I have worked in the food industry since I was sixteen-years-old. I started out as a hostess at a family owned Italian restaurant, eventually doubling as a take-out girl as well. I worked there for two years, and have experienced some of the most brutal verbal attacks of my life that have brought me to tears.
Now I work at Jersey Mike's subs. I love this job and the people I work with; however, sometimes the customers are less than pleasant. At both jobs in the food industry, I learned, the customers are a special breed of people. Not all, but most customers are one of these types of people who really get on employees' last nerves.
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1. The Messy Eater
This person is the type of person who will eat, but make no attempt of cleaning up after themselves. It seems that their sole mission is to spread crumbs, sauce, soda, etc. over every inch of the table. Sure, they might use napkins, but they leave those in bits and pieces for you to clean up because...that IS your job isn't it? To be their personal maid?
2. The Interrupter
When I'm at the register, there is this one man who does this to the extreme. I could have a million people in my line, but his needs are more important than the countless patient people in line. I will be cashing out a customer, and when I'm mid sentence he will come up and ask, "Can I get a knife?" completely cutting in the middle of a transaction. Then he'll return, "Can I get a water cup? No, not the little one. The one with a lid." Normally, I wouldn't be bothered by a customer's needs, but to interrupt me while I'm with another customer, without saying, "Excuse me," or, "I'm sorry, but can I get...." Plus, he doesn't even say thank you afterward! This leads me to my next worst type of customer:
3. No Manners? Big Problem.
This special customer would not care if you made their sub on the moon, had it signed by Oprah, wrapped it in gold, and served it from the Bat Mobile. THEY WILL NOT SAY PLEASE OR THANK YOU. Were you raised in a cave where manners don't exist? Correction: I'm pretty sure cave children would have better manners, otherwise they would be hit with a club or something. It takes a fraction of a second to say please or thank you, so I suggest you do.
4. The Social (Media) Butterfly
This girl will come into the store on her phone, either talking or texting. I will patiently stand there smiling after washing my hands and putting on my gloves. I stand there so long waiting for her to get off her phone and order that my smile turns into a contorted twitch. When she finally notices my presence or acknowledges my sweet, "What can I get for you today?" she'll apologize and give me her order. But be careful if you're ready to add toppings to her sub because you'll be waiting another ten minutes for her to simply say she wants it Mike's Way, add pickles. Maybe if I tweeted at her I would have a better shot at getting a response. After she leaves, I would barely be able to tell you what she looks like because her head was down staring at her phone the whole time.
5. The One Who Won't Wait
This person always appears to be in a rush. You can hear them from a hundred feet away huffing and puffing with impatience, tapping their foot, and standing with their arms tightly crossed over their chest. If they manage to wait in the line, or to be seated, without storming out (because the five-minute wait has been too much to handle), they'll make it to the front of the line and say some smart remark like, "Took you long enough," or, "I thought I was hungry, but now I'm starving after waiting so long." I apologize for not realizing your time is more important than mine.
6. The Joker
This person will crack "jokes" that only they laugh at because they're actually rude and not funny at all. My last two encounters with two different jokesters were far from comical.
The first jokester sexually harassed me and thought it was hilarious. I was still fairly new at Jersey Mike's and made a man's sub. As I was wrapping up his sub, he said, "Look at you! You're like a pro even though you're new!" He could've stopped there with his polite compliment, but instead, he took it one step further: "You can tell she's handled something else that size." I froze. He didn't just say what I think he did? Did he? He burst out laughing at my expense. I just walked away when I really wanted to say, "And this sub is the only thing this size you would handle in your life."
The second jokester used old material that I've heard countless times in my life. I sliced his sub, and right before I went to put it on the cutting board to add toppings, he asked me to clean the board because he was allergic to the oil that was on it. My manager simply ripped off a piece of our sub wrapping paper and told me to put it on there. I did so, and my manager said, "It's a lot easier this way." Of course the comedian in front of me had to say, "But she wouldn't know that because she's blonde." As he stood there giggling, I wanted to ruin his enjoyment by saying, "You're right I am blonde. But I'm a blonde who has a 3.9 GPA at one of the top schools in America. Oh! And your UHAUL shirt is real cute because, after my college education, you can move my stuff into my big house." But instead, I looked up at him, flashed him the fakest, driest smile I could manage and said, "Would you like anything else on your sub?"
There are many customers I encounter on a daily basis who are kind, use their manners, joke around in a good way, and treat the workers with respect. If I learned anything from working in the food industry, it's that you have to have thick skin, patience and good communication skills. There are many times I wish I could've done or said certain things to certain customers, but then I would probably get fired. All I have to say is that if you are one of the customers I listed above, you might want to rethink the way you behave toward people in the food industry. Remember: they are handling your food. ;)
