What would you do if you were leaving a movie theater and a complete stranger told you to throw away their trash?

Would you throw it away just because they want you to, or would you look at them like they’re crazy and get out of there?

In today’s story, one man chooses the second option, but it doesn’t end there.

Even though he doesn’t work at the movie theater, he still has to talk to his manager about this stranger.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

I don’t work here, and a venomous manager tried to write me up for it.

Oh boy, I’m tired of being recognized. I live in a relatively small podunk college town, with three grocery stores, a dying mall, and a slightly decent downtown.

Because I work in one of those grocery stores in a pharmacy, I’m often identified when I’m out and about, and for some reason, I just look like I work there, wherever this mythical there is.

This took place a few years ago, and since the manager is no longer with the store, I think i can write it up without retribution.

His clothes are meant to keep people away.

I’ve got long hair, a beard, am a bit on a heavy side, and I normally wear rock t-shirts and a leather biker jacket when I’m not at work.

I wear this like armor, as I’m actually very passive and I don’t want to be bothered when I’m out and about.

I look tough, but there’s nothing tough about my marshmallow soul.

I’ve just finished watching a movie at our local dying mall, having gone myself since I just wanted to get away for a while, and am currently wearing a Doctor Who hoodie and jeans, hair down and a Guns and Roses T-shirt.

A stranger called out to him.

As I’m exiting the theater, I hear that dreaded voice, the entitled call of the snooty customer.

“HEY! HEY YOU!”

I turn around, and see your average soccer mom, with bleach blond hair and a purse big enough to brain a camel, carrying a large collection of trash.

She’s holding the trash with one hand, her struggling child with the other, and stares at me pointedly.

I don’t want to believe what’s about to happen, but I steel myself.

What an insane demand.

“Yes?”

“Throw this away.”

No please, no asking, just a demand.

I glance to a trash can that’s only five feet from where she’s standing.

“Why?” Oh, you’d think I’d just offered to split her child in half in front of her with a broadsword.

“You work at (big box store), you’re used to this!”

Amazing.

She knows I don’t work there, but she still thinks I’m put on this earth to serve her.

He made an excuse to leave.

I just roll my eyes and turn away, scooting towards the bathroom. “Sorry ma’am, gotta pee.”

And I do just that, taking a quick leak and a long time washing my hands.

By the time i exit, the woman and her kid are gone.

I figure that’s all that’s going to happen with this, just some entitled person who thinks that I work in retail she can just treat me like an indentured servant.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

He wasn’t sure why the manager wanted to talk to him.

Two days later I’m back at work, cleaned up, hair in a pony tail, in uniform, just doing my thing slinging drugs at the pharmacy, when one of our most hated managers shows up.

Let’s call her GlaDOS. Mostly ’cause the antagonist of PORTAL is how she’s always seemed to me.

Passive-aggressive, snobby, and more than happy to toss her weight around.

“Wyattkelly, would you come with me, please?”

I am a bit shocked, since I’ve not been in trouble with this job for over five years, and my mind immediately starts spinning through anything I may have done in the past week or so.

This is a weird complaint.

GlaDOS takes me back to the manager office, picks up some papers, and has a seat.

“Wyattkelly, I had a complaint about you the other day from a customer.”

I sink down, trying not to shake with panic. What have I done?

“She says you were very rude to her at the movie theater the other day, and refused to help her.”

Silence.

I just blink a few times at GlaDOS. “I’m sorry, what?”

Is this manager serious?

GlaDOS repeats the accusation. “When you work for this company, you represent us, even when you’re not on the clock. Now, I’m only going to give you a coaching, but I want you to watch what you do in the future.”

“No.”

GlaDOS looks back at me in shock. did I just say No to her?

“What do you mean, no?”

“I said, No. I’m not taking a coaching for something that happened off the clock.”

He had a lot of good questions.

I lean forward, folding my hands in my lap and glaring at her. “Why are there no other managers here? Why’s my pharmacy manager not here? Shouldn’t he be here when I’m being coached by someone that’s not even over my department? Speaking of which, where’s our department manager? Could you show me where in the code of conduct handbook it says I can’t refuse to clean up after someone when I’m not on the clock? Doesn’t it say in the training videos we watch when we start NOT to work off the clock?”

GlaDOS is doing her best impression of a gaping fish by this point, eyes wide and staring back at me.

I don’t think she was expecting the happy go lucky nerd in the pharmacy to take such a hard line and not just roll over to her casual bullying.

I stood up and opened the door.

It didn’t end well for the manager.

“If you want to take it up with my manager, please do. But do know that if I hear anything about this, I’ll take this all the way to the store manager, your boss. Corporate, if I have to.”

I left, shaking with anger.

I’d heard others in the store complain about this manager before and how she’d try to toss her weight around, but I’d never had it happen to me before.

I don’t know if the original customer was a friend of GlaDOS and she thought she’d get some revenge, but I never heard anything else on the matter.

Two months later, GlaDOS was let go in a store re-structuring.

Every other manager was shifted or re-assigned, but she was the only one to be shown the door.

How weird to be told to basically work when you’re not at work.

That’s crazy.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Yes, I would want to be paid too.

The manager definitely made herself hated.

They do sound pretty stupid.

This person loves how he stood up for himself.

Seriously, sounds crazy, right?

You shouldn’t have to work when you’re not at work.

That’s just common sense.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.