Things I wish I could say to customers..

People who think that the customers are always right.... are wrong. In fact, 99.99999999% of the time they are dead wrong. Just think about it. I work here. I spend on average 30 hours a week here and you think you know this business better than me? Bye. 

I have compiled a few (non-fictional) scenarios in which I would love to say exactly what I'm thinking. 

SCENE 1: COMBOS

Customer 1: I would like the number one combo.

Me: Okay, would you like that small, medium, or large?

Customer 1: No thank you.

Me: I'm sorry, your fries and drink.. do you want them small, medium, or large?

Customer 1: No I just want the sandwich.

Thoughts: That is not a combo, learn how to order and come back later. Bye. 

SCENE 2: NUGGETS

Customer 2: What size nuggets do yours come in?

Me: We have a 4 piece, 6 piece, and a 10 piece, but only in a combo.

Customer 2: I’ll take a 10 piece.

Me: Would you like your combo small, medium, or large?

Customer 2: No just the nuggets.

Thoughts: That was not an option, was it? No. Bye.

SCENE 3: NO.

Customer 3: Can I get *something we don’t serve*?

Me: No, we don’t carry that here.

Customer 3: Uhm, I just got that here last week.

Me: I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you got but we have never sold that..

Customer 3: This is ridiculous, I would like to speak to a manager blah blah blah blah

Thoughts: I don’t know what to tell you dude. WE DON’T HAVE CURLY FRIES. Bye.

Now, these really aren’t that bad, but sometimes customers are just ridiculous. The entire food industry is set up like crap when it comes to customer service. It is set up in a way that we can get walked all over and nothing can be done about it. I mean, customers come at us and insult us left and right over what goes on a burger. You think I don’t know what goes on a junior cheeseburger? Ive worked here for two years. If you were sitting on a train, or a bus, or something and someone through a milkshake at your face and insulted your intelligence, you wouldn’t say, “Well, I’m sorry we upset you, we will take your constructive criticism to heart, have a wonderful day.” No. You would be able to defend yourself. I understand being professional, but people come in and scream at us just because they know they can get away with it. We are abused as individuals on a daily basis, and it is sad. It is sad that I hate my job solely because of the way I am treated, when most of the time I am in the right. So no, kind sir, customers are not always right. They are mostly wrong. Throw another burger at me why don’t you. 

Stuck

              So, for this week’s post, I thought I would again dress the issue of why I still work in this hell hole. Let me tell you, I ask myself that same question every single time I put on that ugly uniform, but I am reminded of the answer when I try to escape. I am in college. Jobs are hard to find. You need experience to get experience. I am a full time student, taking 14 credits this semester. If you’re at delta at any time Monday- Thursday I am sure that you’ll see me wandering the halls. I am a busy bee and no one wants to hire someone that can barely work. My availability at work is as follows: Wednesday: 3-11, Friday: 10-7, Saturday: 10am-11pm, and Sunday: 10-8. That is some crappy availability. Now, imagine me trying to apply for jobs. Yeah, not going to good.

                The other thing about this being my availability is that it’s really not. This is my availability cut in half, because I can’t quit my crappy job until I am actually settled and sure of a new one. So who in the right mind would hire someone who can only work about 10 hours a week at most? No one. So of course I have story to back this up, and let me tell you I am one who gets my hopes up very high when I want something, which gets me in trouble more than I would like.

                I was shopping at Meijer a couple of weeks ago and ran into a girl I graduated with last year. She had just been employed by them the week prior and told me that they were still hiring. I was so excited. She told me who I should talk to and what to say when I dropped off my resume. I had an “in” and I was getting out. I ran home and filled out the application online. I waited three days and went to talk to their hiring manager, memorizing a script of positive answers to questions he may have on the way. When I got to Meijer that day, I went to the service desk to talk to him and the girl that greeted me said “I’m sorry, he’s in a meeting right now.” This was the start of the epic downfall that is my life.

