I work at a popular sandwich shop. We get a new hire, and he’s not the greatest of workers. He tends to show up late, if he shows up at all, often with little to no warning beforehand. But it’s nothing too bad, and I start to think he’s an okay guy.

About five weeks in, my manager decides to have him trained to open. On his first day opening, I come into the store for the evening shift to find things are not going well. They ran out of bread earlier in the day and had to bake more. I just think it was super busy that day and the new hire didn’t bake enough bread in the morning. As things go on, I find out more and more.

Every day, the evening worker is supposed to put a certain amount of frozen bread in the retarder, which will soften the frozen sticks and make them faster to bake in the morning. One of the most important opening jobs is to bake all the bread in the retarder. The new hire didn’t bake any of that bread. Not only that, but he didn’t cut any of the vegetables, which is another one of the most important opening jobs. I also find out that when one of my coworkers came in for the midday shift, the new hire was sitting outside in front of the pizza place next door where his girlfriend works and ended up leaving an hour before his shift ended.

Amazingly, the new hire doesn’t get fired for this fiasco, though he does get written up and chewed out, and he is warned that if he misses another day or shows up late without warning, he will be fired.

The next Wednesday, he sends a message to our group chat asking for someone to cover his shift that Friday for him, but nobody is able to. The next day, he sends a message saying that his brother has been hit by a car.

Friday is Homecoming for the local high school, and this is a small town with not many places to eat, so when I come in for my afternoon and evening shift, I find the store packed with high school kids that have been let out of school early. The new hire is nowhere to be seen, so it is just my boss and me left to fend off about forty teenagers. I find out that the new hire didn’t come in for his shift and ended up coming an hour or two later just to tell my boss that he didn’t want to work Fridays and Saturdays. I guess his brother was fine if he was able to take the time to do this. He ended up getting fired.

But there’s still more.

That evening, I am working with the closer when the recently fired ex-coworker comes into the store and grabs the key: apparently, he thinks he’s still opening tomorrow. When he leaves, I quickly excuse myself from the line and send a quick message to our boss to let her know.

When I come back the next day, I’m told that this guy came into the store and started putting the key back in the safe. My manager was there training another coworker to open so he could cover the recently fired worker’s shifts. She asked him what had happened the day before and he nervously and quietly muttered, “My brother got hit by a car.” He was informed that he would not be opening that day or the next day, and my manager went back to training the other coworker. After staring at the register for about ten minutes, he left his store-issued hat on the counter and left the store. A few minutes later my manager got a text from him: “I quit.”

In the end, I guess he did get those Fridays and Saturdays off like he wanted. My manager says hiring that guy was her worst mistake.

I’m a manager at a popular sandwich shop that gets stupid busy during the lunch rush. I come in for my shift mid-crazy rush and basically help put out fires. The ticket machine is printing a list orders that has now reached the floor, and the oven is more overflowed than the shop is with customers that keep pouring in.

We don’t have a fryer, so side orders of onion rings, fries, etc., have to be put through the oven multiple times to be crispy. The wait time is over twenty minutes, and after about two hours, it finally calms down.

Then, someone hands me the phone because a customer is asking to speak to the owner — not the manager or shift leads. Sigh. I literally hold the phone away from my ear as she starts screaming at me.

Caller: “My daughter was waiting for thirty minutes for a phone order! You are a terrible manager! You should be ashamed of yourself for letting it get so busy that the wait times aren’t what we were told.”

She goes on for a few minutes, belittling me in any way she can.

Me: “Ma’am, she wanted four sandwiches and three side orders, and that takes a little more time. What can I offer you as compensation? I can offer you a refund or some free sandwiches.”

Caller: “I WANT MY MONEY BACK!”

I agree to give it to her.

I’m dreading the bad Yelp review that’s probably going to follow, saying goodbye to any chance of a monthly bonus and another bad review for our store. Customers like her happen, but I try not to let it bother me. Being in food service for as long as I have, when people are like that, they just want to put you down.

I’m opening the next morning and I get another call asking for the manager. It’s the lady from yesterday. Expecting to hear her say she got in contact with corporate or she’s still not happy, I’m in shock when she says:

Caller: “I want to apologize. I had a really bad day yesterday and what I did was completely uncalled for. I want to make up for it.”

Me: “Ma’am, just you taking time out of your day to apologize is enough.”

But she insisted on ordering a sandwich, not picking it up, and tipping $50. She said that was her way of buying me lunch. In all my years of working food service, I’d never had an angry customer apologize.

At the end of the day, even though we are behind a counter doing you a service, we are still humans with feelings. Thank you, [Caller], for remembering that. To be honest, your apology was more than enough for me.

A number of years ago, I worked in a sandwich shop, primarily on the closing shift. One evening, two ladies came in about thirty minutes before closing. They proceeded to sit, eat their food, and chat. No issue; I had things to do.

