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Creepy neighbors seem to be all the rage these days!

And that’s not a good thing…

The woman who wrote this story refers to the guy who’s bothering her as “the town creep”…and that’s never a good thing.

These stories seem to keep popping up again and again, and that’s pretty scary!

Is it because our society is becoming more depraved, or are we just more aware of it now because of social media?

I guess time will tell…

Check out what this woman had to say about her creepy neighbor who just won’t leave her alone.

My neighbor is a peeping creep. How do I keep his eyes and cameras out of my house?

“I live across the street from the town creep.

Multiple neighbors have restraining orders against him as he was found breaking into homes to snoop, and was recording people using the toilet through their windows.

Some people are just plain CRAZY.

He has cameras installed all over his property, and if anything is happening on the block he will literally *run* outside and hold his phone up and record.

One day he got my phone number from another neighbor and started blowing up my phone, telling me the second my mail arrived, if the meter reader stepped foot on the property, if a package got delivered, etc.

Then he started texting things that weren’t actually happening and asking intrusive questions, such as saying that some city workers broke the water line on my property and I wouldn’t have water anymore, or asking me if I think he’s attractive (I flat out said no and told him not to ask me about things like that ever again).

Okay, this guy is pretty scary.

I told him not to contact me unless there was an emergency of some kind, so he started showing up on my doorstep and texting me “meet me at your mailbox” or “come talk to me it’s important”, but would then just ask me how I’m doing and why I hadn’t gone to work on Monday that week, or if I got the package that was delivered on Wednesday.

I stopped responding to him and started ignoring him.

When he continued to show up at my door, I texted him to go away and not bother me anymore.

It seems that he can and will find any excuse to text her.

He then started harassing me about my trash bins, texting me as soon as the garbage was picked up that I needed to come collect my bins, and literally would not stop until I pulled them back up the driveway.

Considering I work 50 hours a week, some days it’s going to take 12 hours for me to get to the bins, and he would text me repeatedly throughout that day.

I told him to knock it off and mind his own business, but he persisted.

Here’s some context about her house.

My house is shotgun style with large, lead-pane windows that don’t open. I have no AC. If I want any sort of ventilation or breeze, I have to open both the front and back doors. I keep the screen doors closed, but there’s no other way to keep cool and have fresh air.

I’m boring, y’all. I don’t do anything on my days off other than dissociate via YouTube, nap and snack.

I assumed I was too boring to be of interests to literally anyone.

Too bad I was wrong!

It sounds like this dude could potentially be dangerous.

One day I was chilling on my couch in my living room and happened to glance up and out my front door.

Across the street stood the jerk himself, holding up his phone and recording me, talking to himself like a lunatic.

I was sitting on my couch, fully dressed and covered, dying slowly of heatstroke and playing on my phone. There was nothing fun or salacious happening, and yet, there he was, deep in my business.

I immediately texted him and asked him if he was seriously recording me?!?

He didn’t deny it.

He didn’t answer and just hurried inside his house, slammed the front door, and then texted back that I should be careful about what’s visible to public view.

I told him to never contact me again, never step foot on my property again, and to stay the hell away from me.

I put up frost panels in my windows so he can’t see into them, but I don’t know what to do about my doors. If I don’t keep them both open, it becomes dangerously hot and suffocating in my house.

This just keeps getting weirder…

I haven’t caught him recording me again, but I have caught him looking into my house from his front porch.

Is there some product I’m missing that would make it impossible to see into my screen door without losing the breeze and air?

I hate that I can’t just exist in my own space, but AC units are useless without a functioning window, and I feel claustrophobic and damp when the house is locked up.

The police aren’t helpful at all.

I went to the police to ask about what could be done, but the thing is, he is obviously mentally…off.

There’s characteristics of a developmental delay or other impediment present. As a result, the police won’t prosecute him or even go speak to him on my behalf because “he doesn’t know any better”.

That is complete and utter nonsense.

He absolutely does know better.

She needs advice.

He works. He owns a home. He lives independently. He’s just gross and nobody will do anything about it because they don’t want to be seen picking on the “special“ guy.

They told me I could pay $350 to file for a restraining order, but he’s allowed to view and record anything he can see from the road or from his cameras.

Help. Any ideas on how to preserve privacy while still getting that life saving breeze? I can’t stand this.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT department who keeps receiving tickets for a company that was previously spun off.

Readers on Reddit shared their thoughts.

This person weighed in.

Another individual had a lot to say.

This person weighed in.

Another reader spoke up.

And this person shared their thoughts.

Is this situation infuriating, or what?

You can say that again!

Nobody wants to deal with a creep like this because, besides being annoying, it’s potentially dangerous.

She needs to get a restraining order against this guy immediately!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a family who is resisting pressure from the HOA to remove their tree and lights.

The post Woman Is Frustrated Because Her Creepy Neighbor Keeps Spying on Her, but Police Refuse to Act appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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A tire appointment should not produce a five-day interpersonal crisis, but in this story, that’s exactly what happened.

A woman who brought her car to her sibling’s car dealership for a tire change and alignment spent two hours in her sister’s office and exchanged small talk with two colleagues who stopped by.

