At this point, I’m pretty well-versed in the inner workings of the service industry. In high school, I waitressed at a diner. While I’m at school, I work in the box office and sell concessions for a local art house cinema. This past summer, though, I worked the mother of all service jobs: the fast food server.

Don’t get me wrong here— I have actually enjoyed each of these jobs. Yes, even the fast food one. Working in a service-oriented business, you establish a sense of camaraderie with your coworkers, and the people-watching part of the job is awesome. I mean, I usually even get free or reduced-price food wherever I’m working, which is probably the biggest perk.

Although I wasn’t working at McDonalds this summer, my place fit the archetype. From the nonslip shoes all the way up to the company issue visor and neatly secured hair, I was made to look and act the part that so many before me have valiantly taken on. And through that process, I learned a few things that you might want to know:

1. We appreciate some kindness

I get it, maybe you had a rough day. Maybe you’re just tired and don’t recognize me as an actual human being. Whatever. But barking your order and then scowling while you wait won’t get your food out any faster.

A little smiling and smalltalk goes a long way— maybe I’ll even thrown an extra nugget or a couple of fries in there for you. If you’re kind, you’ve earned it.

2. But please don’t try to talk my ear off

Especially if it’s during lunch or dinner rush. Look, I’d love to hear about how your niece or granddaughter is also named Ashley (spoiler: everyone born in the mid-90s is named Ashley) but I don’t really have the time to look at pictures of her latest horse riding competition right now. You’re proud; it’s cute. Just be cute somewhere besides right in front of my register.

3. No, I can’t do anything about how “overpriced” our drinks are

You’re the one who wants forty ounces of strawberry lemonade. I didn’t make the rules, I just charge you for ‘em.

4. Yelling at me won’t change the fact that we don’t accept $100 bills

It’s company policy, and I have absolutely no authority to override that. We’ve even got a sign on the wall telling you before you order.

5. Just throw away your own damn trash

I did not bring your food to your table, and I sure as hell do not have time to come clean it up. And yet, every time you run out on your half-empty ketchup packets, used napkins, and crumpled hamburger wrappers, I have to leave my register to clean it up.

6. No, our salads won’t make you fat...

I’ve had several people ask me if we do something to the salads to make them more fattening. Apparently there’s a rumor circulating that we spray the lettuce with something, which is ridiculous. The salads are just regular old lettuce topped with whatever fruits, veggies, nuts, cheese, or chicken you see in the picture.

7. Unless you order one with a large fry and chocolate shake.

Like, why did you even ask me about the salad? Were you just trying to conserve your fat and carb macros for the rest of your meal? The only justification I can figure out for this kind of order is that maybe you just think all of these things taste good together. In which case, more power to you.

8. We love our regulars

Regular customers are awesome because they get to know the place as well as we do. The restaurant where I worked was right next to an auto body shop, so the mechanics there came in every day, usually more than once each day.They were always joking around and asking us how things were going, and we got used to them. When you’re there enough, you become a positive part of the environment.

9. And we have our favorites

There was this one sort of older man who would come in every afternoon while the restaurant was basically dead— about 4:30 or 5:00— and set himself up at the same table. He would only ever get a senior tea (taken with one creamer), which we would have ready for him by the time he reached the register. He was a writer, too, and always wanted to talk to me about what I was writing lately, what I thought of it, and if I had read anything good in the past few days. We even talked about my course schedule for the upcoming semester. And then he would go sit at his table and write poetry for upwards of an hour. It was magical.

So shoutout to you, tea-and-poetry man. (And sorry I never asked your name.)

10. Everyone can hear you when you’re at the drive-thru.

Once time a high school kid came through the drive through and knew the person taking his order. When asked what kind of sauce he wanted with his chicken nuggets, his reply was definitely not on the menu. What he didn’t know at the time was that almost every person in the restaurant has a headset on and can hear your order. This includes the manager. So please, please don’t say anything you don’t want everyone else to hear.

11. We are all making fun of the things you say in the drive-thru.

Actually, this is one of our favorite pastimes. Sometimes it’s just that you said something stupid in your order— oh, you want a cheeseburger with everything except no cheese? Other times, you’re just having a really funny conversation with whoever else is in your car. Maybe you’re fighting over what size fries to get, or telling a story about whatever happened last night. Either way, we’re mimicking you from the inside of the store, and you’ll never know.

12. Speaking of which— No, we don’t serve McNuggets and happy meals.

Why do people think that every burger place is a McDonalds? Like, good for them for marketing themselves well, but we don’t serve their food. If you want a happy meal for your kid, or a 10-piece McNugget, you’re going to have to go across the street.

13. Although we do love McNuggets and happy meals just as much as you do.

Even though our food was better tasting, and even though we got it for half price, a lot of my coworkers would go to the McDonalds across the street during their breaks. Sometimes when you’re tired of your own fast food, you just need a subtly different-tasting nugget.

14. I can see you judging me.

The restaurant I worked in was in my hometown, so this was especially bad with people who knew me from high school. Where I smell french fries, you smell failure. But that is no reason to have all that pity in your eyes when you look at me.
I could just see the thoughts forming in their heads: Wow, and she did so well in high school. I never though I’d see her here. She’s probably not even doing anything real with her life anymore. How sad.
In reality, I’m on just the same trajectory as I was in high school. I just need some fuel by way of a paycheck to keep myself on that path. But even if I wasn’t, you do not get to pity me for working a job that you consider beneath yourself.

15. And I can see you judging everyone else I’m working with.

Here’s the one that really gets me. Why do I feel like I have to justify myself? Why do I clutch so tightly to my college enrollment as proof that I'm still worthwhile?

It's because there is an unspoken belief that fast food workers, and service workers in general, are less-than. They can't get a better job because they're too stupid or too lazy. They deserve to make less than a livable wage until they get their act together.

Well if there's anything I need you to take from this article, it is this: nobody is less-than. Some of the people I worked with were full-time college students with full-time jobs on top of their coursework, and others hadn't even completed high school. Some of them were just kids trying to make a little money on the side, and others were parents and grandparents with their own families to worry about. None of them deserve your judgement or your pity. Each of them is a whole person full of intelligences and passions and reasons behind their life choices, and they own it. It's just everyone else's minds that need to be changed.