The best is our local chicken place with the 3-initial name ;). We go there once every couple weeks…but really just to get a good laugh. They NEVER have chicken ready. It’s always at least a 10 minute wait. We go to the drive through, just on the off chance they might have something ready. Inevitably, we end up going to the other one that’s about a mile away. We’re not rude or anything, just ask for the chicken and then say no thank you when they ask us to wait 10 minutes. It’s become a running joke, though. And we tell all our friends, so maybe we’re part of the problem…declining number of customers, less chicken made.
Well, I guess that makes it ok then…
Unfortunately, you got me there. I don’t know the solution. Perhaps it is time for parents to start teaching their kids about having a work ethic again. “work ethic (wûrk thk),n., A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence.” A work ethic means that no matter what the job is, if you’re going to do it, do it well; Do it with pride; And, for god’s sake, treat people with a little respect. Unfortunately, there are people who don’t understand work ethic, as demonstrated by this next quote:
I’m kinda cranky too…Hope we can still be friends 
“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”
Actually, what got me so bitter about the average customer in the first place is from working behind the counter at a suburban movie theater.
Trust me on this folk: Never eat the popcorn in a movie theater, in fact never eat anything that didn’t arrive at the candy stand pre-packged. Just trust me on this.
We gladly devour those who would subdue us.
I trust you, Alpha. My sister works behind the counter at a movie theater. I know the things she used to do to me when I pissed her off, I shudder to think what she might do to a totl stranger.
An infinite number of rednecks in an infinite number of pickup trucks shooting an infinite number of shotguns at an infinite number of road signs will eventually produce all the world’s great works of literature in Braille.
OK, MY stomach just turned.
If your head is wax, don’t walk in the sun.
-Benjamin Franklin
I have a good work ethic, I just don’t have any incentive to show it. My job is generally demeaning, and I don’t get compensated what I’m worth now, let alone what I’d be worth if I cared. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t turned to the dark side and started being rude to people or disconnecting them. But I don’t care enough to try to circumvent policy to make people happy, or to try to plead a case to my supe whenever there’s a borderline issue. I follow policy, pretend to smile (as well as I can over the phone) and basically exist through the day.
I guess I’m not that great an example… I’m competent, just not always nice. But others in my job are people picked up off the street and given basic operating instructions on the systems. So for quality, you get what you pay for.
Oh, and no worries… if I required my friends to respect me, I wouldn’t have any… 
http://www.madpoet.com
Computers have let mankind make mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns.
I went a whole week, where everything I ordered was totaly screwed up.
At the time I was working over twelve hours a day, and had a two hour commute. I was starting at midnight and couldn’t even stop to go to the bathroom. I was eating one meal a day after work.
Every day was a different restraunt.
Day seven Pizza Hut screws up my order to go. The pizzia was completely different from what I ordered. My comment was “This is the seventh day in a row that someone has screwed up my order. I can’t believe this.”
I wasn’t yelling or having a fit. I was just damn tired and hungry. The manager gave me the pizzia and a coupon for a free one.
I quit the job when they gave me even more of another person’s job to do. That was the straw that broke the camels back. I gave them 2 hours notice.
I’m only your wildest fear, from the corners of your darkest thoughts.
Ok, I don’t care how disgusting it is… I want to KNOW!!!
What’s the straight dope on my POPCORN!?!?!?
Jeez, I thought I was a good worker. Did I forget to add butter to the Coke syrup or something? I actually kinda liked the popcorn. But a tip- don’t buy it in the morning. If there’s popcorn left at night, we bag it and use it the next morning, so get the popcorn at the later shows, only.
There are good workers at crappy jobs. I can think of quite a few from this past summer. I agree, some customers can be real assholes, and some can be joys. Just like workers. Sorta like life. Who woulda thought?
JMcC, San Francisco, JJM’s page from the Bay
If I were beaned with a fastball, fling my limp, lifeless body to first, cause, dammit, I earned it!
I’ve always thought that what defines one as having a work ethic are one’s actions. I guess I wouldn’t agree that “it’s the thought that counts” applies to this situation.
I hope you don’t think I don’t respect you. I just don’t agree with you MadPoet.
“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”
Movie Quote-Pretty in Pink:
“I’m good in bed, should I be a whore?”
according to the prostitution thread in GD, yes.