The second one extended his hand from the doorway while she was seated too far away to reach it, so he retracted his hand before she could get up. She thought nothing of it.

But five days later, she found out the man hadn’t stop thinking about the missed handshake.

Given the fact that she’s unlikely to ever see this man again, she found the whole complaint totally pedantic.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA: I accidently missed a handshake

My car needed new tires and an alignment, so I brought it to my sister’s dealership for the family discount.

We are both in our 30s.

I hung out in her office until my car was done, which took about two hours.

During that time, two of her colleagues came in to say hi. They were both men in their 50s.

She thought it had been a perfectly normal interaction.

I small-talked with both of them, thought they were both very nice, and that was that.

Five days later I got a call from my sister.

She said one of the colleagues approached her and said he was “very upset and offended” — his words — that I didn’t shake his hand.

She begins replaying the whole thing in her mind.

Thinking back, I remember shaking the first guy’s hand because he walked into her office and right up to me, and his intent was clear. He sat down and stayed for a while.

The second guy came in some time later and just kind of extended his hand from the doorway while I was sitting back, relaxed, in a chair not within arm’s distance.

I did lean forward to get up and shake his hand, but he had already retracted it at that point and jokingly shook the other guy’s hand, who was still hanging out in the office.

The second guy hung out for a few minutes, chit-chatted, and left. The first guy left shortly thereafter.

But still, she had no idea she had somehow offended anyone.

I thought it was a fine, surface-level interaction and thought nothing more of it.

Apparently, this has been on that second guy’s mind for five full days and was enough of an issue to approach my sister about it.

He was very upset and offended about it, especially because I had been described as being very sweet and nice.

Her sister throws her under the bus to save face.

She said she played it off as me having a blonde moment and that it wasn’t intentional, but that in the future if I see him again I should definitely shake his hand and make a joke about it.

I’m sorry, but what?

My car is a different brand than her dealership’s, but tires are tires, so I’ll likely never see this guy again. But if I do, I now have to make a spectacle about an accidentally missed handshake?

AITA for missing a handshake?

Overreacting, much?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT department who keeps receiving tickets for a company that was previously spun off.

Redditors are sure to get a kick out of this one.

This guy is really making a mountain out of a molehill.

There are some major red flags coming off this guy.

Life is already hard enough without being forced to interpret some weird secret language.

When you have social anxiety, it’s normal to spiral about everyday interactions, but most people just keep it to themselves.

Being asked to plan an apology joke for an accidental missed handshake is a sentence that shouldn’t exist, and yet here we are.

Any reasonable person would agree that this woman’s intention was never to snub this man. She was sitting in a chair at an unreachable distance when he extended his hand from a doorway and then pulled it back before she could stand. That’s a normal mistake that most people would just laugh off.

But proceeding to stew about it for days and then cause unnecessary drama about it is just taking things too far.

People make mistakes and no social interaction is totally perfect. It’s real life, not a sitcom.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee whose dietary restrictions caused the whole office to turn against her.

The post Woman Stops by Her Sister’s Car Dealership for Tires — Accidentally Ignites a Five-Day Drama Over a Missed Handshake appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Sometimes a casual conversation brings out opinions you didn’t expect to hear.

So, what would you do if a customer brought up staffing issues and then immediately defended businesses for not paying workers more? Would you share your opinion, even if it may upset them? Or would you just nod and keep it moving?

In the following story, one cashier finds himself dealing with this exact scenario. Here’s how he handled it.

Conversation I had last night while cashiering at a grocery store (w/ no bagger)

Last night, I was working as a cashier and had the following conversation:

Man: Are you guys ever going to have more workers again?

Me: I don’t know, but they don’t really pay us a lot, so I don’t blame people for not wanting to work here.

The man just couldn’t let it go.

Man: Yeah, that’s how it is everywhere. But some places, like restaurants, can’t afford to operate if they have to pay a lot for employees.

Me (in my head): Then maybe don’t operate if you can’t afford it???

If you can’t afford to pay your workers, you shouldn’t have a business.

Yikes! Sounds like they’re kinda on different pages.

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit feel about this whole thing.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Here’s how this person sees it.

According to this comment, business owners are trying to trick people.

For this person, the whole thing is unfair.

This person thinks he should’ve offered the man a job.

You have to take what people say lightly. Otherwise, you’ll stay upset when working retail.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who was rudely confronted by a teenager, only to have the teen’s father step up in an unexpected way.

The post Grocery Store Cashier Is Asked Why There Aren’t More Workers, but Customer’s Defense of Low Pay Leaves Him Rethinking How Businesses Operate appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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It doesn’t require a stint actually living with roommates to know just how annoying other people can be. Sometimes just a night at a hotel with thin walls, or living in an apartment or house next door to people on different schedules to you is enough to show you how disruptive it can be if your neighbour is making breakfast, slamming their cupboard doors closed, and running up and down stairs while you’re trying to sleep. Sure you don’t say anything – after all, they’re in their own space, living their lives as is their right – but that doesn’t stop you grumbling a little about it under your breath.

