelling out the extra cash for better quality is totally worth it. It can cost money to keep replacing cheaper items repeatedly. But some items ar...I hate retail!
"I was working in a lighting store (ceiling lights, chandeliers, etc). Secret shoppers would get sent over to us every so often and they were usually pretty obvious."
"This guy claimed he needed ceiling fans for his home so I go through the whole thing finding fans that work in his rooms, suit the design of his home, airflow needs, etc. But obviously without a specific need to buy something requiring electrical wiring this guy left without purchasing."
"He wrote that I was excellent in every way but didn't try to upsell him anything."
"At the next staff meeting the manager read this out, tried shame me in front of everyone and stressed that we need to try and sell people crap they don't even need."
"How the heck do I upsell a damn ceiling fan? 'Hey would you like a $2000 crystal chandelier with your fans? How about a set of garden lights?' I hate retail."
Stay Literate...
Read Friends Tv GIFGiphy"I once had a coworker file an HR complaint against me for reading books at lunch."
"I told HR that he's probably just offended I'm not reading adult magazines on the clock like he does."
Just Ask...
"This happened fairly recently. My new co-worker has been treating me like I'm incompetent since he started. One of his favorite subtle insults is to tell me, "If you didn't understand, you should have asked me" when he assumes I've made some sort of mistake. One day he messed up and failed to accomplish a task the way it had been defined. In a moment of thoughtlessness, and because the phrase on its own is insulting but in a pretty minor way."
"I told him that if he hadn't understood, he should have asked me. He immediately went to the general manager to file a formal complaint against me on that basis of that one sentence. They took it surprisingly seriously, though I was pretty easily able to convince them it was a minor misunderstanding." ~ Oudeis16
I'm going to Target!
"I work at Walmart. A customer complained that I was on my phone the whole time. If you work at Walmart or any retail place. then you know we have those stupid Android handhelds. I use it to make sure grown adults aren't stealing and to do age checks and stuff. My manager looked at the video and was like yeah. That's not a phone it's just something she needs to do her job. Customer just couldn't comprehend that." ~ Mads21xx
she tried to strangle my grandma...
I'm a nurse and my husband's crazy ex called my work with a litany of complaints against me. Things as small as "she's stealing the narcotics" to "she tried to strangle my grandma." She was desperate to get me fired so I couldn't afford to live with my then-boyfriend. My manager called me into her office and said, "What the hell is going on?!" ~ Itsjustmeagainmom
Torn
Karen Intensifies GIF by MOODMANGiphy"I worked at Pier 1. On Black Friday a woman tried to have me fired for putting her purchase in a paper bag with a tear at the top." ~ Wide_Ocelot
"refunds"
"Years ago, back when I worked at a video arcade, there was a kid that had been asking me for free tokens one day. I gave him a few, because we were allowed to give some out each day as "refunds" and it was a slow day so I had extra. He came back a little later for more and then got upset when I didn't give him any more."
"The next day he came in with his mother and she said that he told her that I took one of the fake plastic guns from one of the "shooter" style video games and threatened to kill her son with it. She told all this to my manager and I was instantly fired on the spot without the chance to say anything. It really sucked because I really liked that job."
"I got to spend all day around video games, watching people play, repairing the cabinets, which was awesome because I am an avid gamer and it was like a dream come true to work with video games. Ever since I've worked in offices and well... life has been a little more grey since." ~ Sardonnicus
Keep Standing
"I was training a new employee (I was early 20s, she was late 40s) and I told her that if we finished our work a few minutes before break, we could stand around as long as we were available to customer questions. She told on me and I got written up the next day. Now I only train exactly what we're supposed to do." ~ weeabooty420
Too Kind
"Being too nice. I worked inside a coffee shop that was inside a grocery store during this time. Man walks in and I greet him and ask him what he'd like to order. He literally bolts and complains to the IT guy that I was too nice and too happy. He came in to inform me what had just happened and he wouldn't stop laughing at me." ~ YellowSphinx
A Bad Boost
"I jokingly told co-workers I was feeling disgruntled that day. The administrative assistant (whose job I was actively training for) overheard me and reported me to the boss. I had to have a sit down meet with them both and got written up for not "boosting team morale". Another time the same AA went into the bathroom after me and noted that I did not refill the toilet paper while I was in there."