If your head is wax, don’t walk in the sun.
-Benjamin Franklin
I was at a fast food cafeteria counter a couple of weeks ago. My tab was $4.25 and I gave him a five. While he was opening the register and reading the LEDs to see how much change he should give me, I dug out a quarter. I handed it to him, saying “Here’s another quarter”. At this point he had three quarters in his hand. He froze! And came over all confused and slightly panic-stricken; “Uh, I already rang it up” he attempted. The register drawer was still open and poking him in the stomach. There were a pile of singles right there. I smiled uncertainly, but said nothing, not being quite sure how to proceed - how do you teach a cashier to add and subtract without holding up the line? Plus, I have no state teaching certification. Fortunately, another employee had been watching the…transaction, and said “just give him a dollar”. Isaac Newton, there, complied and I mumbled “thanks” and went my way, blinking zombie-like while my brain tried to comprehend the magnitude and subtlety of what I had just witnessed.
We silly customers and our outrageous demands and expectations!
I went into McD’s the other day, walked up to the counter, and looked over at the woman taking orders. Or, in this case, not taking orders. She was chatting with some guy who was in the place - obviously a friend of hers (they both had Jamaican accents, anyway). She looked over at me, paused, and resumed her conversation. Not the slightest motion was made to take the order of the ONLY customer in the place. A customer who was staring directly at her. I turned around and walked out, of course.
This is not a good solution, though. I have to eat, and there are only so many places within walking distance of my work. I bring a lunch, but my hours are often irregular and sometimes I have to eat out. Between stupidity and indifference, there just aren’t a lot of good choices.
I don’t know what Alpha’s implying was done to the popcorn, but at my theater we could hardly pop it fast enough, much less waste time doing anything to it. (People who think service employees spend all day thinking up ways to stick it to them have an inflated sense of importance.) The day-old stuff tastes better because some of the oil has had a chance to evaporate, and it has a shelf life of a million years anyway. (Besides that, the seed sits around for months, and the oil sits around for months, what difference does it make as to when it’s popped? That’s like having a can of soup in your cupboard and going out and buying a new can of soup because the other one isn’t “fresh” enough. DUH!) I’ve served people corn right as it tumbles out of the popper and had them tell me it was stale. You can’t win. I always went out of my way to make sure every customer was getting exactly what they wanted to the best of my ability, I’ve even brixed the soda machine right in front of people so they could see that the syrup to CO2 ratio was right. Did I do all this because I was well paid and appreciated? No, I made about $7 an hour (yes! As the manager!) but that was my job and that’s what I was hired to do. You don’t use the excuse that your pay sucks and your job is crummy to be lousy at it. You use that as your motivation to outshine your co-workers and get promoted or learn something that will get you a better job. I didn’t keep inept people on my staff, I fired them and worked more hours myself if I had to. That’s just good business (you’re only as good as your weakest link, etc.)
“You’re only calling us a cow college cos’ we were founded by a cow!”
That’s what I mean by work ethic! Halleluja Vix. But, does oil evaporate? and also, were you the chief popcorn popper, or just the assistant?
j/k, sorry, couldn’t help myself.
“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”
Evaporate, absorb, I’m not sure. But I only ate the day old stuff because the fresh stuff was too slimy and chewy. By the second day the corn was crispy and buttery tasting, not oily. Oh, yeah. I was the manager, so I just watched other people make popcorn to my specifications, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Faster popcorn monkeys!
"Hi, I’m Troy McClure! You may remember me from such medical films as “Alice Doesn’t Live Anymore” and “Mommy, What’s Wrong with That Man’s Face?”
When I was working in the real world for pay, I use to be one of you lunch time zombies. Standing in line waiting behind Enright’s wife who wanted to do a goddamn special order on everything on the menu. [rant]These people, and I feel Enright is with me on this, should be put down and made into hamburger patties.
This is not your Mother’s Kitchen. It’s a goddamn fast food restaurant. If you want it your way, get in the back and cook it yourself, dammit. [/rant]
I quickly learned for about a dollar more, I could hit the local deli or Chinese restaurant and get better and more personal service and eat healthier than anything connected with fast food. My big once a week splurge was $6.25 at the chinese restaurant.I drink water, no soda, to save mula.