So if you’ve never lived with roommates, imagine how much more frustrating it can be if these noises are actually coming from within your home – maybe even in the next room. Perhaps you’ve worked a late shift and are trying to sleep in, but your roommate is grinding all the fruit for a smoothie in the kitchen. Or it’s late and all you can hear is the heavy landings as your roommate jumps along to an HIIT video in her room.

Again though, for the most part this is just something you find yourself having to put up with. After all, you chose to live in a house with other people – other adults just trying to live their lives. So unless the noise is unreasonable, you swallow any frustration, out of respect for your roommate in the same way you’d hope they’d tolerate your annoying habits too.

But the roommates in this story are having a very different experience – and are actively doing their best to be quiet as their light sleeper roommate can’t cope with being awoken in the middle of the night. But as time went on, her requests got more and more unreasonable.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA when my roommate is a light sleeper and after multiple complaints from her I advised her to see a doctor?

In our house, there’s five people and four cats. Everyone there is safely full of love, and I don’t think anyone truly has any malice, but sometimes I do think there’s lack of consideration and maybe it comes from all of us.

Recently, it’s been an issue where my roommate who is in school gets woken up by us closing doors or closing the toilet or anything really.

She tried to resolve the problem by turning on a fan in her room to help with the sound, and I tried to help by putting hush bumps on everyone’s doors.

But sometimes they don’t work perfectly, because it doesn’t stop the click from the door knob so you have to close it with the awareness that you have to turn the door knob.

Let’s see how that’s affecting the roommates.

After months, she’s still complaining that the noise wakes her up, and then she can’t go back to sleep and that she loses out on like four to five hours of sleep.

While I do understand because she’s in school and has a lot going on at this point, it feels medical.

In our roommate chat, I sent a message along the lines of: “I’m not trying to come off any kind of way. We’ve tried all these things. Have you considered maybe seeing if a doctor could prescribe you something?”

And this has left the concerned roommate worrying that they’ve overstepped.

I know we’re all different people, but personally, the other four people in the house hear a noise and go right back to sleep or don’t wake up at all.

And I don’t wanna be disrespectful, but that is my last suggestion to her because I’m not sure how else we can try to be quieter when sometimes it’s by accident.

She didn’t respond to that, and she’s not responding to anything I’ve said I even tried to message her privately outside of the roommate chat.

It’s clear that these roommates have done everything they can to be quiet and help the sleepless woman with her issue.

But really, if you’re living in a shared house, there’s not much more that anyone can do.

Because humans make noise, and unless she doesn’t want people to move at all while she’s sleeping, she has to find a way to deal with this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person agreed that the roommates had gone above and beyond, but it was her problem now.

While others suggested potential remedies.

Meanwhile, this Redditor suggested that perhaps the roommate needed to live alone.

The sad fact is that if you can’t sleep through a door being quietly closed at night, then perhaps living in a house of five adults and four cats is not for you. Because even though her roommates have done everything they can to live quietly while she’s sleeping, the reality is that it’s impossible for them to be completely silent. Unless they are expected to sit completely still, not go to the bathroom, not get a drink or something to eat, or otherwise interact in any way while she is sleeping, they are not going to be able to be silent. And to suggest measures like that would be even more unreasonable than this situation already is.

Sure, it’s not the woman’s fault that she is a light sleeper and struggles to get back to sleep. But she needs to understand that – with the deepest of sympathies – that is her condition to find a way to cope with. Asking her roommates for support or advice is one thing, but requesting them to change their ways to accommodate her is a whole other thing altogether. She might have been offended by the suggestion that she see a doctor – something that might not be super helpful – but you can’t blame her roommate for thinking this is the only logical conclusion. After all, they’ve tried everything.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about someone who asked their neighbor to move their fence off their property, then learned the neighbor was trying to claim their land as theirs instead.

The post ‘Maybe See a Doctor’: Roommate’s Well-Meaning Suggestion to a Light Sleeper Blows Up the Entire House appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Taking responsibility is important, especially when things go wrong.

In this story, a young woman was getting ready to go to school.

She warned the nanny that their cars were parked too close together, so she needed to be mindful about opening and closing the doors.

Despite her warning, the nanny ended up damaging the car. But her dad blamed her instead of calling out the nanny.

Read the full story below to find out what happened.

AITA for “snitching” on my dad and the nanny after they chipped the paint on my mom’s car?

I (18F) was sitting in my car back from university for a week.

I was on the phone with my boyfriend.

The nanny (50sF) was loading my little brother (4M) into the car.

I explicitly warned her and my dad that the cars were parked too close together.

This young woman saw how the nanny carelessly handled the car door.

I went inside. Then, I went back outside to get my bags.

When I stepped out, the car doors were touching. The paint was already chipped.

I told the nanny I had warned her.

She is constantly careless, and has broken my mom’s dishes in the past.

She did that without taking responsibility.

Her dad immediately blamed her, as if it were her fault.

Then, my dad came out.

He realized the nanny had not even buckled my brother in.

He managed to hit my mom’s car door again. That made the damage worse.

