I used to work at a popular burger chain in Australia. (I no longer work there because they wanted me to take on more hours while I was studying and they ended up getting me to send in a resignation letter because it was 'easier that way')
My manager, let's call her Sarah, was the absolute worst. She had a plastic personality and had a horrid 'customer service smile' plastered on her face around any customers. She would call some of us aside and she bullied multiple of my co-workers to tears with her harsh demands and expectations.
For the most part I tried to never get in her way, but one day that was unavoidable. I was out the front of the restaurant greeting people as they entered. Sometimes people waited near me for their online/takeaway orders. I would usually tell them the wait was around 15 minutes and at peak times I'd tell them 20. Now I knew exactly how much time was passing because the dockets had the time the order was placed on them and I would always make sure I wore a watch after a bad experience where I wasn't reminded about the end of my shift (ended up working unpaid overtime and it was my fault, but I had no way to check the time because we weren't allowed our phones).
So it was lunch hour and there were many people coming in and a clump of people started to form in the waiting area for pickups. If new people came to ask about the order wait, I would also tell them ~20 mins because they had limited time for their break. That's when Sarah walked past me to serve a table outside. She pierced me with an icy glare, sending me into a panic . I had no idea what I'd done but when she came back through the entrance she said I'd need to 'have a chat' with her when it got quieter.
Sure enough she appeared behind me, around half an hour after the big rush. She spoke quietly, but in a tone that would be used to speak to a child who'd just done something despicable, she basically spat through her teeth at me, “I heard you telling customers the wait was 20 minutes. That is NOT true. You cannot tell customers that wait time as it scares them off. The wait time at its maximum is 10 minutes. Do not tell them any longer than that”. Wanting the interaction to end as soon as possible I just nodded and agreed. She pulled her gums back to reveal those pearly whites again in that dreadful facade of a smile, “thanks darl” she cheerfully insisted to me and the handful of customers in earshot.
As I stood there, still mindlessly greeting people in and shocked from my encounter with Sarah, I realised she was perfectly happy about lying to people. In fact, she was encouraging it. Once a customer had paid, they'd have to wait, no matter how long. I felt sick having to lie to every customer, especially since they would complain to me when their order took over 10 minutes. After seeing how easy it was for Sarah to lie to customers I started to think about how many other retail stores had their staff lying for the sake of profit. It seems obvious to me now but back then I always tried to think the best of people.
I'm glad I no longer work there, there were so many other experiences I had there that gave me a loathing for managers like Sarah.