When The Thing Slowing Down Service Is YOU!

(I am training a cashier on the morning shift. It is only her second morning shift, so she is still a little uncertain on a few things. She is working the front counter and drive-thru and I am covering cooking for an employee on break. An order comes in the drive-thru for a breakfast burrito combo with hash browns and a coffee. The customer is really short with my cashier while ordering, but not terribly rude. I get the order made, and then bag it and take it to the drive-thru since my cashier is taking longer than expected and it’s our only order at the moment. I find that the cashier has forgotten to hit the enter button after entering the customer’s total on the card reader, so it timed out and she has to reenter the total. At this point, it has been less than two minutes since the customer pulled up to the order speaker, so she hasn’t been waiting long at all.)

Customer: “God! How much longer is this going to take? Geez, this is taking forever! Why are you so slow? I have somewhere to be! How long does it take to run a credit card?”

(Because the customer is being so nasty, I take over the order so my sixteen-year-old cashier doesn’t have to deal with it anymore.)

Me: “I’m sorry about that. I have your card and your receipt right here.”

(She snatches the card from my hand so forcefully that it flies from her hand into her passenger seat.)

Me: “And here is your coffee.”

(The customer grabs the coffee cup so hard that she squeezes it and pops the lid off. Coffee sloshes over her hand.)

Me: “Oh, no! Are you okay? Here, let me get you some napkins. Are you all right?”

Customer: “No! I’m not all right! How dare you give me coffee without putting the lid on right?! What is wrong with you?!”

(I have been burned myself by being handed coffee in the drive-thru with the lid not on all the way, so I always triple-check lids on the coffees before handing them out.)

Me: “I’m so sorry. I was certain the lid was on all the way.”

Customer: “Never mind. Just give me my food!”

(I hand over the bag with her order and she snatches that from me, as well. I try to hand her the cream and sugar she asked for, which is in my other hand, but she is busy looking through her bag.)

Customer: “Where are my cream and sugar? I told her I wanted them when I ordered! Can’t you get anything right?”

(I just raise my hand again to hand give her the cream and sugar I have been TRYING to give her.)

Me: “They’re right here in my hand.”

Customer: “This is ridiculous. I have never had such bad service here before. You guys are so slow and so rude! I just want you to know you got an F for service today. Just think about that!”

(The customer then proceeded to speed out of the drive-thru, nearly hitting a landscaper that was blowing leaves in the parking lot. Her order took almost five minutes because she kept having a fit over how slow it was when she would have been out in less than three if she had managed to contain her temper tantrum. My cashier was a little shook up as it was her first experience with an angry customer, but I explained that she had done nothing wrong, and some people can just be really nasty when they try.)