Instead of taking ownership, he immediately turned to me. He asked, “Why didn’t you stop it?” He said it as if it were my fault.

She went straight to her mom and told her what happened.

Knowing that I always somehow end up being the scapegoat, I reacted quickly.

I also usually end up taking the punishment for things I did not do.

I went straight to my mom as soon as I got home from school.

I had to pick my brother up. I told her the truth before they could shift the blame onto me.

Now, her dad thinks she was a snitch.

Now, my dad is calling me a snitch.

The nanny is acting like she is not failing at the job she is being paid for.

I feel like I was just defending myself from being unfairly blamed again.

AITA?

Whoa! What a huge family drama right there in the morning.

I think it was really unfair for her to get blamed, considering she did warn the nanny about the cars parked close to each other.

It sounds like her dad didn’t want to call out the nanny, and so he decided to blame it on someone else.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Do you think it was fair? Let’s read the responses of other people on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Short and simple.

Here’s another honest opinion.

This person makes a valid point.

Finally, people are saying the same thing.

If you didn’t hit the car, you shouldn’t be the one taking the blame for the dent.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who homeschooled during the day and worked at night, only to have her employer try to change her schedule.

The post Woman Specifically Warned Her Nanny About the Car Door — Then Got Blamed When the Nanny Damaged It appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Most jobs come with difficult people, but there comes a point where enough is enough.

So, what would you do if your job required you to deal with customers who were openly rude or even aggressive, and you weren’t allowed to refuse service? Would you just deal with it? Or would it finally break you and force you into a new line of work?

In the following story, one retail cashier reminisces about going through this very thing. Here’s their story.

Why are cashiers and other retail workers not allowed to turn down rude or dangerous customers?

Back when I worked at a grocery store down south, we got some of the most horrid customers you can imagine.

One customer stated their phone number so fast I couldn’t keep up.

Unfortunately, our pin pads to type in their number were the worst and would always freeze up, so I told the customer the pin pad froze and to please give me the number again, and he was like, “No, the computer isn’t the error, you’re the error. What do you have, ADHD or something?”

She was shocked by how rude people could be.

And another time, there was a woman who was being nasty and rude to young girls half her age, to the point that it was so uncomfortable to be around her.

This woman even threw a box of fried chicken at the front-end manager because she was upset it wasn’t to her liking, and she’d always complain if there wasn’t fresh fried chicken before 12 pm.

Over the course of working with my anxiety and depression, it got so much worse because you just never knew what kind of abuse you were going to be put through, all alone on the front end of that day.

It was shocking how many rude things customers would say directly to our faces, knowing they were being hurtful and could be causing harm to us.

Management refused to address the issue.

However, management never did anything about it. Schools aren’t supposed to allow bullying, and if people were acting that way in any other kind of setting, it wouldn’t be tolerated, so why is this put up with in work situations?

I found it odd that we had strict rules about ****** harassment and bullying between work staff, but when customers acted that way, causing a very stressful and toxic work environment for the employees, nobody did anything ever.

So why aren’t cashiers allowed to turn away customers who are straight-up bullying them?

Eek! Customers like that are so hard to deal with, even without anxiety and depression.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about her story.

According to his comment, it’s only in the US.

Here’s someone who “fires” customers.

This reader says it’s happening right now.

This makes it a lot easier to understand.

Cashiering isn’t for everyone, because these types of customers are at every store.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a barista whose keen eye uncovered a customer scheme for free coffee.

The post ‘They Can Hurl Things at Us but We Can’t Refuse Them Service’: Retail Worker Exposes a Glaring Double Standard appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Sometimes, people walk into your life by chance, and you wonder how you ever lived life without them. It can feel like fate, like you were in the right place at the right time, and you know that you never want to be without them again.

Other times, people walk into your life and it’s… not like that at all. Your life will never be the same, but not in a good way. Instead of seeing a life of hanging out with your new buddy, you’re plotting how to get rid of them, wondering how long they’ll hang around before they finally slide back out of your life and don’t look back.

For the guy in this story, the latter was the unfortunate situation when his roommate moved in. A woman who would reveal very little about herself, he learned very quickly that life with her as a roommate would be completely different to anything he’d ever experienced before – and it wasn’t long before she proved him right.

From unreasonable demands to incredibly unhinged behaviour, it would be a memorable time before she finally left.

Read on to find out what happened.

AITA for not accomodating weird roommate’s “needs”?

A little while ago, I (male) had someone in my house as a roommate.

Said roommate was female, of indeterminate age (she refused to say) and average build. She had no health issues that I know of, or that she deemed necessary to disclose to me.

I am a night owl. I function better at night and I dislike being outside in bright sunlight, as it irritates my eyes.

I am also disorganized in a “I’ll get this done, then this, but then I’ll go back to that” manner when it comes to getting tasks done.

Let’s see how this dynamic worked out for them.

She, however, demanded I go to bed when she wanted to sleep. Her reasoning was that she could not sleep if I was up and about. No reason was given as to why my being awake was a trigger for her. I wasn’t noisy.

