(I have just finished my meal at an old, family-run sandwich shop and have just walked back home, when I realize that I haven’t paid for my meal. I run back to the restaurant and open the door, and the cashier looks up from her conversation with another customer, smiles, and says…)
Cashier: “Hello again! Did you need a refill?”
(I notice that I still had my drink in my hand from my meal ten minutes before! Best restaurant ever. And yes, I paid for it.)
(I’m getting lunch at a sandwich shop on my way home from work. It’s a little busy and I’m behind a group of four construction workers. The server is chatting up and flirting with one of the construction workers. When she’s done putting the meat on the bread for him, it’s my turn and she instantly goes from smiling to having a nasty look on her face.)
Server #1: “What do you want?”
Me: “Hi. I’d like an oven-roasted chicken chopped salad, please.”
(The server sighs and rolls her eyes. She says nothing, puts the chicken in the microwave, and passes the salad bowl down the line, saying nothing else to me. After the construction workers get past the topping section and move on to paying, it’s my turn for the next server.)
Server #2: “Hi. Um… what type of salad was this?”
Me: “It’s a—“
Server #1: *cutting me off* “He got a veggie-only salad, nothing else.”
Me: “No, the chicken is still in the microwave. I had an oven-roasted chicken chopped salad.”
Server #2: *smiles and grabs the chicken out of the microwave*
(Then, I give the remaining toppings I want to [Server #2], one at a time. As I’m about to pay:)
Server #1: *with a loud and snotty attitude* “How was I supposed to know you had chicken for your salad?!”
Me: “Because you put it in the microwave?”
Related:
I have just gotten my first job. It’s at a sandwich shop located inside a convenience store. Most people only work one or the other, but because I can only work during the summer, I need the extra hours, so I ask to work both.
Our “register” at the sandwich shop is really just a computer that prints out a ticket of what the customer orders. The customer then has to pay up front at the convenience store.
I have just finished printing out the order ticket for a woman who easily has a hundred dollars’ worth of food and I don’t have a line, so my boss has me come up front to get some register training.
I am not the only high-schooler there, but I’m the youngest and most recent hire. My boss notices a couple of people purposely get in my line and try to pull the “I paid in the back” trick before they realize it’s me. He is getting madder and madder at customers obviously just trying to take advantage of the youngest and newest employee when a woman with several sandwiches walks up to my register.
She places several items on the counter but refuses to hand me an order ticket. She vehemently argues that she doesn’t have a sandwich ticket and even leans on the counter so she can get in my face and scream at me when she starts cursing.
My boss steps up, physically moves me back from her, and gets in her face.
I have no idea what he whispered to her but she immediately turned around and searched the entire store until she found the order ticket she had crumpled up and thrown on the floor.
(I work in a sandwich shop.)
Me: “Hello! What can I get for you today”?
Customer: “Give me beef.”
Me: “Certainly, we have steak and cheese, big beef melt, or just plain roast beef.”
Customer: “Just give me beef.”
Me: “What bread would you like?”
(The customer points at a picture of the bread on the sandwich unit.)
Me: “And is that a six-inch or a footlong?”
Customer: “BEEF!”
(Getting nowhere, I proceed to make the sandwich with just plain bread and plain beef.)
Customer: “That’s not what I want. I want the beef.”
Me: “This is beef.”
Customer: “No, this one.”
(The customer points to the turkey.)
Me: “This one here?” *points to the turkey* “This is turkey.”
Customer: “That’s what I asked for. Give me that.”
(It’s almost time to close at the sub shop I’m working at. A lady I estimate to be in her 60s comes in with a coupon to buy a sub and any drink to get the next sub free, which we allow. This is what ensues.)
Me: “Hello. What can I get started for you?”
Customer: “I have this coupon.” *reads off coupon* “So, I want a six-inch [sandwich #1] on [bread], and a six-inch [sandwich #2] on [bread]. Make sure you toast the bread thoroughly; I can’t stand [Store] bread when it’s not toasted.”
(I ask what cheese she wants and get ready to put them in the toaster. As I open the toaster she says:)
Customer: “Wait, what are you doing?! I want the bread toasted; I told you I can’t stand [Store] bread when it’s not toasted.”
Me: “Well, our standard protocol when toasting sandwiches is to have the meat and cheese on already so everything gets cooked.”
Customer: “No, no, no, just toast the bread, or it won’t get cooked thoroughly. I know your ovens; they don’t cook the bread if it has everything on it.”
Me: “All right.”
(I toast the bread twice bare and once more with the meats on them. The bread is very much darker at this point, but not burnt. Vegetables go fine, no issues there, but every so often she gets angry and impolite when she has issues with the way I’m doing things, and then she switches back to normal behavior. We get to the checkout process. She has two sandwiches and a drink which qualify for the coupon, and she also has a bag of chips and another drink.)
Customer: “How much extra will it be if I buy a [bottled drink] instead of a cup?”
Me: “Can you read what your coupon says so I can check?”
Customer: *ignores my question and asks the same question in a more hostile tone*
(I ask her to read the coupon again; she does so.)
Me: “All right, since it specifies any drink, the price would be the same.”
Customer: “Good.”
(I enter her items into the register and she sees the total on her side.)
Customer: “Wait, what? Why is it [price]? It should only be [price a few dollars less].”
Me: “Well, the first sandwich and the first drink are normal price, which makes the second sandwich free, and the system sees the second chips and drink as a meal with the second sandwich, so it discounts them even though the second sandwich is still free.”
Customer: “No, it still should be [lower price]. I think you’re doing it wrong.”
(We have this circular argument about three more times. Meanwhile, other customers are waiting and I am running out of time to start closing procedures.)
Me: “Would you like me to explain how that coupon works one more time?”
Customer: “I don’t care how the coupon works; it still should only be [lower price]!”
(I have no other way to explain to her the prices and calculations, so I just tell her each of the prices, and I am surprised to see her take one of our napkins and start doing the math herself. She then asks me to confirm each of the prices in a not-so-polite manner. This goes on for about five more minutes. She then realizes…)
Customer: “I might be doing the math wrong.”
Me: “All right, so we’re all clear here?”
Customer: “Yes.”
Me: “All right, here’s your receipt. Have a good night.”
Customer: *jokingly* “I wonder where my son gets all his nagging from.”
(We finished up there, she left, and I apologized to the next customers for the wait. This whole exchange cost me twenty minutes and was a contributing factor in our late departure at the end of the night. Not once did she apologize, but maybe she forgot to…)