"Again, had to have a meeting over it. I was SO happy when she left. I was a large public bathroom with 4 stalls. I didn't leave the place without any toilet paper. One of the stalls was running low and apparently I should have checked it and put more rolls in." ~ SugarHooves
Not my Foam!
"A woman ordered a cappuccino and got upset that the one I made her had foam. I explained to her what a cappuccino is, she got angry and said "I know what a cappuccino is!!!" And lodged a complaint with my manager." ~ SquiddSyd
How did he find me?
"Out of the blue, a complete stranger who had just been released from state prison sued me in family court asking for visitation with our 10 y/o non-existent child. Apparently he had gone to a party at "my" house and "we" had a one night stand in my basement bedroom (my basement is not finished). When "I" got pregnant I promised to have an abortion but did not, and now he was ready to step up and be a dad! How did he find me?"
"He couldn't remember an exact address so he went through my neighborhood on Google Maps and was "sure" it happened in my house. For weeks he refused to believe he had the wrong person until I went to the police station and had an officer email a family photo to him while he had him on the phone and vouch that it was me in the photo." ~ jenel2583
I'm so glad I work at home with only dogs and a cat.
And when I go outside I avoid eye contact for all of these reasons.
Find some inner peace folks.
Want to "know" more?
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
CW: Death and miscarriages.
It's always sad when a couple doesn't make it all the way.
Especially when a promise was made.
Isn't that what an engagement is?
A very expensive promise.
Diamonds ain't cheap.
Redditor mimi_nivi wanted to hear about the reasons why finally getting to "I DO" was impossible, so they asked:
"People who were engaged at one point but never got married, what happened?"
I've never been engaged.
And I thank God everyday.
My laundry list of exes is full of stains.
Not in Bed?
Season 5 What GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Came home for lunch one day to surprise her. Surprise was on me as she was in the middle of doing her co-worker on my couch. I loved that couch."
Siguldg
3 Months Before
"He wasn't participating in the wedding planning at all and I realized he didn't actually want to get married. There was a lot of pressure from his family and admittedly, me as well. I just wanted a family and to be married and hadn't really paid attention to his reluctance up until that point."
"It was 3 months before the wedding and I sat down and reviewed our relationship. We were incompatible at several crucial points, even though we loved each other a lot. So I called off the wedding and ended it and while we were both sad, we were also relieved."
"This was more than a decade ago and whenever we run into each other we catch up and there are no hard feelings at all. He's married and a father now and I couldn't be happier for him."
Midnight_Muse
Back in 2012
"She died due to seizures. 3 am: she was home alone. She woke up and had a seizure and unfortunately hit her head against a wall… 7 am: she was supposed to show up at her parent's house to drop off the dog before work. She didn’t. 9 a.m.: her parents went to check on her, the dog was fine, but she was unresponsive. 9:30 am she was declared deceased at the scene. 10 am: I was at work and I got a call from her father… I lost it right there. It was back in 2012 but still, I’m not over it yet."
Fragrant-Snake
Cruel
"We had like 6 miscarriages."
"At the end of the relationship, he said something to me like 'It’s just so hard… I look at your face and I feel like I SEE nothing but 6 dead babies.'"
"Can’t really come back from that one. I mean some people can. We couldn’t."
"It’s crazy in hindsight but everything just kind of worked out. I have two beautiful daughters and a stepdaughter I love and a great life!"
relentpersist
Whoops
"Turns out she liked vagina as much as I did."
wayneo88
Sometimes too many of the same interests are NOT a good thing.
Lesson learned.
Thank You
Preach Amy Poehler GIF by SistersGiphy"He cheated before we got married and I found out. I thank the stars every f**king day I didn’t marry him."
fatfemmebish
Old Friends
"She started hanging out with an old group of high school friends and just changed. She became extremely nasty over wedding plans, telling me we had to have the exact same number of guests on both sides. If I had one more guest than she did, she made me remove someone from my side. I knew if I moved forward it would have ended in divorce, so I just ended it before it got to that."
Wastoponcene
True Colors
"The longer we lived together leading up to the wedding, the more he showed his true colors. One day while I was cooking dinner for us he started screaming at me, like an inch from my face, and called me a (see you next Tuesday.) Something about it snapped some sense into me. I walked out and never went back."
gamergirl007
Technicalities
"We’re still technically engaged, but we never wanted a wedding. We met way late in life (I’m 50, she’s in her mid-40s), no kids, and if we get legally married the gov’t f**ks with her disability assistance so she is my spouse, my partner, and my soul mate. But we don’t feel the need to get married. But I do have a living will just in case. We will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary early next year."
lovedontfalter
Holy Mary
like a virgin madonna GIFGiphy"The Holy Spirit came to him in a dream and told him that he couldn’t marry me because I wasn’t a virgin."
hitlersd**k69420
Well, sometimes it's just not meant to work out.
