(I am employed full-time by a major manufacturer of aircraft and weapons for the government as an R&D engineer, and hold a degree in Aerospace Engineering. I still work part time for a video game store near a military base because I enjoy the job and the discounts. I worked as a manager with them through college, so I know the details rather well. One day, a prospective employee comes in with his job application.)

Me: *looks at his application* “Sir, I see you didn’t fill out this section detailing what offense you were convicted of. You said you have been convicted of a felony, so we require a description of the charge. This doesn’t bar you from employment, but corporate requires this.”

Prospective Employee: “I said in the application that I would discuss it in an interview.”

Me: “I see that; however, without knowing the charge, we cannot conduct an interview.”

Prospective Employee: “I’ll discuss it in an interview!”

(This goes around in circles for a few minutes before a line begins to form behind him.)

Me: “Sir, I’m sorry, but without this information we cannot conduct an initial interview. If you would just list the charge, you can explain the situation in an interview.”

(We circle a couple more times as the customer gets increasingly belligerent.)

Prospective Employee: “Well, f*** you! I don’t want to work here anyway! My job is way more important than anything you’ll ever do! I’m an aircraft controller for the Navy!”

(I’ve had enough, and snap back at the customer.)

Me: “I actually work for Lockheed Martin as a R&D lead designing and building the aircraft you land. Without me, you wouldn’t even have a job!”

(The prospective employee leaves flustered and red faced, still muttering under his breath. Before disposing of his application, my manager sees it and laughs: apparently, this job applicant was known for belittling employees every time he applied, and seemed to feel entitled to a job.)

(It’s the holidays, and I’m a female customer standing in a very long line to purchase a PC game. While waiting, I look at a display of Nintendo games. Behind me in line are two 20-something year-old male customers. Suddenly, these two customers shove me out of the line, sending me crashing into a display of game controllers.)

Male Customer #1: “Geez, get out of the way if you’re just gonna gawk at garbage games!”

Male Customer #2: “Stupid girl gamers and their Nintendo.”

(Overhearing this, a cashier proceeds to push his way through the crowd to where we are in the line.)

Cashier: “Hey, what’s going on back there?”

Me: “These guys just shoved me out of the line!”

Cashier: *to the two male customers* “I don’t have time for this. Get out!”

(He then grabs the games the two male customers were planning to purchase, pulls them out of their hands before he pushes them through the crowd to the exit. I stand up and resume my place in line.)

Cashier: *to me* “You, no cuts. Back of the line!”

Me: “What? But I was already at this spot in line before they pushed me—”

Cashier: “Did you not hear me say I don’t have time to deal with s*** from idiots like you and those two friends of yours? Back of the line, or out!”

(Suddenly, a little boy at the back of the line speaks up.)

Little Boy: “Miss! You can go ahead of me since you were already waiting.”

(Hearing this, another man in front of the little boy also speaks up.)

Man: “You can go ahead of me as well!”

(Every single customer in line proceeds to insist that I go ahead of them, including those who were originally ahead of me. I end up right at the counter, placing my purchase in front of the same cashier who tried to send me to the back.)

Cashier: “Look, lady, you can’t just—”

Me: “How about you just scan this through? It’s a busy season and I’m pretty sure neither of us has time for this.”

(He falls silent and quickly scans my purchase when I hear a familiar voice at the back of the line.)

Little Boy: “Ha!”

(A cashier at a video game store has been giving me a hard time for being a girl trying to buy several games, including using the phrase “get back in the kitchen.” My little brother, only 5 but incredibly smart, has been watching all this for over five minutes. He then interrupts me.)

Brother: *smiles innocently* “Hey mister, can I tell you something?”

Cashier: “Sure thing, kid.”

Brother: “You need to shut the f*** up and stop being a miso-ji-stic (misogynistic) a**butt who tells the local Mario Kart champion to go back in the kitchen, whatever that means! Check out the games before she blue-shells your a** to Chicago and back!”

Cashier: *turns red and shuts up*

(Speechless, the cashier checks out the games in record time while refusing to make eye contact with me. The cashier was gone a week later.)

(This occurs while I’m out shopping with two male friends of mine in our local game store, where my girlfriend works; note that I’m female. We notice there’s a Diablo II box set on sale.)

Me: “I’ll be getting this today.”

Cashier: “Okay. Just so you know, this isn’t the most recent Diablo game, in case you’re getting it as a gift.”

Me: “I know. I’m just getting this one so that I can play with my friends there.”

Cashier: “Oh, which one of them is it for? You know it’s not the most recent one, right?”

Me: “It’s for me, not them. They already both have Diablo II, and I have Diablo III, so I know this one’s not the most recent.”

Cashier: “Oh, your brother has Diablo III?”

Me: “No, I do.”

Cashier: “Your… father?”

Me: “I have no living male relatives. I’m the one who has the game.”

Cashier: “Ah, okay. Is it your boyfriend’s copy?”

Me: *mental facepalm* “Yes. You guessed correctly. Have a cookie.”

(At that exact moment, my girlfriend—and his coworker—comes in for work.)

My Girlfriend: *gives me a kiss on her way in*

Cashier: *confused*

(I’m a female that doesn’t look very geeky, but I do like some geeky stuff. I walk up to the register of the store with RoboRally, a game where you have to program a robot.)

Employee: “Ah, RoboRally. That is a great game. You are probably buying this as a gift for a male friend?”

Me: “Well, in this case it is a gift for a male friend. But I do like to play this game too; it’s a lot of fun.”

Employee: “Yes, it’s a great game, but girls don’t like to play this game. You have to program robots and think ahead for five steps. Girls are not very good at that, and they don’t like that kind of stuff either.”

Me: “Excuse me?! I’m a girl and I think this game is a lot of fun!”

(Luckily at that moment another employee, overhearing the conversation, steps in before the first employee can offend me more and starts to talk about the game with me. I later found out that the first employee is a real sexist, not just to me. He just doesn’t believe there are geeky women. I’m glad I’m never shopping there again!)