An acquaintance of mine is nicknamed Chuck; his name is something else but everyone calls him Chuck. His official email ID and the correspondence name he’d use was his actual name at all the companies he worked for.

Then, he joined this hip new startup. He got the email ID chuck@[website] and the freedom to use Chuck in all his correspondence.

One day, when sending me an email, he mistakenly signed his name as “F***”… while CCing the CEO.

Customer: “There are only three shrimp on my platter; there should be four!”

I go talk to the kitchen, as somebody else had brought the food out to him, but the kitchen swears that they put four on the plate. I head back to the customer with the intention of bringing him more shrimp.

Customer: “Sorry, there were four shrimp. I forgot that I already ate one.”

When our chain first introduced its spicy chicken sandwich, there was some confusion.

Customer: “Are your spicy chicken sandwiches spicy?”

Me: “They’re pretty spicy, but not unbearably so. It’s less spicy than hot sauce but a bit spicier than mild sauce. If you’re not sure, I suggest that you avoid the spicy chicken.”

Customer: “I like spicy stuff. I’ll have the spicy chicken.”

After having eaten two-thirds of the chicken:

Customer: “This is too spicy; I want my money back so I can get something different. I had no idea that it was going to be this spicy.”

Me: “I warned you. You said that you liked spicy things, you ate well over half the sandwich, and there are flames shooting out of the picture of the sandwich on the promotional billboards all over the store. No.”

The customer demanded to see my manager. When he got to the counter, I let him explain everything and didn’t interrupt.

Manager: “Did you see the sign that says spicy chicken? Did you order a spicy chicken? Did you notice the flames shooting out of the picture?”

Customer: “Well… yes.”

At this point, my manager just started laughing and said:

Manager: “No. I’m not going to refund you for a sandwich that you ate.”

I work at a fast food chain. One day, we have severe difficulties; the grill is down, as are the frying machines. I have to explain a hundred times that, at that moment, we can ONLY serve the breakfast menu, which gets microwaved.

At some point, a larger group enters simultaneously, and I give the speech for all to hear. One man looks very attentive and understanding… until he holds up his coupon and asks:

Customer: “And what about this burger?”

I’m in a one-to-one session with one of my youngest and most inexperienced employees. We’ve just covered the need for him to double-check his own work before he sends it out to the rest of the team to work on, as nobody in this office has extra time to check in detail the quality of the input he delivers, to correct it, etc. This follows a series of mistakes that have cost time, energy, and nerves to the rest of the team. The young employee has not been receptive to advice or instructions, either on pure work or on behavioral issues, and hasn’t flagged any issues before the deadline.

We have discussed the reasons why we cannot afford to spend too much time on the data he provides us and how we as a team need to be able to rely on him, both in terms of quality and deadlines. I’ve also highlighted what to do in case he doesn’t know how to perform a task, in which case we’ll help him without a doubt, but if he feels comfortable performing the task by himself without asking for support, we’ll depend on the result being correct.

Basically, I’ve explained to him that he’s a full-fledged employee, not a student or an intern, so I trust he’ll raise his hand proactively if a deadline is not reachable, if a task cannot be performed technically, or if he’s struggling, as this is what I’m here for as a supervisor, but I cannot hold his hand and ask him constantly if every task is progressing well.

Once all of this has been understood — as he assures me — and there’s some discussion between the two of us, I move on to the next topic on my list for the feedback I give him weekly on his performance.

Me: “You missed a recent team meeting via video call. Why did you miss it? Did you have another preorganized or more important meeting at the same time?”

Both of these explanations are fine with me if he gives notice in advance that he’ll skip the team meeting, as I’ve told him. His answer?

Employee: “Oh, no. I do apologize for missing the team meeting, but you know, when I’m so deeply focused on my work, I kind of forget everything around me. Could you please text me or get me when I have to join a meeting which I seem to have forgotten?”

Glad to see the point about being responsible, dependable, and independent and respecting other people having other priorities besides managing him like a child was understood…