When The Drive-Thru Becomes A Killing Floor
I’m working my first week (and my first job!) at a fast-food place. We’re about twenty minutes to closing, and I’m cleaning up a closed section of the restaurant. The store manager comes over to me. We haven’t actually interacted until this point:
Store Manager: “You’re [My Name], who started this week, right?”
Me: “That’s me!”
Store Manager: “Stop what you’re doing and come with me. I need to show you something.”
Me: “Uh… okay?”
I walk with him outside to a car that has pulled up outside our store. The driver, some guy, has been staring into our store for the last five minutes. The store manager walks up to the car and gently taps on the window.
Store Manager: “Sir, I know you can hear me, so I am going to explain this loud and clear. The store closes in twenty minutes. You are intending to act our your normal schtick of driving through our drive-thru a minute before closing, making some overcomplicated order for the h*** of it, complaining that everything is wrong and demanding it to be remade, and then sitting at the drive-thru several minutes more to check your items, keeping us all back long after closing.”
Driver: *Rolling down his window.* “I don’t know what gives you the right to approach some innocent guy in the parking lot and—”
Store Manager: *Ignoring him and pushing on.* “—So I am making this very clear. If you wish to order through our drive-thru, you do it right now. You are here, in person; there is nothing preventing you from doing so. You can order whatever you wish, but you will accept the order the first time. There will be no do-overs. You will be gone before the store closes. I have ordered my workers to have the drive-thru window closed at 10 PM, regardless of whether you are there or not. There will be no refunds. Calls to Corporate will result in zero reprimands being made to my staff or me. Corporate has been informed of your behavior, and they have decided that the amount of overtime you inflict upon the store is not worth keeping you happy.”
My manager has finally finished, and the driver is silent.
Store Manager: “I’m done. If you’re not in the drive-thru in the next fifteen seconds, you’re not being served.”
The driver gives us both the finger, roars his engine loudly to make some kind of a point, and screeches out of the parking lot.
Me: “What was that all about?”
Store Manager: “One thing you’re going to learn real fast working in the service industry, is that there will always be miserable sacks of s*** like that a**hole I just spoke to. They get their jollies from making people like us miserable, expecting us to have to bow down to them every time simply because they’re the customer.”
Me: “Seriously?! Why?”
Store Manager: “Maybe they have no one who respects them in their regular life, so they take it out on us. Maybe they’re on a power trip and we’re easy targets. F*** if I know or care, leave that to a psychologist. All I know is that people like that will get nowhere with me as long as I am the manager. You’re allowed to tell people like that to go to Hell. F*** what Corporate says, and f*** that “customer is always right” bull-s***, alright?”
Me: “Uh… alright.”
Store Manager: “Good. I’m glad you got to see that on your first week. Feel free to share the story with anyone else who needs to hear it.”
So, I did!