And that sounds like a blessing.
A Redditor asked:
"What was the most disappointing, tourist infested place you’ve ever been?"
For the 'Gram
"I'm sure other cities have this problem, too, but there's an epidemic in New York City of pop-up 'museums' that are essentially just Instagram backgrounds."
"There are some great temporary exhibits in the city all the time that genuinely have cool artwork, or historical items, or just make for a neat experience. ...and then there's ones that just have a bunch of backdrops for people to pose in front of and maybe a placard."
"Special shoutout to the 'Museum of Candy' that was hosted in a random warehouse and where you didn't even get any candy with your ticket admission."
~ blueeyesredlipstick
GiphyThe Locals Are Over It
"Nassau,Bahamas. It was like being in a very expensiveprison."
~ outerproduct
"My grandpa was born and raised in the Bahamas. We used to visit periodically to see a gang of old lady relatives who lived in Nassau, starting in the 1970s."
"There used to be a nice old fashioned island feel to the place, lovely old shops and awesome quiet beaches."
"Once they built Atlantis and all the cruise ships started dumping people in town everything started looking like a crappy strip mall and everything fell apart."
"Now it's dangerous and horrible and all the Bahamians hate all the tourists and can't be bothered."
~ watermama
GiphyNo Wonder She’s Not Smiling
"The room with the Mona Lisa in it, The Louvre, Paris, France."
"It's behind glass and I couldn’t get anywhere near it and it’s not that big of a painting to see from the back of the room when all the people in front of you had giant cameras."
"Maybe it’s better in the age of cell phone cameras—but I doubt it."
~ Appropriate_Panda467
Not Like In the Movies
"Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California… literally a worse version of NY Times Square (which also sucks)."
~ Phader24
"I remember the smell most of all—a heady mixture of weed smoke, urine, and tour bus exhaust."
~ lost40s
GiphyTrying To Get THAT Shot
"The leaning tower of Pisa, Italy."
"A field of tourists trying to take a picture of the tower without other tourists in it and souvenir shops trying to sells those tourists stuff."
~ Korpikuusenalla
GiphyThe Locals Are Over It, Part 2
"Every cruise ship port in the Caribbean."
~ Lallner
"A coworker had a cruise re-routed from its original destination to the Bahamas because of a hurricane.
"He was pretty upset and called the Bahamas 'the McDonalds of the Caribbean'."
~ BGFalcon85
"I don't even get off the ship anymore."
"I just enjoy the opportunity to have a mostly empty ship and drink cocktail after cocktail on the pool deck and enjoy the scenery of the clear blue waters around the ship."
~ HottestGoblin
GiphyNot the Same
"My own city in the last 10 years. Amsterdam, Netherlands really took a nosedive. Lots of unique little shops disappeared in favor of approx. 10 million frozen yogurt/chocolate waffle stores."
"Tourists used to be a few chill, cheery groups interested in the city they were in—now they sometimes look like hordes of zombies hobbling from one tourist trap to the other. Painstakingly slowly, and of course taking up the whole sidewalk."
"I would like to see MORE tourists who actually visit Amsterdam FOR Amsterdam—its architecture, history, culture, etc... Instead of hopping from one chain store to the next, or acting crazy because one thinks one can do anything and everything in this 'free city'."
"Amsterdam can still offer a great time, but make sure to prepare properly so you can avoid the tourist traps that bloat the cityscape and have out-competed the independent shops that gave my city its unique character."
"Amsterdam now often feels disappointing to me, specifically, because I can compare it to the way it was 10-15 years ago. And it's unfortunately just not the same."
~ dreamy_25
GiphyNo Leisurely Strolls
"Venice, Italy in August, I felt bad being there. Luckily was only a day trip but it was like something from a horror film."
~ luckybeee
"I was in Venice in late September last year, so off peak season, and I was told they stopped letting cruise ships stop there, so it wasn't completely packed."
"I had a great time, but the sections of the city that were closer to St. Mark's were still quite crowded. That, and the shops went from local restaurants around our Airbnb to Chanel stores by St. Mark's."