She tried to set a curfew for me, so her weird habit would be accomodated by me being there, but that was shut down faster than an Xbox by an angry mom.

She also tried to confiscate my electronics, books, lights, etc. when I was going to sleep.

This was also shut down as it was my property and the first time I found her door locked with my belongings on the other side of it, I took her door off its hinges and reclaimed my things, warning her that the next time she did it, I would be calling the police.

Yikes! Needless to say, this arrangement didn’t last long.

I am not her child. She attempted to parent someone else no more than five years her junior. There was also no relationship, physical or emotional.

She’s since moved out of my house and I no longer have contact with her, but I wonder if I was in the wrong?

To be perfectly honest, I was rather creative in voicing my displeasure with her actions. She responded just as venomously.

Please forget the “your house, your rules” thing, and imagine it was an apartment or some similar situation, as I’m not a fan of said argument, having heard it far too much as a child.

AITA?

It’s clear that the woman that this guy lived with for a short time had issues.

The fact that she thought she could police a grown man’s bedtime is audacious.

It’s no wonder that they didn’t stay roommates for long.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person explained that he’d done nothing wrong.

While others thought that the roommate’s behaviour was completely unhinged.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained that there was no situation in which behaviour like this was okay.

It’s true: even if this pair were in a committed, long-term relationship, her behaviour wouldn’t be okay. So to act like this towards a veritable stranger, all because you think that your way is right – or, perhaps, that everyone should listen to you? – is even worse. What right does she have to move into his house and suddenly dictate his bedtime and when he can use his electronics? Who does she think she is.

Really, if she can’t handle sleeping while her roommate is still awake, she shouldn’t be living with roommates at all. Because no other human deserves to be dominated the way that she tried to dominate him. Nobody deserves to be treated like a child when they’re an adult, especially when the other adult is just some random woman he barely even knows. Good for him taking the door off its hinges – you have to wonder if anyone has ever stood up to her before.

She’s out of control, and he’s lucky to be free of her.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple whose new neighbors’ construction noise is ruining the whole neighborhood vibe.

The post Guy Welcomes a New Roommate Into His Home, but Quickly Realizes She Isn’t What He Expected appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Imagine working in a call center for an insurance company. What would you think if a customer called demanding that you give her money back?

In this story, one call center rep is in this exact situation, and she didn’t think that request was too unusual at first. Then, she pulled up the customer’s policy and realized she couldn’t help her.

Keep reading for the full story including the customer’s crazy reaction.

We can’t refund you money we didn’t take XXL

I was working in an insurance call center at 9pm for a smaller insurance company that I’ll call “spooky” .

Angry customer “AC” and M for me.

M : Thank you for calling spooky insurance customer care how may I help you?

AC: You need to put my money back right now! I told ya’all you couldn’t have it and you took it any way!

She looks into it.

M: I’d be happy to take a look into that may I have your policy number or would you like me to look it up by your name?

Side note it is common for us to get calls about not stoping a draft and withdrawing funds when we aren’t supposed to , darn human error .

AC: I don’t have that memorized! Shouldn’t you know my policy number ?! Isn’t that your job?

M: I’d be happy to look it up for you what is your name and zip code. (Look up old policy from 10 years ago verify no other polices for her) well you haven’t had insurance with spooky insurance for 10 years so we did not take any money out of your account.

The customer is insistent.

AC: yes you did! And you are gonna put it back in right now!

M: This is spooky insurance company I think you have us confused with someone else

AC: I know who I called you took my money I want it back!

M: Okay why don’t you send me a screen shot of your bank statement .

She looks at the screenshot.

AC: okay but then you are putting that money back you had no right to take MY money!

M: (open up screen shot) how much was the charge for?

AC : you should know you took the money! Idiots taking 200.00 out of my account with out permission!

She noticed the problem right away.

M: (find the charge) okay so you see where it says “other larger insurance company”?

AC: yes

M: well we are spooky insurance company

AC: so!

How does the customer not understand at this point?

M: well we didn’t take your money cause you don’t have insurance with us you have it with other larger insurance company

AC: I don’t care who took it you have to put the money back

M: I don’t work for other larger insurance company so I can’t put it back

AC: you lying! You had no right to take that money so put it back

She refused to let the circular argument continue.

M: if you want your money back you have to call other larger insurance company

AC: no, I want you to give me back my money.

M: I can’t because I don’t work for them, so you should call them, good bye -click

I would think that the name of the other insurance company on her bank statement would have given her a better idea of who to call …

Does that crazy customer think that all insurance companies are the same despite the name? Her logic was completely illogical!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

A hotel worker weighs in.

Another insurance employee shares their experience.

This person did the right thing.

This person can relate.

Calling the wrong company is a huge waste of time.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel worker who doesn’t want to let guests reserve handicapped parking spots in advance.

The post Customer Calls Insurance Company Seeking Refund, but Realizes She Contacted the Wrong One appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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A wise person once told me that there are some people you’re not supposed to be friends with your whole life. Instead, they come into your life at certain points, you have your relationship with them, and then you both move on.

And there’s nothing wrong with that!

