A Ludicrous Complaint
I worked a 9.5-hour shift on a very very busy overnight at the convenience store. Morning finally arrives, I clock out, grab my keys and head to my car (across the parking lot).
I still have my name tag on. An older woman comes up to me and asks me if I’d like to go to church with her.
I politely decline, and tell her my wife was waiting for me at home.
She then asks what church I go to (which is not an altogether uncommon question in the South). I tell her that I prefer not to give out information about my life outside of work (even to my coworkers).
I then said goodbye and thanked her for her offer (it takes me a bit to get out of customer service mode, which is a bit irritating) and went home.
Three weeks later, at my one-on-one meeting with my manager, he tells me that someone complained to corporate about me, asked if I remembered a customer inviting me to church, and handed me the complaint (which I still have hanging on my fridge);
“Dear [Company],
“I want to express my concern regarding one of your employees. He works Saturday overnight at [Location], and his name tag said [Name]. On August 26, as he was leaving, I met him in the parking lot, and invited him to come with me to church.
While he was polite enough, he declined, and then refused to answer me when I asked him which church he attended. It is clear to me that he is an atheist, and I must ask that he be fired.
It is a terrible thing to be giving non-believers jobs, when there are plenty of good Christian-folk who do not have them.
“Thank you for your time.”
I looked up from reading it, and even my manager was shaking his head at it. The response from my company was something along the lines of offering her a gift card, apologizing for the inconvenience, and dancing around the issue that they could not fire me for not going to church with a customer.
My manager’s response, “Good job at being called polite in a complaint, and remember not to do that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“I have no idea.”
Still the most ludicrous complaint I’ve ever received.