"I could see if it were more overrun with tourists that it would be unmanageable. Those tiny alleys you have to walk through would get crowded fast."
~ Lambfudge
GiphyDo Not Pet the Fluffy Cows!
"Yellowstone National Park, USA is fantastic when it's just you or a few other people."
"However, most of the main sites are so full of people it really feels like Disney World at some points instead of nature."
"It's also infuriating when I see so many tourist disrespecting the nature by walking off of the paths/boardwalks and leaving trash around."
~ wyatt_sw
GiphyBuy a Postcard
"The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City."
"It was incredible to see in person, but it was literally shoulder-to-shoulder with people and they were trying to usher everyone through as fast as possible, so I felt like I was in the way and couldn’t stay long."
"I would have loved to just gaze quietly at the ceiling and take it all in for several minutes, but that wasn’t an option."
~ Atheist_Alex_C
"My main memory of the Sistine Chapel was the guard yelling SILENZIO! SILENZIO! the whole time."
~ ima_mandolin
"I don't even remember what it looked like when I went. We were rushed in, attendants yelled 'no photo' every second, then everyone snuck photos anyway, then got rushed out."
~ MxMstrMxyzptlk
"Ugh, I had the same experience. I was there at the end of June and not only was it crowded, it was 38°C (100°F), so it was f'king miserable inside and reeked of body odor."
~ pinkkittenfur
GiphyNot an Ariel View
"The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark was...underwhelming. To be fair though, I shouldn't really have expected to be whelmed by a little mermaid statue."
~ Apprehensive_Jaguar
"It was so tiny and just swarmed by people with selfie sticks knocking each other in the head! I ended up skipping that adventure and exploring the area instead."
~ BrookeStardust
GiphyIndonesia Has Many Islands
"Any tourist destination in Bali, Indonesia."
"Beautiful place, amazing food, stunning vistas, friendly people, but the pushy salespeople on the street outside every tourist destination trying to extract every rupiah I had for tourist knick-knacks ruined a lot of the good vibe."
~ PeterJoAl
GiphyIt Was Just a TV Show
"Dubrovnik, Croatia after Game of Thrones. So many Khaleesies."
~ ComfyHomonto
"I was in Dubrovnik before GoT and even then it was a bit of a tourist trap. It's probably a million times worse now."
~ f1manoz
"It's insane. We stayed there for 3 nights."
"The first day it felt real crowded, but was still a really cool thing to see if quite touristy. It's just a neat place to walk around and check things out."
"The second day 2 cruise ships came in and dear sweet God. I've literally been to festivals that felt less crowded, zero exaggeration."
~ Regular_Working_6342
GiphyBeware of Scammers
"Cairo, Egypt......all of Cairo."
~ RhinestoneHousewife
"I'll never forget that Reddit thread where people were asked which country they'd never go back to and almost all the top comments were Egypt. Such a shame considering that the country has a really rich history."
~ alicization
"I've seen 4 videos of people in egypt at the pyramids, all 4 were harassed basically the whole time by tourist traps. That's the sad part about going to poorer and touristy countries."
"Many people see a foreigner as a meal ticket to scam, of course there's good people but the bad usually outweighs the good in my experiences."
"My grandfather served in ciaro is WW2 as a prep cook for the military, he loved Egypt so much for most of his life and went many times over the years. Back in 2010 he went for his last time to Egypt with my grandma."
"He had health issues but he mainly didn't want to go back cause of all the tourist traps."
~ Turbulent_Pea_2568
GiphyNot a Jolly Holiday
"Oxford Street, Central London."
"The place for you if you enjoy:"
"Claustrophobic levels of crowding, overpriced/borderline fraudulent retail, traffic that barely moves, groups of roadmen/hood teens everywhere."
~ o1frmda4
"As a northerner I was always led to believe that Oxford Street was the place to be and had amazing shops."
"I was gutted when I got there when I was 21 to find that most of the shops were available in Newcastle, some resembled market stalls just indoors, and the rest sold tourist tat."
"Honestly gutted. Haven't been back and I'm now 38."
~ SparklePenguin24
GiphyI spent time in South Dakota as a kid. My paternal Grandparents lived there in the Paha Sapa (Black Hills).
My Sisters and I would tease my Mother because every time we visited, she'd take us to Mount Rushmore.
They're faces carved in a mountain—they don't change.
If you've seen it once, you really don't need to wade through tourists to see it again!
So, what's on your "not worth it" tourism list?
