You learn a lot about human beings at work.

I’m talking about the good, the bad, the ugly…and the WEIRD.

And this story from Reddit seems to have it all!

Read on and get all the details below!

Working Lobster Week With Mike.

“I worked at a grocery store at a full service meat counter – this means if you wanted any type of meat (steaks, chicken, fish, etc – not deli meats) you had to get it from me behind a counter.

This place was also in a fairly rich neighborhood, so we had plenty of entitled customers.

We had a kid named Mike work at our store for about six months. Mike was a nice guy and clearly had the potential to be very successful – he was built like a linebacker and appeared pretty book smart, but he was definitely a product of our upper class town – he himself was a very self-entitled teenager, even acting as if his working in the store was doing us a favor.

Oh, Mike…

While we was great to work with at the start, it soon became apparent that he was not yet responsible enough to hold down his own job.

He made this obvious by constant complaints about everything that had to do with his job, and some statements were real jewels, such as:

“What the hell, man? I’m only 16 and you’re making me work more than one day a week?! This has got to be like some kind of child labor thing man!”

“Dude, this is total bull ****…I shouldn’t have to be asked to do so many things when there are other people here who can do them too, you know?”

Today’s story is what made me stop dealing with his incessant nagging completely.

At this point I had been with the store for about five years – and in the meat department, I was treated like one of the full time managers – I could do anything the Meat Manager usually did, and would even take up those responsibilities when he was on vacation. The thing I loved to do, though, was training the new employees.

Something about it was fun for me, and I tried to make it fun for them so they would actually want to work here.

I had been working with Mike for the past six months and things were going well, as he seemed to be able to do most things independently, albeit begrudgingly. It was an uphill battle some shifts, but I made sure he stayed busy while working.

It was gonna be a big week.

This week was one of our biggest seafood sales, as we had lobsters on sale for $4.99/lb.

This meant we only made $.02 per lobster, and that’s if the customer didn’t want the lobster steamed, which we did free of charge. Of course, though, nearly everyone wanted their lobsters steamed for them.

Now a side note, we did not steam lobsters ahead of time for potential walk ins, if you wanted a lobster steamed you had to call ahead or come in and wait your turn.

Those who waited made sure we experienced the worst 15 minutes of hell while their lobsters cooked.

I was helping replenish the ground beef when Mike called me over to seafood for some help. I realized he had never dealt with lobsters here before, so I quickly placed out all the beef and walked over, asking what I could help with.

The woman explained she wanted two lobsters steamed, and to do it quickly because her family was waiting for dinner.

After some arguments about how I cannot physically change the size of the lobsters, she changed her mind to three 1 1/4 lb lobsters.

I started explaining to Mike how to pull the lobsters out of the tank when he started to walk away towards the back room. I called out to him,

Dude…

Me:”Hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Mike:”Oh, I thought you were handling it…”

Me:”What, I’m just sitting here explaining to myself? Come here, I’m going to show you how you do this so you don’t have to call me next time.”

Mike: a big sigh…”Alright, I guess…”

So I told him how he should use this wooden rake we have and to be careful of lobsters that aren’t rubber banded, and I showed him how to label them on the scale. However, as soon as the label printed he starts walking away again.

Me:”Dude, where are you going? We’re not done yet, you need to steam these.”

Mike:”Oh…alright.”

Since there was a line of customers building up, I simply told him what he had to do to steam the lobsters – grab a tray, pour a little water in the bottom, place the lobsters in, put the lid on the tray, place the tray in the steamer, and use a chart we had on the wall to decide how long they should be steamed.

I start helping customers and leave him to steam the lobsters.

Now, where did he go…?

Fifteen minutes go by and I notice the lady is still waiting at seafood for her lobsters. Looking around the department, I see no sign of Mike.

I walk over to the steamer and see three lobsters, still alive, flailing on an open tray next to the steamer.

I was furious. I severely apologized to the lady and generously discounted her for the trouble (she was actually suddenly very understanding at this point), and went on a mission to find Mike.

After a good amount of searching, I found him in produce chatting away with his friends and texting on his phone. One look at me and he knew what was wrong.

Without a single word spoken, he followed me back to seafood while I stood there, gesturing towards the steamer, now humming while it steamed the lobsters I put in there.

“So what’s wrong with this picture?” I said, sternly.

Mike:”I don’t know.”

Me:”You want to rethink that? When were these lobsters supposed to be done?”

Mike:”I don’t know.”

Me:”Dude, you’re killing me here – I was right here when I explained to you what you had to do. What happened?”

He continued to stand in silence, but before he could answer, another customer came up looking for one lobster, stuffed and steamed. I told Mike this job was all his.

He got the lobster out of the tank, placed it on the scale, and once the label printed he placed the lobster on the seafood counter and stared at me. I stared at him, waiting for him to make his next move.

He knew what came next – he had to split the lobster open. He saw me doing it earlier that day and I explained to him what I was doing.

Now he figured it out…

He grabbed the knife, slowly moving it to the lobster, and when the crustacean twitched he dropped the knife and started walking away.

Me:”Dude, where are you going?! You -”

Mike:”No! I won’t do it! I can’t kill the lobster, it’s a living thing and you can’t make me!”

And he ran off into the back room, leaving me alone with the customer – I couldn’t tell which one of us was more embarrassed by the encounter that just happened.

I apologized to her, and knowing what the rest of my day would be like now, started to work on her lobster.

I didn’t ask Mike to do any more seafood customers that day, but I did have to remind him that he does not work in produce more than I cared to.

I left Meat Manager a note at closing time, because I honestly felt this was not the place for Mike – the constant complaining, the refusal to work more than one day a week, his terrible attitude, and now this, this flat out refusal to serve the customer instead of asking for a little help.

If he had asked me to steam the lobsters for him, I would have, but would still have recommended he may look for somewhere else to work. It would have been better than the way that night played out.

Within the next week, Mike left – whether he quit or was fired I do not know, and as far as I know he still hasn’t gotten another job, instead he still lives off of his parents’ dime.”

Check out what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person knows all about this…

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user spoke up.

Another reader chimed in.

And this Reddit user had a lot to say.

This guy should probably never work in a deli ever again…

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.