Working at a restaurant is always a little scary, because what happens if the behind the scenes are gross and you don't want to work there anymore? What if the customers are so rude they make you want to quit? These are the risks we take as teenagers, who want and need money, and have very few options.
Many times, our fears are suppressed when we realize it's not really that bad. The coworkers are fun, the food is still as good it was when you didn't work there, and the customers never fail to call you "honey." Even so, we all have our bad days, and a fair of weird customers. Working at Subway, especially one in a truck stop, produces plenty of these moments and all of the worker have thought these 21 things at least once or twice.
1. Mayo is not a salad dressing, but OK.
I seriously applaud you on getting a salad, because bread is extremely tempting. However, your healthy choice is completely ruined by smothering your lettuce in thick, oily mayonnaise. Seriously gross.
2. Man, this bread is really hard.
Please don't notice how hard this bread is and how it doesn't move when I press down on it. Please get your sub toasted so I can blame it on that.
3. I really don't know what this is on my apron.
With so many sauces flying around, I don't know what I've wiped on myself. How do they expect me to wear an apron and not use it as a napkin? Come on.
4. Yes, I definitely just cut my finger.
Those sharp knives, especially a brand new one, slides right through those hard loaves of bread and right into my finger. I'll pretend it didn't hurt, but thank God I'm wearing gloves so I don't get blood on this sub.
5. Oh god, please don't make me prep onions.
You know how you cry a little when you cut an onion for your dinner? Imagine that times a thousand. Cutting and coring 30 onions at one times is seriously death and I'd rather do anything else.
6. I hope I'm on my break when the Herb & Cheese bread is ready to go in the oven.
Okay, maybe I'm just a little lazy, but having to take the extra time to put the cheese on instead of just putting the bread right into the oven is so annoying. It obviously is the icing on the cake, but can't somebody else just do it?
7. Can I just hide in the freezer?
With a hot well, a proofer, an over, two toasters, and two microwaves there is a lot of heat back behind the bar and I am sweating more than I'd like to admit. The freezer is a nice, peaceful oasis and I'd like to spend my whole shift there, please,
8. That is the weirdest combination, ever.
Sure, you can get steak, roast beef, rotisserie chicken, bacon, and two types of cheese all on this six inch sub. I mean, yes I'm going to look at you funny, and you're going to pay the price of two footlongs for this weird concoction but, do you, booboo.
9. If you stack all of the dishes inside the teriyaki bin, I'm not touching them.
Stacking dishes inside each other makes it very easy to carry them back to the sink. Usually it is common sense to not make dishes dirtier than they have to be, but some people just don't get that. If they want to make the dishes messier, they can also make them cleaner and wash them because I'm not.
10. Oh we can't sell a broken cookie, looks like I'll have to eat it.
Subway cookies are addicting to anyone, but being around them constantly is just unbearable. These soft, chewy cookies taste just the same when they're broken, trust me.
11. If you're a mean customer, I will break your cookie on purpose and pretend I didn't know.
Speaking of broken cookies, I will definitely break yours if you're a rude customer. Yeah they taste the same, and they're still yummy, but I'm passive aggressive and want you to know that I'm being sassy back to you.
12. Just toast the damn sandwich.
Having to heat the meat separately is annoying, to say the least. If you're getting a sub that needs to be hot, just toast it because it takes up an unnecessary amount of time that I could be using to help the next customer.
13.CHICKEN AND STEAK NEED TO BE HEATED.
Okay, going along with the heating and toasting of subs, you can't just opt out of making a hot sub hot completely. I understand if you want your deli meats to remain cold, but keeping chicken and steak cold is not only gross, but it isn't good for you. The meat is cooked, yes, but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't be heated. Do you eat hot dogs raw?
14. No, I do not want to change my gloves for you.
If you're vegetarian and I've been working in meats, I understand. I will gladly change my gloves because I understand where you're coming from as a vegetarian myself.
HOWEVER, if you ask my to change my gloves after I've been working in meats just to get a steak and cheese, I will want to throat punch you. The roast beef I just touched is not going to hurt your steak, but I will smile and say "sure" because I like my job.
15. I really hope you didn't see me drop half of your veggies on the ground.
When you pack your sub full, it becomes extremely hard to fold and thus some things fall out. The more that goes in, the more that comes out. Sorry not sorry.
16. I also don't want to "drag it through the garden."
This is a literal quote that somebody said to me. I had no idea what it meant but after hearing it multiple times by different truckers, I quickly learned that it means that they want everything, and I mean everything, put on their sub. And the worst part about this is they suddenly remember they don't want olives as you're putting them on.
17. The color green is so ugly.
Why can't we still wear black? It was so nice and slimming, and now this obnoxious green color is going to have me noticed a mile away. Ew.
18. I HATE BUSES AND BIG GROUPS.
Being busy is never fun, but when I am bombarded with 30+ people at one time who are all together and are barely speaking English it is the worst time of my life.
19. I can almost guarantee you don't need a sub at 6 a.m.
Having to crawl out of bed at 5:30 to be at work at 6 is awful, why must subway be open that early? Who wants to eat a sub that early?
20. I'm not going to wash these sauce bottles.
Unless the dishes are covered in teriyaki sauce, (as stated before) I don't mind doing dishes...unless they're sauce bottles. They always smell so weird and take so long to wash out. No thanks.
21. I'm so lucky to have landed this job.
Yes, sometimes I hate my coworkers and most days I don't want to be there but I've made friendships and grown in ways I never would have without this job.
Not every day at work will be a great time, because work is work, but knowing I have people to laugh with and complain with will always make my day at work a little better. I love my job, even on the worst days.
