If you've ever worked in the service industry (specifically fast food), then you already know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, you are the customer, and today I'm here to tell you what it's really like to serve you.
I'm sure you've heard the phrase that most restaurants and businesses live by, "the customer is always right."
A more false statement has never been spoken, excluding perhaps "Hitler is a great guy." That's right, I said it. You're wrong. The customer is always wrong. Never in my life have I been treated more poorly than I have while working fast food. It's like the second I step behind the counter, I lose my value as a person. I'm just a thing that takes your order and then gives you your food. Sometimes I believe that people truly think that I am not a person based on the way they treat me. Maybe you think I'm being dramatic/blowing this out of proportion, and I honestly wish I was. But the truth is that people treat my coworkers and myself so horribly that it's a wonder that anyone would want to work there. Unfortunately, it's this job or nothing, and that's the case for many people working in the service industry. We're trapped in a living Hell, tormented by the very people we serve.
I remember when I first started working there, I had high hopes for the job. The work was simple enough, and not very taxing. I thought it would be easy. Then one day, during a rush, a woman ordered a massive amount of sandwiches without sauce. We only had one sandwich maker, and in his rush to finish all the orders, he made her sandwiches incorrectly (a simple problem that is easily fixed). I gave the woman her food, and she removed a sandwich from the bag and inspected it. Upon finding the sauce, she threw the sandwich over the counter at me and my coworkers. She proceeded to do that with every sandwich until there were none left, and left the restaurant cussing and screaming and swearing we would all be fired because she was going to call corporate.
When I ran drive-thru for the first time and had my very first customer, I did my best to do everything right. I remained polite, bagged the order correctly and in a timely manner. I wished the man to have a nice night, and he flipped me off and drove away.
Another time on drive-thru, I asked a man to speak up at the box because his truck engine was too loud and I couldn't hear his order. He then decided it was best to drive up to the window, scream it at me, snatch his food from my hands and tell me to go F myself.
The list goes on and on. Not a night goes by that I don't experience a rude customer who thinks they deserve to be treated like a king while I am treated like vermin. And it's all thanks to that stupid "the customer is always right" mentality. Whenever that phrase was created, so was a virus, and that virus infects every person into thinking that they can do what they want because they're "always right".
The worst part about it all is if we retaliate, defend ourselves, treat you the way you treat us, we will be fired. I personally have not and will not ever allow myself or my coworkers to be stamped into the ground. I still have dignity, and no job is worth sacrificing that.
The customer is not always right. The customer is full of garbage, in my opinion. In fact, the customer can bite it. If you find yourself with an over-excessive love for people, then I suggest you work fast food for a while. Then you'll come to resent all people.
Give us a break and we'll give you your food. Have you forgotten the golden rule? The rule that I'm sure any five-year-old could recite, and actually practice?
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