But some people don’t necessarily see things that way.

Some folks want to reconnect with old friends and try to relive the old days…and you can understand why everyone is not always on board with that idea.

A woman wrote the story below and explained why she’s not interested in reconnecting with some old friends.

Check out what she had to say.

AITA for not responding to “old friends”?

“I (22F) am in my final year of university, which has lead to a lot of people from my hometown who are also finishing up begin communicating again.

While this in itself is fine, a group that used to be my closest friends are trying to plan a summer thing, and I don’t really like the tone…

Group trips aren’t always a good idea…

The group is 6 women (myself included), with me still being good friends with 2 of them, not talking to 2 of them since leaving school, and one who suddenly cut me off with no warning; didn’t respond to me for a year, then started reaching out this year very apologetically about her behavior before.

Anyways they made a new group chat a couple months ago talking about how we should all meet up again, but put a weird focus on “bringing boyfriends” along.

This feels particularly weird as the chat was made the day after they learned one of the girls who I’m closer to now has a boyfriend after believing herself to be gay since a young age.

The whole things sounds a bit off…

The timing feels icky, like they now want something to do with her now that she’s “straight”, and at the initial formation of the group her and I did state our discomfort at the weird “showing off the boyfriends” vibe the whole meet-up had, which was brushed off by the others.

Afterwards my friend also sent a private message to the girl who set up the group explaining why she didn’t want the meet-up, and it seemed to be dropped.

However, now planning has picked back up in the chat, though my 2 close friends and I in there haven’t said a word since.

However I’m worried it’s rude not to put something on the chat in case the ones we didn’t send the message to simply don’t know that the 3 of us aren’t just being rude and ignoring them, but are uncomfortable with the event.

What’s a person to do in this situation…

However I’m also the only one single person in the group, and don’t want to come across as not wanting to meet because I’m bitter.

I simply don’t want to meet up with people that I don’t think care about me that much considering I’ve barely heard from them in 3-4 years, and while I would be down for catching up I have no interest if it’s going to be a fake reunion that feels more like a chance for people to brag and show off their partners.

(Note: when my friend met up before with them and they learned about her boyfriend, the rest of the meet-up was essentially just grilling her on her man which….no thanks).

AITA for ignoring these messages and plans being made by my school friends, and should I respond and tell them why or leave it as is??

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person said she’s not to blame.

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

This person had a lot to say.

Another reader also said she’s NTA.

And this individual spoke up.

Sometimes, it’s best to look out for #1…

In other words, do what’s best for you and do what makes you happy.

Life is short, don’t spend it trying to make other people happy.

Okay, that’s my TED talk for today…good luck!

Sometimes, it’s better to leave old friends in the past…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a professor who missed a major funding deadline after they told their graduate student to leave them alone.

The post ‘We’re Graduating, Let’s Reconnect’: Woman Wants Nothing to Do With Old Friends Making a Last-Minute Comeback appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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In the world of government contracts, companies need to walk a fine line between complying with the demands of the government and putting their own interests first. This is especially true when it comes to doing work for the military.

When the military puts out a request for a bid on a contract, companies know that it can be worth massive amounts of money, so they will do almost anything to win. That is what was happening to the company in this story, where the military demanded that they hand over proprietary data about past work to a competitor because that data technically belonged to the government.

The company came up with creative ways to comply with the demand without actually handing over anything that could be useful. This went as far as printing off the code for the data onto paper and shipping it to the competitor. Eventually, it got to the point where it became clear that the competing company couldn’t do the work at a reasonable price, so this company won the contract.

While wasteful and borderline unethical, it worked out for this company in the end. Check out all the details below to get an insider picture that explains at least in part why the government spends so much money.

Malicious Compliance in Aerospace (Kinda Long)

I was reading a story about a contract programmer that printed all of the code/scripts they’d written out to paper to hand off to their former employer upon termination.

Legally it checked all the boxes, but was basically unusable unless someone re-keyed it all in.

This reminded me of my own experience.

Note, this story is a combination of aerospace engineering and IT so a little background is needed.

Companies like this need to look at the long-term big picture.

When you are a major airframe manufacturer and you design and build aircraft for the US Department of Defense (DoD), it’s not uncommon to make little money off the initial work.

The real profit often comes from the decades of follow on work. Enhancements, modifications, new variants, new payloads, new engines, new customers/requirements, etc.

The initial design and analysis is almost always the starting point for that additional work. So, needless to say, it’s protected like gold since nobody could compete for follow on work without it.

Problem is, it technically/legally might belong to the DoD.

I’m sure this company desperately wants this contract.

So here I am a kinda new Aero Engineer and Departmental IT guy (Engineer, FORTRAN programmer, HP-UX Admin, Oracle DBA, etc.) DoD puts out a contract for bid to do a metric mega-ton of analysis work on an aircraft my company stopped building 20+ years earlier but were still in heavy use.

The contract was very lucrative. And whoever did that analysis would, of course, get to do the physical work for even more $$$.

Normally, this contract would go straight to my company since only we had the data needed.