                I left my resume with her and she told me that he would give me a call when he was done that day. I left the store and went to work, with high anticipation. Excitement still buzzed inside me. He would call, I knew it, and I was getting out of this fast food job. A few days passed and I began to get discouraged. “Is he busy?” “Did they lose my resume?” “Am I that unqualified?” are just some of the thoughts that passed me by that week. I was slouching around and drowning my sorrows in ice cream when I got a text from Chelsea (The girl I went to school with) telling me that the manager never got my resume but he was going to pull my online application.

                I got the call the next day. My stomach tried to escape itself as I answered. On the other end the manager talked to me about how excited he was that I applied and how it looked like I would be an amazing addition to their team, and how he would love to schedule me an interview –whenever my availability was better. “Apply later,” he said.

                There it was, the big fat “you’re stuck.” I am paying my own way through college with no help from anyone, including the school. I am stuck in this job for God knows how long. Am I sick of it? Yes. Do I want out? Yes. But unless you can deliver me a job, I’m screwed. I have applied for 11 jobs in the past year and a half, gotten only about 6 calls and they have all said that it’s not the right time. So until a good job that allows crappy availability falls into my lap, I’m going to go home, put on that uniform, and march into work unhappily. Well, not today, it’s Thursday.

A little pin of happiness

I thought a little change up in my ranting routine would be welcome. Instead of complaining about some crappy aspect of my job, this week I am going to tell you about a good one. Pins. Pins are a reward system that takes place at foodies. When we are good and do something extraordinary, we get a pin. We are like dogs, begging for treats. Some of us have hats filled with pins, and others have merely a few. I, in my two years here, have obtained a single pin: my one year pin.

When I completed a full year of employment I received my one year pin, thanking me for my hard work and dedication. I was stoked. It was a little achievement, but I got a freaking pin!! I could wear it on my hat with pride, and now I looked cooler than all the newbies that had lame pin-free hats. I wore this pin with pride, rubbed it in some faces, showed it off, because I had a pin and that made me cool. I was a four year old with a shiny new toy, captivated, spoiled. Soon, my single pin was not good enough. I wanted more, but they never came.

It’s not that I’m a bad worker, because the truth is I work harder than half of the people there, but my pins just never came. Pins were hard to obtain. There were no pins for day-to-day hard work, just extraordinary tasks. I watched new-hires got pins for going over the top to better themselves, watched others just bought their success off of Ebay, and I watched people suck up to improve their hats. I set out on a mission, a mission to pretty my oh-so ordinary uniform.

This made my sucktastic job a little more tolerable. I now went to work with a goal. I didn’t sweat the small stuff because I was working for the big picture, but the pins just never came. I desperately tried to be above and beyond with customer interaction, tried to get the orders out the fastest in the drive-through, and slaved over dishes and all of the tedious, overlooked things, but nothing. After a year of this, I was done. I would slope back into that world of pure meritocracy.

A few months ago I was offered the chance at being a five-star cashier, which I have mentioned previously. This meant going to a few classes held by my boss, passing a test at the end, and a big evaluation. These classes were held at a different Foodies location and would be with a bunch of other workers that I had never met. I had no idea what to expect at these classes or how to conduct myself. I became a shy girl who only participated in conversation through head nods and half smiles, but when the class began I was determined to stand out. Every question that my boss would ask, I would answer. I wanted this “semi-promotion” and I needed him to know that.

I had forgotten about this class, about my complete knowledge of my job and my amazing question-answering skills, until this week. My general manager (one step below the boss I mentioned) came up to me with a smile. She told me that she had just gotten off the phone with my boss and that he had nothing but good things to say about me. He told her that I represented the store very well, and that I was a delightful worker that he was glad to have on his team. With this she handed me a pin that had our logo and the word WOW written across.

Again, I lit up like a child receiving a new toy. I was beyond excited. I now had two pins, and they would be friends as they sat on my head and made my extra-ordinary uniform a little more extraordinary.