Working is never fun for anyone but getting money is.
Let me tell you, the hardest thing while working fast food is talking to the people. Things can always go sideways in a blink. You could be talking about food then suddenly they’re oversharing about a family tragedy or going off on you about nuggets. Not only that but sometimes some people think it’s funny to make fun of the same people that are making YOUR food. My second week working, I was taking a woman’s order and accidentally put something else in the system. Her response was to ask if I was stupid or didn’t understand. So, I walked away and told my manager. As much as I wanted to stand up and say something to her, I just had to stand behind my manager as he helped her; and, I apologized since I was new. I wasn’t very fond of this experience.
Surely this type of rude exchange wouldn’t happen very often, right?
Another time we were in the middle of a rush, picture this: the lobby had about 43 people, and our drive-thru was drowning in cars. I approached a man who kept yelling and asked what was wrong. A lot was because he started yelling at me about not getting his food, so I proceeded to explain that we were in the middle of a rush and that his food would be out momentarily, but he would have to wait. In case he didn’t want to wait, I also offered a full refund. As a way to show him that we were trying to hurry, I made him his fresh hot coffee…you see where this is going? I go to hand the coffee out to him, and he tells me to hurry and get his food. I looked at him and nodded as they handed me a bag to hand out. As I turn around to call out the number of the person whose food it is, the man asks “Is it mine?” I look at him and shake my head no as he proceeds to throw the hot freshly made coffee at my face. Luckily, I moved in time to be able to move my face, but my shoulder was on fire. I walked to the back as a manager proceeded to kick him out. I was still new to the job and swore I would quit.
I didn’t quit.
A similar situation happened to me a few months back. It was about 10:50 pm, and we were getting ready to close when a car stopped by. Before I took his order, I told him he would have to wait for his food but everything would be freshly made. He said he was okay with this plan, so I proceeded to take his order. When he was paying, he kept looking at me weirdly, which I didn’t think much of. Once again I reminded him that it was going to be about a five or six-minute wait cause we were making his nuggets (about 5 minutes) and his fries (about 4 minutes), but all would be fresh. He nodded his head in agreement and sped his little green truck forward to wait. I continued sweeping and about 3 minutes later I heard knocking on our window so I went to check it out. It was the same guy asking me “How much longer?” I told him that it would be one more minute because the fries weren’t done. I handed him his drink and told him to wait just a minute.
After a minute I began bagging his order and then realized he was gone. I poked my head out of the window and surely there was no car. One of my coworkers then tells me that a man is trying to get into the locked doors of the fining room. I turn around and see the same man who is now pulling on the locked door. I signal for him to go around and see him storm back to his truck. He comes back around, and I hand him his food as he begins telling me that he waited 30 minutes for his food. I told him that was a lie and that it was about the time I told him and that I had told him he had to wait. He then continued having his little tantrum, insisting that he had waited the 30 minutes. Once again I told him he hadn’t and told him to have a good night as I shut the window because we were now closed.
He then threw his drink at the window and drove off. I’ve seen the man since the incident, and he still hasn’t apologized, but he does smile at me now, so I think we’ve made peace.