I did everything I could for my closing, but all that was left was the floor. I proceeded to sweep up everywhere else other than their section. I put chairs on the tables and prepped my water for mopping. I started at the opposite end of the store and mopped all I could.

We had been closed for nearly an hour when one of the women spoke up.

Customer: “I think it’s totally disrespectful to clean while customers are eating. The smell of those chemicals is making me lose my appetite!”

Me: “Ma’am, we closed forty-five minutes ago, and this is the last thing on my list to do so I can go home.”

I had never seen that shade of red before, she blushed so hard.

Customer: *Clearly embarrassed* “Well, you still should wait, no matter the situation. ”

Sheesh, lady, can’t read the signs? Didn’t see me cleaning for the last forty-five minutes? Heck, almost all the lights were turned off in the dining room!

In 1981, I worked in a very small family-owned sandwich shop/deli in central Texas. (Real) Texans don’t do ketchup; it’s mayo or mustard, period. Even good barbecue does not get sauced. I was working by myself one afternoon when a “gentleman” came in and ordered a hamburger. With ketchup. Adamantly, with ketchup.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir. We don’t have any ketchup.”

Customer: “Fine. Then make a trip to the grocery store to get some. I’ll wait.”

Me: “That’s not going to happen.”

Customer: “Do you know who I am?”

Me: “No.”

Customer: “I’m [Customer]! I’m a famous tennis player!”

Me: “Okay. I still don’t have ketchup, and I’m still not going to the grocery store to get some.”

I let him throw his little tantrum until he finally realized this young girl was neither intimidated nor impressed by his antics.

He left without a burger with ketchup.

One of my previous jobs was as a bouncer in a biker bar. No, he did not scare me.

I’m doing my thing, working my usual evening shift at a sandwich chain, when a woman comes in. I put my game face on.

Me: “Hi! Welcome to [Sandwich Chain]! How may I help you?”

The woman doesn’t respond and proceeds to stare at the menu for a very long time… rather inquisitively for ordering a sandwich.

Okay, challenge accepted. I wait patiently as she mutters several times about not knowing what to order. Command from on high says to offer our promotional sandwich to uncertain customers.

Me: “Might I recommend the [Deluxe] sandwich?”

The customer goes from zero to one hundred instantly.

Customer: “I’ll order what I want to order! Give me time! Respect your customers more!”

Me: “Okay. Take your time, then.”

The store isn’t too terribly busy, but I do end up helping several customers while she stares at the menu. Another ten minutes later — believe it or not, I was able to time her staring contest with our menu at a full twenty minutes — she finally decides to order.

Customer: “I’ll have the [Deluxe] with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes. Oh, and don’t forget the olives! If you forget the olives, I’ll be making a complaint! Did you get all that?!”

Me: “Yes.”

I start making the sub. I get the bread out to begin and look up to see her walking out the door.

Me: “Ma’am? You forgot your sub… and to pay me…”

She goes from zero to one hundred again.

Customer: “I’ll be back for it later! I’ve got errands to run and I can’t wait for my food to be cooked!”

Aaand she leaves. Now, as most people would know, sandwiches in most of these types of chains are made in front of you, and we have to make them in under two minutes or we’re penalized. Our sandwiches aren’t cooked but may be toasted, which takes only about fifteen more seconds. We are NOT an order, leave, and pick up later type of restaurant. You can imagine my manager’s confusion when I tell him what happened.

I stare down at the sliced bread in my hands.

Me: “So… um… do… do I just make the sandwich and then wait?”

Manager: “I… I don’t know. Do you think she’s actually coming back?”

Me: “She said she was.”

Manager: *After thinking for a few seconds* “Skip it. We don’t know how long she’s going to be gone, and I have nowhere to stick a sandwich for God knows how long it will take her to come back. I’ll handle her rage if she gets mad about it not being made.”

Sure enough, she’s gone for two hours, and we’re now into the dinner rush with a line. I’m slaying it, with my manager in the thick of it helping me out.

The woman storms past the entire line.

Customer: “I’m back. Where’s my sandwich?! It had better be hot or I’m not paying for it!”

My manager and I just give her the double poker face. It doesn’t take much for the manager to cotton on to who this lady is.

Manager: “The end of the line is over there. You can wait your turn and put your order in like the rest of these people, or you can get your food elsewhere.”

Yet again, she hits one hundred.

Customer: “You didn’t even make it yet?! I’m not paying for this! I ordered two hours ago and you worthless f***s didn’t even get started cooking it?! I should sue you all for making me wait longer for my food!”

Manager: “We don’t cook our sandwiches. If you wanted your sandwich fresh, you should have stayed to receive it when it was made. As of now, you can get to the back of the line or get out of my restaurant!”

Customer: *Making enraged noises* “You people are so rude to your customers!”

She stormed out. My manager apologized to the line, but nobody really batted an eye. Our tips were really good from that line, and one teen complimented [Store] for providing a show to go with her meal.