I am continually shocked at how often I see people treating employees poorly. These poor individuals are working for too little money to deal with crappy customers (hopefully not like you) every day, so cut them some slack.
At Chicken Kitchen, a businessman in suit demanded chop chicken with oriental sauce, only to be completely outraged when he heard they were out of the condiment close to the end of restaurant hours, declaring that it “ruined everything.”
If being out of sauce ruins everything (your four dollar meal), I can’t imagine what other hyperboles you have up your sleeve over other frivolous, daily mishaps; I’d also be too scared to see how you deal with fluctuations in the stock market.
Another man at Publix was intimidating the deli employee, putting his face up against the glass and scrutinizing the sweet lady as she applied each topping to his sandwich. He thrived on her messing up so he could light up like the man undergoing surgery in the board game, Operation. He only expressed discontent way after the deed was done to see her twitch.
Working in customer service is a humbling experience and makes one more sympathetic towards people who are the victims of others’ unnecessary irritability. I hated it so much I could only take a week of working at a pool-side snack shop.
For some reason, anything that entails an exchange makes some extremely wary, but I don’t understand: you don’t look over the chef’s shoulder when he’s preparing your $35 entrée at Houston’s, and if it’s unreasonably not to your liking, it still becomes a sunk cost.
So why would you get “all up in arms” over food that is comparatively way cheaper and inconsequential and will probably be forgotten about as soon as it’s no longer on your plate? Plus, you’ve probably ruined someone’s day with your superfluous drama.
Evan Seaman is a junior majoring in marketing. He may be contacted at eseaman@themiamihurricane.com. His blog is posted on perturbedheaven.blogspot.com.