Nothing ruins a nice dinner faster than entitled people who think you owe them something.

So, what would you do if you were out with your family after a long day, when a couple of strangers interrupt your meal to demand that you fix their neighborhood problems, all because you used to work for the city?

Would you offer help anyway? Or would you blow up and tell them exactly how you feel?

In the following story, one former city employee finds himself in this predicament and lets these people have it.

Here’s what happened.

Became the face of a City department then left for another job. But people still recognized me and demanded that I fix their problems now!

I used to work for the same City that I lived and still live in.

As part of my job, my department would do a bunch of public outreach, which I absolutely loved and often volunteered to do.

I really enjoyed engaging with kids because they genuinely seemed interested in answering questions from residents. Doing outreach was the highlight of what was a pretty boring job.

He worked here until another city snagged him.

Keep in mind that doing public outreach often meant working extra nights or weekends. I was salaried. I didn’t get paid extra for the extra work. I just loved doing it. I worked for the City for over 10 years.

That’s a long time during which I pretty much became the face of my department. Along the way, I got married and had two kids. Working extra got harder with the family, but at that point, I was committed.

It was also long enough that a different City snagged me to run their department. Overnight, I became 100% committed to the new City and 0% committed to my former City. I was fairly relieved that I wouldn’t have to be the public outreach face anymore. I had someone for that now, while I had more time for family.

After 10 years on the job, plenty of people still recognized him.

But I never moved from where I lived.

People still recognized me when I went grocery shopping or stood in line at the bank. I was their inside connection to bypass the bureaucracy. I got used to always having business cards with me.

Do you have a problem with your trash pickup? Do you have a problem with overhanging trees? Does your neighbor’s grass grow too high? Do you see me at Starbucks on a Saturday? Just ask away. I’ll get it to the right people.

This got old and quite annoying fast.

This woman made eye contact and started moving toward him.

So, let’s fast-forward about two years, after I had already moved on. I was having a very bad day, especially bad for reasons I don’t want to get into.

I got home fairly late and decided to take the family out for dinner rather than cook. I was tired and admittedly cranky. We were waiting for our table when someone recognized me.

I could immediately tell that it was more of an “I need you to fix my problem” rather than a simple “I recognized you from somewhere” when she made eye contact, smiled, quickly frowned, and then walked straight to me.

She was not happy and let him know it.

She started complaining about a neighbor’s dog and tall grass. Then her husband chimed in.

Apparently, they called about it several times, but it never got resolved. It was somehow my fault.

They demanded that I do something about it immediately because their tax dollars were paying my salary. They wanted me to pull out my phone and send an email now! Or they would complain about me because they “knew the Mayor.”

Frustrated, he couldn’t take hearing it anymore.

Remember I was cranky. I was hungry. I had a major headache. I especially hated that tax dollar line. Holy heck I hated when they “Mayor drop.” I had a blow-up moment.

I don’t remember the exact words but it went something in the lines of I don’t work for the City anymore but even if I still did it doesn’t entitle them to harass me at all hours of the day. I still had friends in the City and could have helped them if they were decent people but forget it. Add a few expletives.

After we were seated, my wife criticized me for not being nice, but the food tasted especially good that evening.

Yikes! That would get old really quickly!

Let’s check out what the readers over at Reddit think about being recognized in public.

This person knows a former politician who dislikes being recognized.

Here’s someone who can relate.

According to this comment, those people were wrong.

Good point.

He had every right to do that.

They should handle their problems in an official manner and not harass someone who’s out to dinner with family.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.