But the DoD Program Office wanted to have someone else compete for it as leverage for a better deal and instructed us to deliver a copy of all the legacy engineering data to the other company. Again, legally this was their data, not ours. We just had it.

Good, they can get everything together in one place.

And we had it all over the place. Mainframe (two different flavors of IBM OSes) files, magnetic tapes, Oracle on HP-UX, etc. Decades of analysis data.

So, after discussing it with my boss, I wrote some code to tap into each of these sources, extract the data, and write it to mainframe files which were “loosely structured” slightly-less-than-single-precision.

I then dumped them to our massive industrial size printers. Seven feet of green bar tractor feed paper later, we shipped it to our competitors.

DoD came back to us and said in no uncertain terms that if we ever want to win a contract again we better send it to them in digital format. Which to me, meant mainframe tapes. (Easy peasy for us to do, not so much for the competitor to use.)

They are playing a dangerous game that is causing delays.

DoD came back again and said they knew we had this ported down to HP-UX and we better provide it on more modern media.

Now at the time, HP had these state of the art big funky CDs that were once writeable. To use them you needed a specific tower CD reader/writer and associated workstation to connect it to (which we had).

Total cost of that setup was $50K for just the hardware.

Once again, they are technically complying with the demand.

So after several days of binary ftp’ing the files down from the mainframes, I burned them to those funky CDs and we shipped off the “loosely structured” (tough to parse with code), less-than-single-precision (worthless), EBCDIC (not unusable, but not straightforward), HP-proprietory-formatted media to the competitor.

DoD came back again and said quit playing games and send the original data.

So, I managed to get it onto some media that they could use. And this was THE GOLD DATA. Double precision, binary, massive, etc.

Now this is something the DoD does not own.

DoD came back again and said that the competitor needed the FORTRAN 4 source code to read the binary data. But while the DoD owned the data, my company wrote that code back in the 60s/70s and we owned it.

So, we graciously offered to sell them a copy for something like 10x the value of both the analysis contract and estimated value of the re-manufacturing contract.

Which was actually fair because this WAS our code and had all of our intellectual property in it.

We won both contracts. The aircraft in question has now been retired.

It is kind of scary to think that this is how things work when it comes to military contracts. How much time is wasted, and how many billions of taxpayer dollars are gone because of things like this? That being said, it is pretty funny.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT department who keeps receiving tickets for a company that was previously spun off.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about this story.

The data is technically there, even if it is useless.

This commenter loves this story.

This is exactly right.

Maybe they didn’t think about this option until the end.

They have nice things, but it just costs taxpayers way too much.

Funny story, but this type of thing is why the government wastes so much money. Allowing this company to essentially hold this work hostage with what comes down to a no-bid contract means they can charge whatever they want.

How many millions (or billions) of dollars would be saved if the government held onto all this data and could send it out to any company that wanted to bid on a contract? This is taxpayer money that is just being wasted.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an IT worker who logged on early to fix something simple, and discovered a system-wide cyber attack instead.

The post Aerospace Engineer Finds the Perfect Loophole After Government Orders Him to Hand Over Proprietary Data appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Independence is an important part of adulthood.

In this story, a woman has a younger sister who was very dependent on other people.

Even with a simple vet visit, her sister panicked at the thought of going inside by herself.

Now, she’s considering changing her own plans to deal with the vet visit despite having work the next day.

Check out the full details below.

AITA for telling my sister she needs to go to the vet by herself?

My (25) sister (22) is very dependent on me and my parents.

For example, she does not like ordering a delivery by herself.

She would rather struggle than go to the store alone if she needed something.

This woman found out that their cat needs a visit to the vet.

This afternoon, we found out our cat needs to go to the vet. It is urgent, but non-emergency.

The only available people were my mom and my sister.

The issue is that my mom likes to sit in the car and wait.

This means my sister will have to go to the vet by herself. She will need to give them the necessary information. That is all.

She got so sick of adjusting her schedule just because her sister couldn’t do it alone.

This freaked her out immediately. She said she would rather not go then.

This puts me in a situation.

I have work tomorrow. That means I have to make last-minute arrangements.

I am so tired of constantly doing things like this.

I asked her what we are going to do one day when we genuinely need her help.

She quickly brushed me off and stormed inside.

She reminded her sister that she needed to step up because she’s already an adult.

I understand having struggles like anxiety.

I guess I am extra irritated. Even when I was younger, I was pushed into being independent while I was battling an anxiety disorder.

I know not everyone has the same anxiety issues, that is why this situation is a bit different.

I was very gentle. I reminded her that she is an adult. She needs to learn these things.

Now, I do not know if that was the wrong thing to do.

Whoa, that’s a lot to deal with. Her sister was 22… a grown adult!

It can really be frustrating when all the responsibilities always fall on one person.

Pushing the sister to be independent might actually help in the long run.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a bus driver who is sick and tired of covering everyone else’s weekend shifts.

Let’s see how others reacted to this story on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Your mom is also the problem, says this person.

Here’s a valid point from this person.

This comment makes sense, too.

Finally, short and straightforward.

