Posted by JenStar on May 26, 2005, at 0:15:36
In reply to I'm afraid of starting work :--(, posted by Deneb on May 25, 2005, at 23:01:43
hi deneb,
welcome to the exciting world of fast food! :) I did a stint there after high school, and all those things happened to me: I forgot how to use the cash register, I locked it up, I got red in the face, I messed up orders...me with the high grades having a hard time heating up an egg croissant thingie. But it all got better, of course, and soon I was doing just fine. And you will too! Don't get mad at yourself for any mistakes - it's totally normal and everyone goes thru it. YOu'll be fine!I think it will be so busy you'll even forget that you're interacting with people. At some points, you just go into autopilot and get stuff done without even remembering that you're "suppposed" to be feeling anxious. The busy times seem to fly by.
As for the bad customers...I know they suck at the time, but keep it in the back of your mind: "This will make a great story to tell on Babble!" Sometimes the worst customers turn into the funniest stories ever. I used to try and remember that and it got me thru some rough times.
Here's an example: I was working in an ice-cream place for the summer. We were told explicitly that each extra topping was 50 cents, and there were NO exceptions or freebies.
So this lady comes in and asks me to give her a gallon of the vanilla. She wants me to load in 1/2 the vanilla, then put a BIG layer of strawberry topping (about 10 scoops), then the other 1/2 of vanilla. So I do this.
When I ring her up, she is aghast. "WHAT?" she demands, frowning, her face all red and pursed and angry. "Did you charge me for extra toppings?"
"Yes," I told her calmly, "each topping scoop is 50 cents. So that adds $5 extra."
"That is unacceptable, you little b***ch!" she yells at me, her face getting redder. "The OTHER girl used to give it to me FREE! This is wrong! It's a travesty!"
I don't know what to say. I'm 18. I'm floored by her angriness.
"I'm sorry," I tell her, trying not to be mean, although I'm thinking that I would like to put rat poison into her icecream instead of strawberries, "but we really do have to charge for the toppings. That's our policy here."
"No it is NOT your policy! It is NOT!" she tells me, and sort of pushes the gallon container at me spitefully. "Your POLICY," she continues, "is to serve the CUSTOMER. Get it?"
Naturally all my co-workers are in back, playing some kind of ball game with a mop and a balled up rag. The manager is absent as always.
"I'm sorry," I keep saying. "But we can't give out free toppings. Do you still want the ice cream?"
"No, I don't want it anymore, not at THAT price!" she yells again.
finally one of my co-workers sauters out of the back room. "Oh, hey, Clarice," she says listlessly to the mean lady. The mean lady attacks. "This GIRL" and she points at me "is trying to charge me for the toppings!"
Eventually we decide to give it to her for free, with a strong admonition that "next time" she will be charged. ("I won't be coming back HERE" she tells me, although this is a lie, since she comes back every week afterwards, although she stops getting strawberries in the middle of her gallon of icecream.)
So it was not fun...but it's a funny story now!
Good luck to you.
tell us how it goes!JenStar
poster:JenStar
thread:502971
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050525/msgs/503011.html