I was asked to clean the bathroom at a fast-food restaurant. I walked in to find blood sprayed all over the walls, mirror, sink, ceiling; there was not one surface that didn’t get sprayed.

Turns out a couple was shooting up in there and he hit a vein and she panicked. My superior has already used the mop to clean the trails to the door.

I called the manager:

Me: “That bathroom is out of order until someone else comes and takes care of the biohazard.”

Manager: “Why can’t you do it?” 

Me: “Because just above minimum wage is never going to be enough to deal with possible drug and bodily fluid exposure like that with nothing other than the perforated food handling gloves you’re giving me to work with!”

I have been left alone to run both the front counter and the drive thru window as my partner thinks it’s more important to socialize with her friends. A woman yells at me over the intercom when ordering due to the delay caused by this.

I stay as polite as I can given the situation and take her order, making sure to apologize for the wait. When she pulls up to the window, she sees me taking orders at the counter, packing the food and manning the window.

She promptly, sincerely, apologized not realizing that I was doing everything all at once. She looked genuinely horrified that she had yelled at me.

During a stressful shift it was much appreciated. Most don’t apologize when they realize they are in the wrong.

The place where I work has mandatory unpaid breaks, which isn’t uncommon where I live. I usually use this break to sit down, grab some food, and generally mind my own business until it’s time to get back to work.

One day, I happen to go on break right when we get in a bunch of orders. Now, this would normally be fine, except the person making sandwiches was brand new and in the middle of training — and also only spoke Spanish, which meant there was only one person working who could effectively communicate with her. Point is, things were going a bit slow.

As I stood at the counter to wait for my food, the guy working front (Employee #1) was having trouble figuring out which sandwiches were which. So, he started opening them all up and looking inside them, after having just handled money, and without washing his hands in between.

I didn’t realize (I was sort of spacing out) until one of the customers (Customer #1) came up and said:

Customer #1: “Can I speak to your manager, please?”

The manager was standing a bit off to the side supervising the new employee, so she heard [Customer #1] and came over.

Manager: “What’s up?”

Customer #1: “Your employee here has been digging around in all of those burgers without washing his hands after handling money.”

Employee #1: “I didn’t touch the burgers.”

Customer #1: “Yes, you did.”

Employee #1: “No, I just touched the wrappers!”

Customer #1: “No, I saw you touch the burgers, and you should remake all of them.”

[Employee #1], grumbling quite loudly, grabbed all the burgers there and threw them into the trash, making a big fuss about it.

Cue [Customer #2], who had just gotten her food and gone to sit down to eat, only to come back up to the counter.

Customer #2: “Um, this isn’t the right sandwich? It’s supposed to be [Other Sandwich].”

Employee #1: “Okay, fine.”

And he tossed that one into the trash, too.

The exact same thing happened again with Customer #2’s other sandwich, and by then, I was over halfway into my break and I’d still yet to see any of my actual food. The other customers were clearly getting antsy as they waited for the food.

Employee #1 went into the back to see where the sandwiches were, which is when the new employee (translated by the only other Spanish speaker) said she’d already made all of those sandwiches, and asked where they’d gone.

Employee #1: “This d**khead customer made me throw all of them away!”

Yes, this was loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear. This prompted [Customer #1] to step back up to the counter and call over the manager.

Customer #1: “Can I just get a refund?”

Manager: “Oh, sorry, we’re not allowed to give out refunds, only remake food. But I could give you [dessert item] or a free drink?”

Customer #1: “All I want is the food I ordered.”

Finally, when I only had about ten minutes left in my break, everyone figured everything out and we all finally got the food we ordered. While it wasn’t a total win, my manager did give me my food for free, which made up for having to shovel it down!

A fast food place was severely damaged last year in a storm, so large chunks of it have been ripped down for renovation. Obviously, the store isn’t open, and many customers who drive into the site see this and turn around without a word.

This explains my shock as I see a driver enter the lot and drive over some piles of dirt and onto the road that used to serve as the drive-thru. Then, they sit there and just… wait.

I walk up to them.

Me: “Excuse me, if you’re looking for [Fast Food Chain], then—”

Driver: “About time. Is the speaker not working? I’d like a [burger] combo with fries and a Diet Coke.”

Me: “Uh… no. The store is closed. It’s currently under renovation.”

Driver: “Don’t be stupid. I was here yesterday!”

Me: “I can assure you that you were not here yesterday. It was still a building site then.”

The driver looks around and notices the renovation for the first time.

Driver: “Ugh… How was I supposed to know you were closed?!”

Me: “I would really hope the lack of a roof would have given it away…”

They drove off, moaning about the inconvenience. 

The worst part is that they came back AGAIN the next week and still drove into the lot, but this time, they remembered and drove off again before I had to remind them.

We have a new hire. Initially, she was open to working full-time for all shifts, which would mean any hours from 6:00 am starts to 4:00 am finishes. I don’t think she was ever scheduled that early or that late though. She was scheduled for some weekends, which is where the issues began.

She complained about it and soon started booking every weekend off. Then, she started booking random days off every week. [New Hire] was obviously trying to force management to give her very specific shifts. However, that couldn’t always be accommodated due to others needing hours and their scheduling requirements. But she got every day that she asked for off, sometimes more.

One time, I booked three days in a row for a vacation. This was my first request in months, and I was the first one to book them off, making sure to put a #1 beside my name on each day. The next time I saw the calendar, [New Hire] had crossed out my #1, changed it to a #2, and somehow squeezed her name in above mine with a #1 on all three days.

Guess which one of us got them off? I had to trade three shifts away.

To top it all off, she had the audacity to wonder why she wasn’t getting hours. Sweetie, it’s kind of hard to schedule someone who books half of every week off. You did this to yourself.