I was working in the drive-thru.

Me: “Welcome to [Fast Food Place]! We are currently featuring our—”

Speaker: “AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!”

I blinked. There was silence. Not knowing what else to do, I finished my spiel, and the guy ordered. As he was ordering, every few minutes, there was this screaming out of absolutely nowhere. It sounded like someone was being murdered, and the customer didn’t even react.

I was going through every imaginable possibility. Was I being pranked? Was there a kid in the car? Was someone drunk? Was this some sort of psychological attack?

I was sixteen and this was my first job, so I just powered through and tentatively looked out the window to see what the h*** was going on with this customer.

And that was the day that I learned that a goat bleating through a drive-thru speaker sounds like a human screaming into oblivion. The dude had a d*** GOAT in the back of his truck in the drive-thru!

I worked at that job for, like, two years, and I never saw another livestock animal in the drive-thru. Goat guy, if you’re out there, please don’t do that again; the underpaid teenagers are not prepared to process that.

While traveling on the New York State thruway on Thanksgiving Day, we planned on eating our Turkey feast at a thruway restaurant. Everything was closed except for a national burger chain.

Worker: “Is that everything?”

Me: “Sadly, yeah. The burgers are our ‘Turkey dinner’ as we failed to plan better; we’re traveling through.”

Worker: “How many of you are traveling?”

Me: “Two adults and two children.”

Worker: “I see. Please be seated and your food will be right out.”

A few minutes later, the crew came out of the back with a complete dinner, including two pies. Apparently, some kind-hearted soul gave the crew the dinner because they had to work on Thanksgiving, not realizing that everyone either just came from or was going home to a huge meal! It was fabulous!

They gave us lots of takeout containers, and we had enough to feed us on our three-day trip! That’s Thanksgiving!

I used to work at a fast food chain, and because I had decent customer service skills, I would usually be placed in the drive-thru taking orders.

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and the ordering manager had deliberately shorted the store on orders for the week to account for the fact that we would be closed on Thanksgiving. We would get a truck on Friday to restock.

However, the manager hadn’t accounted for Thanksgiving gluttony starting early. We ran out of fries a few hours into my shift. Cue repeats of this exchange for the next several hours.

Customer: “I’d like a large [combo] with a large fry….”

Me: “I’m so sorry, we’re out of fries for the day.”

This was usually followed by many choice swearwords from the customers followed by screeching tires.

I had never been so glad to close the store as I was that day.

It’s been a long week. I am tired, both physically and mentally, and I must look it because when I walk into the fast food place to get some pick-me-up food, the manager says to me:

Manager: “Are you okay?”

Me: “I will be. I’ve been looking forward to a hot meal.”

I put in my order, but suddenly, my card declines. I don’t have a lot of money, but I have budgeted for this modest meal; I kinda need it for my mental health.

Me: “I… I’m so sorry… I… I thought I had enough.”

Manager: “I saw on the news this morning how much profit this chain made in the last quarter. Billions. And they still won’t approve my staff working full time hours to qualify for benefits. So, you know what? F*** em. Order anything you want. On the house.”

Me: “You really don’t need to—”

Manager: “No, I really do need to.”

He practically threw my order at me, along with an extra burger (a premium one!) and more sides. Since it was slow (it was the middle of the night), he then grabbed a burger himself, and we sat by the entrance and chatted about life and its ups and downs for a few minutes before I thanked him and went on my way.

I know his kindness came from a “f*** corporate” attitude, but it was exactly what I needed on that day and I think about him often.

My boyfriend and I have decided to stop for some fast food after a day of fishing. We are in the drive-thru. I’m driving while he is in the passenger seat. We order our food and pull forward to the first window.

Worker: “Hi! Your total is $10.82.”

I hand her $20.82.

Worker: “Um… this is too much money.”

Me: “Uhhhh… I’m trying to make change?”

Worker: *Snidely* “I don’t know what you’re doing. This is too much money; the total is only $10.82!” 

She proceeds to TOSS the 82¢ back onto my lap angrily, as well as the change from $20, and closes the window on me.

I pull forward to wait for our food. Then, I turn to my boyfriend.

Me: “Was I wrong? Did I somehow give her the wrong amount of money?”

Boyfriend: “No, she should have given you back $10. She was being weird.”

Also, I thought about it when I got home, and even if I had been wrong, that’s no way to speak and react to a customer for making a mistake.