I spent more time leisurely reading my newspaper or book and less time staring daggers at the idiot ahead of me who can’t decide what he wants to order even though he has stared at the menu above for ten minutes.
C’mon people, do we really even need to look at the menu’s of fast food places. Don’t we already have the fast food menu’s genetically coded on our DNA?
Remember when going to something like McDonald’s was a treat and not a daily thing?
I can say in the last 20 months I have been through a drive through or fast food restaurant about ten times. 8 of those 10 times has been to a local chain (That sounds like a porn shop) called Hot n Now. It’s only drive thru. From ordering to receiving your food I have never waited more than 1 minute.Even with two cars ahead of me. The orders are always correct and the window person is right on the ball with the money. The food is a better quality too. It’s based out of Holt, Michigan and if you are ever in Lapeer, I highly recommend a stop buy.
When I worked at Mickey Dee’s, my pet peeve was people who wouldn’t get to the point.
“I’ll have…a Big Mac…and, uh, a large fry…annnnnndd…a medium Coke.”
“Do you want the value meal?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Now, as a customer, I get right to the point, but the little dears just get so confused.
“I’d like a Famous Star, ketchup and pickle only, extra on both, please; to go.”
“Wait, wait…a Famous Star?”
“Yes…”
“With no ketchup?”
“No, ketchup and pickle only, extra on both, please.”
“For here or to go?”
Mr. Rilch says they’re just not good at processing information fast. I say, in that case, they’d never survive in the film industry, or a hospital, or in the military. But as has been mentioned above, these are probably the people with the least ambition. However, I really blew my stack the day I got my burger with mustard and pickle only. I realize everyone makes mistakes, but for crimeny sakes, ketchup is red. Mustard is yellow. It does not get any easier.
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
Okay, I’m backtracking/elaborating here. The generalizations about fast food workers is only tied to age by the availability of entry level jobs. Let’s face it, only in commercials do grunt-level mail runners advise the CEO on investment opportunites.
And service jobs are gritty by nature. True fact. Most people are pretty patient and polite if shown even a modicum of effort. Serving the general public is a colossal pain in the ass. (See “Get out of my way” in the Pit. These are folks who are ready to use physical force on slow bystanders.)
So I think people have become more rushed, demanding and unseeing of the people around them–and that definitely includes service workers. But (hopelessly American here) “service” isn’t “servile”. It takes speed, toughness, diplomacy and firmness to work with the general public. It is honest work that deserves respect.
But–and here’s the kicker–the plain fact is that common decency and manners have become rarer, from both customers and service workers. It’s a vicious cycle. It is hard to have an “always right” customer behave like a spoiled infant with a full diaper and not let the shakes and adreneline carry over to the next person.
Unfortunately it’s also sooooo hard to teach folks that dignity is in the work and yourself. (Mantra: nobody can make me look like a fool but me.) The pay is rotten and the goals more indistinct. But somewhere in this unlovely mess it has to be remembered, by somebody that work is worth doing well.
The beaten down idealist,
Veb
At a Taco Bell drive through, my bill came to $5.67. I handed the girl $11, expecting a fiver instead of four ones. She told me it’s only $5.67 and tried to give me my dollar back. I said, “I know, the extra dollar is so I could get a five back.” She looked at it for several seconds, then called the manager over. He didn’t see what the problem was and said she should give me my change. She spent about a minute trying to figure it out (really), so I finally said told her my change would be $5.33. She didn’t seem to understand, so the manager told her I was right. I finally got my change. I don’t expect much from fast-food workers, but I do expect them to know how to count and do other simple arithmetic operations. Also, Taco Bell messes up the order more often than any other fast-food place I go to.
This happens at every fast-food drive-through I go to:
“I’d like a number one with a Coke.”
“What would you like to drink?”
Happens every time. The Chinese place near where I work has a full meal, take-out or eat-in, for $2.95. A much better choice, with workers who know what they’re doing.
I’m not paying enough to complain? I’m paying enough for a modicum of competence.
Ahhh, Democritus, you remind me when Burger King tried salad bars (I think Pillsbury still owned 'em).
I’d order the all you can eat salad bar.
“For here or to go?”
Every time.
And every time I wanted to say “To go. I’ll be back for refills each day this week.”