I got to go with DeaganTheWolf here. There’s a difference between a public workplace and a private workplace, and different decorum applies. It wouldn’t have personally bothered me, unless I was waiting at the counter for service and being ignored, but I can definitely see how it could offend people’s sensibilities. Some people just are really anal when it comes to their food.
Jesus. I thought I was annoyed by people who demanded uniforms and natural hair color. Now I can’t kiss my girlfriend hello? If business is slow enough at the moment to allow for it, fuck it, have a smooch or two.
What the hell is up with this mentality people have, wanting employees to be fuckin’ robots? If they get their shit done, and they’re not doing anything actually offensive, lay the fuck off.
You do not mean that seriously, do you?
Screw you. Then just start fucking on the counter if thats the way you feel. It wouldnt bother me, really. It may bother all the other costumers and the boss man.
What’s the point of being a young lesbian if you can’t show off your sexuality in public?
I think there is a mountain being made of a molehill here.
First, people are paid to work, not to conduct their social lives on the comany’s time. But people do not cease to be the people they are, with the feelings they have, simply because they report to work.
There are limits to what is an appropriate PDA in any public place. A couple should not be making out, running hands under clothing and such, whether they’re gay or straight, married or single, in front of other people in a public institution. But the “a few quick pecks” described in the OP don’t constitute anything that I would see as offensive.
People should attend to customers rather than having conversations with spouse, SO, friends, co-workers (or those who ork cows for a living either! ;)).
However, from past discussionbs of working conditions, problem employees, etc., at that particular Wendy’s, I can guarantee that the OP was engaging in some private time with her SO during a period of slack time, not ignoring customers to do so. (Such behavior is SOP for any employee under the working rules of most fast-food emporia, provided that necessary work is caught up.)
In any case, the customer’s reaction was vastly over the top. I can see where a (significantly lower-key) complaint would be in order under similar but not identical circumstances – an employee making out at the counter, customers being ignored for employee’s conversation with friends, etc. That doesn’t sound like the case here.
I’ll agree that the customer’s reaction was out of line for the offense given. That still doesn’t excuse the op’s rather immature reaction of labeling her a homophobe. Furthermore, if she was on her down time, then she could have come around the counter. If she was still on the clock then a quick kiss, hug, and “I love you, see you later!” would have been quite sufficient. It’s not the PDA that was out of line, it was the length and involvement of it.
The point is being in love with someone. If you cannot handle a couple of pecks between a couple, you have the problem. IMO, your statement is hateful and ignorant.
Two distinct issues here:
I’d be willing to be that the customer would not have acted with such indignation if it had been a hetero couple. We have no evidence of this but it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine.
That being said, I do think that the behavior was very unprofessional. If I were the store owner, it would be cause for repremand regardless of the sex of the kissers.
kung fu, your self rightious indignation is a joke. If this had happened while the two of you were out together on a walk or something, I’d be right there supporting you. This is a totally different story and you know it. There’s no reason to get pissed at us for calling the OP on her unprofessionalism.
Haj
Oh really? What if it was her sister or her mom instead of her girlfriend?
Maybe your family is different, matt_mcl, but I have never kissed a family member on the lips. Ewww. (YMMV on the “ewww” factor.)
This is actually a very good point. Maybe I quick kiss hello isn’t that big a deal. That’s not what happened here though. We have, from the OP, four or five kisses followed by around five minutes of being flirtly and making goo goo eyes, across the counter. Girl/girl, boy/girl, it’s still unprofessional.
Haj
I remember how indignant I was as a wee pup, the first time a sarcastic “get a room” was lobbed in my general direction by a total stranger. I was sure that the person who issued it must have been a bitter, joyless asshole bent on making everyone as miserable as them.
Of course, now that I’m a dessicated husk of my former vibrant self, what with my mid-thirties on the approach and all, I’m reminded of that fella every time young folks with no situational awareness or sense of propriety cuddle and snog in a public space that other people are obliged to share with them.
Upside_Down_Amber, the expression of incredulity that your position of authority elicited from your customer is understandable. She was looking for the person who was expected to maintain a reasonable level of professionalism in the workplace. Someone who thinks that employees kissing in public view is acceptable is not someone you’d expect to find in a managerial position, frankly.
The core issue has nothing to do with the offenders’ genders-- it’s all about the effect that teenage kissyface typically has on an adult’s appetite. I guarantee you that, if that incident were brought to the attention of the franchise holder, without any reference to the person you were kissing being a girl, you would find yourself demoted, if not out of a job altogether, in no time at all. (That’s not to say that there was no homophobia in the woman, only that if there were, it was quite beside the point.)
I hope you won’t misread this, either as an attack, or as condescension – it’s natural that you feel persecuted for expressing your love. All teenagers do, even those whose attractions conform to the path of least resistence. It’s also natural that when you get a bit older, discretion will come to you, you’ll be vaguely embarassed by your earlier behavior, and intensely irritated by the similar behavior of the up-and-coming generation. That’s the way it plays out, as though the supposed Author of Our Being is a sort of unfathomable Saturday Night Live writer, cranking out the same tired old sketch over and over for our eternal amusement or torment, depending on how many beers we’ve had and how philosophical we’re feeling.
“See ya later, sweetie” and a quick kiss and out the door is one thing. Several “pecks” and several minutes of “swooning” at the counter? Count me with the group that says that this was unprofessional and unacceptable behavior. Moreso, IMO, since the OP is the store manager, meaning that this is the example that she’s setting for all of the employees of the restaurant, giving them carte blanche to do likewise with all of their paramours.
I don’t want to see any employees of any establishment that I patronize standing around, fawning and mooning over their sweeties. And I don’t believe for a moment that there wasn’t some kind of work that the OP could have been doing. As my first boss liked to say, “If you can lean, you can clean.” and I’ll bet my life that there was something in that Wendy’s that the OP could’ve (and likely should’ve) been giving her attention in those moments of slacking with her girlfriend. It’s just not how you act when you’re on the clock, especially not in a service profession, especially not when you’re the one on the scene who sets the tone.
Was the complainer a homophobe? Maybe. But even if her motivation wasn’t correct, her reaction was.
Yeah, count me with-a quick peck goodbye is one thing, but if you’re standing there talking and “swooning” (what the hell does that mean here?), then yeah, unprofessional.
It does not sound like she was homophobic, merely just saying, “Hey, now’s not the time!”
BTW, did anyone else read the title as Homophobic Costumers at Wendy’s?
Guin, I think a mod edited the title at some point – I’d swear that originally, it did read “Costumers.”
I came in expecting a rant about changes to the uniform, too.
Yes, Guin, because that’s what it originally said. Methinks a friendly mod fixed the typo.
Ah, okay. So I’m not crazy.
Jinx-- buy me a Frostie!
Not sure if I agree with the general opinion that the woman wasn’t being homophobic.
I honestly think that most people would have thought “Urrgh, PDA overload” and looked the other way. But to get so insensed by seeing this that you have to complain???
I guess we’ll never know the woman’s motivations, but I can’t help suspecting that she was more offended by the girl-on-girl nature than the fact that it was conducted inappropriately in the workplace.
I agree, but either way she sounds like a psycho, so there’s no telling what horrible act it was that pissed her off.