At some point, “I can’t” has to turn into “I’ll try.”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who was rudely confronted by a teenager, only to have the teen’s father step up in an unexpected way.

The post Cat Needed Emergency Vet Care — but One Sister’s Anxiety Meant the Other Had to Rearrange Her Entire Day appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Magnific

Strict rules don’t always work when the person enforcing them won’t follow through.

The following story involves a woman who grew up on a small farm with a stepfather who had serious anger issues.

He instructed her that the horses’ manure be dumped between poles, but he failed to maintain the system himself.

When things inevitably went wrong, he blamed her despite the fact that she was following his instructions exactly.

Read the full story below for all the details.

Following “Parental” figure instructions

About 20 years ago, my siblings and I lived mainly on a very small hobby farm with one parent and a “stepfather.”

Living in the U.S., they were married when I started middle school. They divorced when I was in my senior year of high school.

He had a ton of issues. These included anger management issues.

I was the only one willing to talk back to him.

This woman teaches horse lessons to children.

We also had multiple people coming over. They were mostly other children.

They came to get lessons with the horses. The lessons were given by me.

This was in exchange for their help. This was a huge help to me.

My siblings did basically nothing with all the animals, including chickens, turkeys, pigs, horses, and cats. They were supposed to help.

His stepfather gave her clear instructions about what to do with the horses’ manure.

To keep the animals alive, I took care of them over 80% of the time.

Well, this step-dad’s rule was that manure was to be dumped between two poles.

He was supposed to move the poles. This was so the older piles would age into fertilizer.

It was to be removed from the small property.

He consistently gets mad at her.

Of course, he would get aggressively mad at me.

This happened when new manure was tossed on older manure ready to be transported out.

He would attempt to force me to have everyone follow his instructions.

Well, his instructions continued to be to dump waste between two poles. So I just kept that up.

But she just reminds him of his instructions.

Everything eventually ended up blending together because he would not keep up with moving the poles.

He blew up at me.

I just reiterated his instructions back to him.

This led to more anger from him.

Being able to repeat his instructions back that led to the mess he was mad about felt pretty damn good.

Well, she followed the instructions she was given.

If the system failed, it was because the person in charge failed to maintain it.

It is hard to blame someone for doing exactly what they were told to do.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who decided to stop returning his neighbor’s misplaced laundry after two years.

Do you agree? Let’s find out what others have to say about this on Reddit.

Short and simple.

Indeed, right?

Here’s another positive remark.

Finally, this person likes it, too.

If you give bad instructions, don’t be surprised when the output turns into a mess.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who homeschooled during the day and worked at night, only to have her employer try to change her schedule.

The post Woman Follows Stepfather’s Farm Instructions Exactly, but It Leads to Unexpected Problems appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Work environments can become stressful when coworkers create a negative atmosphere.

In this story, an employee worked in a kitchen where the weekday staff constantly complained and criticized others.

He planned to move to a new job and submitted his notice to his supervisor.

But now, he’s worried about how the staff will treat him before he leaves.

Check out the full details below.

Two weeks’ notice, retaliatory weekday staff

I work in food service four days a week. I typically include weekends.

The weekday staff in the kitchen are pretty toxic.

They complain about each other when someone is not around.

They constantly discuss how “slow and lazy” the younger weekend staff are.

This employee will be moving to a new job.

The mood for the day relies entirely on the attitude of the manager.

This is the main reason why I have reduced myself to four days a week.

I finally got a new job lined up. For legal reasons, I have been needing a new job anyway.

Everyone knew I was bound to leave soon. I have been telling them for months.

His supervisor informed the weekday staff about his resignation.

I put my notice in recently. I informed my supervisor.

He then discussed it with the weekday staff. He told them I was happy to go.

The weekday staff instantly went on ranting. They talked about how the younger staff do not listen.

This was as usual.

He’s afraid that they might start treating him badly.

My main issue, though, is that I am afraid. They might start treating me especially badly.

They know I am on my way out anyway. My two weeks is contractual.

I cannot just walk out if they start verbally mistreating me.

They tend to be indirect with it.

The store manager probably would not be on my side either.

Now, he’s unsure how to make his remaining time bearable.

I have an undisclosed disability.

I tend to take a bit longer to close alone at the end of the day. I try really hard to keep up with everyone before then.

Any advice for making this remaining time bearable?

Should I just keep my mouth shut and do as I am told? Should I not give them the reactions they want?

It sounds like he already knows the workplace culture is the problem, not him.

With only a short time left, keeping things professional and avoiding unnecessary conflicts is probably the easiest path.

Sometimes, the best response to workplace negativity is refusing to carry it with you to your next job.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who doesn’t want to go to the amusement park with her friend anymore, because the friend can no longer ride most of the attractions.

Do you agree? Let’s see how others reacted to this story on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Indeed, right?

This person makes a valid point.

Don’t sweat it, says this person.

Finally, this comment makes sense, too.

Not every battle is worth fighting, especially when you’re already on your way out.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.

The post ‘I Already Quit — Now What?’: Kitchen Worker Fears Retaliation During His Final Two Weeks at a Toxic Job appeared first on TwistedSifter.