(I’m working the counter, and I see a six-year-old boy walk in with his mother. The mother sits in the back while the boy goes to the counter to make his order.)

Me: “Hi, sweetie! What can I get you today?”

Boy: “Can I please have a small orange-creme shake?”

Me: “Of course. Anything else?”

Boy: “No.”

Me: “Alright, that’ll be one-ninety.”

(The boy’s face crumples, and he backs away from the counter, walks in a circle, then looks back at me.)

Boy: “What?”

Me: “One-ninety?”

(The boy begins crying, and rushes back to his mother.)

Boy: “Mommy! I need $200 for my shake, and we don’t have that kinda money!”

Mother: “What?”

Me: “Wait, wait, no, sweetheart! I mean it’s one dollar and ninety cents!”

Boy: “Oh, okay.”

(After that, he pays for his shake and acts like absolutely nothing has happened.)

(I am a waitress at a high-end restaurant. This night, I am particularly rushed and upset, and make a few customer service mistakes while serving a customer.)

Customer: “I’d like to speak to your manager, please.”

Me: “Sure, may I ask what about?”

Customer: “About you.”

(My manager is very strict, and he doesn’t believe in second chances. I am terrified. I go up to my manager.)

Me: “Manager, table six please; they want to talk to you.”

Manager: *walks over* “Yes sir, what did you need to talk to me about?”

Customer: “It’s about your waitress here.”

Manager: *starting to glare at me* “Has she done something wrong?”

(I am standing there holding back tears, sure that I am about to be fired.)

Customer: “Well, she has been very busy and rushed tonight. All the same, she has managed to take our orders and give us our food quickly and with a smile on her face. I used to be a waitress, and I know how hard that is to do. I just wanted to tell you that you have a Class-A employee here, and I’m leaving her a 50% tip. I also have reservations for next week, and I’d like to request in advance that she be our server.”

Manager: *stunned* “Yes, that can be arranged. I’m glad you thought well of her. Have a good day.”

Me: *almost crying* “I thought you were about to have me fired! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Customer: “Oh, it’s no problem, dear. Here’s your tip, and I hope your day gets better!”

(My mom prides herself in knowing English pretty well, even though she is not originally from here. She’ll speak Spanish to us, but not to others. My mom is currently speaking to me in Spanish while we are sitting at a restaurant.)

Waitress: “Hello, what can I get you to drink?”

Me: “Coke please.”

Waitress: *to Mom* “Que quedes tomar? Agua?”

Mom: *frosty look* “DIET COKE, PLEASE!”

(The waitress looks shocked and scuttles away.)

Me: *mortified* “Geez, Mom, you were just speaking Spanish to me! Don’t think you that she was just trying to make you feel more comfortable?”

Mom: “I don’t care; we are in the USA! We speak English here! So anyway…” *continues in Spanish*

(I have taken my two young children to a popular family restaurant chain. My eight-year-old daughter is vegetarian. She orders a kids’ meal that comes with either bacon or sausage, and she plans to give the meat to her five-year-old brother, so she asks him what he would prefer.)

Sister: “Hey [brother’s name], bacon or sausage with my [kids’ meal]?”

Brother: “Bacon.”

Server: “Honey, you don’t have to let him order you around and tell you what you should eat just because he is a boy. What do you want to eat?”

Sister: “I am a vegetarian, so I am going to give the bacon to my brother.”

Server: “That’s just awful. You don’t have to give him anything just because he is a boy. You can eat all your meal if you want.”

Me: *losing patience* “Please bring my daughter’s [kid’s meal] with bacon. We’ll figure it out from there.”

Server: *to me* “I can’t believe that in this day and age a mother can be so sexist! How can you allow your son to boss around his older sister? That is just awful.”

Me: “My daughter is a vegetarian. She does not eat meat. She can choose to do whatever she wants with the part of the meal she doesn’t want to eat. Now please go and place our order, and I would like to talk to your manager.”

Server: “Fine.”

(She walks away mumbling.)

Server: “Shameless. Making a girl give up the best part of her food. Just shameless.”

(The manager never shows up, and while we like the restaurant chain, we are not going to that particular location again.)

(I’ve spent the last six years working in various different fast food companies. I’m extremely well known for how happy and polite I am at all times, something that always raises questions with coworkers and customers alike. My coworker is notorious for being miserable and moody to everyone she meets.)

Coworker #1: “Hey, how come you’re so nice to everyone all the time?”

Me: “Ha, you say it like it’s a bad thing!”

Coworker #1: “Oh no! But seriously though; you’re even nice to the bad ones! There’s got to be a reason for it!”

Me: “I don’t know, really. Well, I do remember something that’s always stuck with me. One day, when I was about six years old, I was queuing at a fast food place on my own. I reached the front of the queue and the cashier asked me if she could serve the man behind me. Being a kid and not really understanding, I let her. She then did this a further four times and completely ignored me until my mum noticed and stepped up. The cashier didn’t even apologize. Even though I’m now 22, this occurrence still bugs me to this day, so I guess I vowed to never be like that if I could help it!”

Coworker #1: “I wish I had a tragic fast food back story to make me a better worker too!”

Me: “You don’t need one. It’s not hard to smile at someone!”

Coworker: “Ugh, but I hate it here, and I hate having to serve them!”

Me: “Okay… Just think of it like this: how do you react when someone serves you in a shop and they don’t smile at you or ask you how you are, and continue talking to their coworkers the whole time?”

Coworker #1: “Well, I complain about it of course! People should be happy to serve others and do their job!”

Me: “Exactly. Maybe you should try smiling some time too then maybe customers will stop complaining about you.”