# Say a prayer for the late shift fast food employees of the world.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 21, 2001, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773 "2001-04-21T09:19:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/61 "2001-04-23T01:45:14Z")

</div>

…and _ **THIS** _, my friends, is why it’s called the **BBQ PIT** and not the Oprah Winfrey-Phil Donohue Touch Me-Hug Me-Mutually Support Me- Warm Fuzzy- Love Fest.

Page 2, and it’s still rating about a 9.3 Some days, it’s impossible to maintain the professional air about one, even when one is abused and maligned.

Cartooniverse

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![loislane138](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@loislane138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loislane138)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/62 "2001-04-23T02:02:33Z")

</div>

Why the hell do you keep refering to them as “my customers” or it as “my resturant”. I don’t give a flying nutsack about these patrons of shit! I used to, maybe, but then everyone started crying over mayo and yelling “I wanna eat your pussy” at me.  
Yeah, customers have a right to complain too, just don’t throw food around and have a hissy fit, and I’ll help you out, maybe. I’m so fucking calloused to this fucking job, i dont even care anymore. The only reason I’m still at this fucking job is because I have to pay for shit, and I like my managers and they’re so understaffed that it’d really hurt them if someone was to quit.  
I’m so fucking polite and curteous to cashiers now, I smile I chit chat until I get the slightest hint of annoyance from them, I pick up anything I drop, I don’t even roll my eyes when I have to leave my booksack at the counter at CircleK. I don’t get huffy when asked for my ID to buy smokes even if I bought hem from the same cashier yesterday, I know its the law and as if they remember me, anyway.  
Everyone should be forced to have the kind of fucking job.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/63 "2001-04-23T03:29:35Z")

</div>

First, a few facts from [http://www.aventis.com/main/0,1003,EN-XX-23210-10870--,FF.html](http://www.aventis.com/main/0,1003,EN-XX-23210-10870--,FF.html)

> [@](#):
>
> The body tries to protect itself by putting out warning signals when blood sugar levels fall too low. The symptoms you might have include:  
> Feeling “shaky”  
> Having a rapid heartbeat  
> Sweating  
> Feeling crabby or confused  
> Blurred vision  
> Headache  
> Numbness or tingling in the mouth or lips  
> Looking pale  
> Sudden hunger  
> If your low blood sugar is not treated, you may even pass out.

The thing is, being an asshole is a symptom of low blood sugar. It really and truly isn’t something you can control. “Feeling crabby” doesn’t cover it. It’s more like being a gigantic pain in the ass.

Second, this wasn’t her first sandwich. She had ordered at least one before, and received it with mayo. If she was in borderline low blood sugar, then it wouldn’t have been safe for her to even attempt to drive out.

Third

> [@](#):
>
> I tried almost full time a couple summers ago at Kmart-35 hours a week-and you know what? THAT almost killed me. I had a panic attack and a crying jag one day at work and had to be sent home, and couldn’t return until the following week. It can be incredibly difficult, emotionally draining, downright tiring, and let me tell you-there is NO EXCUSE for throwing a fit, just because someone made a mistake. Can you NOT behave calmly and rationally?

**Apparently acting calmly and rationally would not get her a sandwich without mayo.** And again, behaving badly isn’t a choice when you’ve got low blood sugar. The closest thing I can compare it to is being half-suffocated. I’ve had a couple of episodes, and the last thing I could do was act calmly and rationally, even though I wanted to.

> [@](#):
>
> BTW, Lynn, I hope you don’t think I’m directing this at you-I’m not. I have tremendous respect for you as an admin and as a poster. I’m just venting at no one and everyone that I hate it when people treat me like crap at work. I get tired, cranky, I’ve worked with blinding migraines so bad I was dizzy and seeing auras, I’ve worked with menstrual cramps so bad I could barely stand up, I’ve worked with my stomach tying itself in knots because I hadn’t eaten all day.

Yeah, I’ve been there and done that. I’ve pounded a cash register for over 16 hours straight (my relief didn’t come in). I’ve worked in a deli and had people want me to give them stuff at a “discount” of about 50%. I’m not unsympathetic to the customer service people of the world. I’m not directing this at you, either. I tip generously for adequate service, and I’m willing to try to work with service people to get what I want. However, the first fault here was on the side of the service people’s. First, she got her order wrong. When she brought it to the manager’s attention, she got the order wrong AGAIN, in the same way. This tells me that the manager is slipshod. S/he should have checked to see that the order was correct before sending it out…and when s/he found out that the order was wrong again, in the same way, then whoever made the sandwich should have been reprimanded. ONE mistake was an accident. To have it happen twice strikes me as being extremely careless at best, and malicious at worst. And perhaps this woman had just had one of THOSE days herself.

I agree that having people yell obscenities at you is scary. I’ve had it happen to me, and not just when I was behind a counter, either, but when I was getting off work and going to my car. I don’t expect everyone (particularly not teenage girls) to have my attitude, though (or my ability to actually hurt someone when I hit him/her). If this is a recurring problem, and the manager doesn’t know about it, tell him or her. If the manager knows, and does nothing about this, then either quit or go over his/her head. Maybe it would cool things down if one of your big, bulky, and above all mean-looking co-workers would stroll out the back door and tap on the window, asking the drunks just why they’re picking on his sweetie?

In conclusion, yes, customers can be assholes. But so can service people, and in this particular case (the mismade sandwich) the service people were assholes first…and continued being assholes even after the customer complained.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![loislane138](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@loislane138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loislane138)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/64 "2001-04-23T04:06:20Z")

</div>

WTF?! We were asholes when she started yelling, screaming, crying and throwing shit around. We were busy, and were having to deal with shitty customers all damn day long. Should she have said “I’m diabetic, that’s why I’m being as asshole, fix my sandwich”, I think we would not have laughed at her. And another thing, people in the back making the damn things, go by what’s on the fucking screen. If you say “Blah blah, no mayo” to them while they’re reading screens and making sandwiches and dealing with assholes yelling at them all damn day long, the chances of a fucking sandwich getting screwed up is pretty high.  
I didn’t want to say this, but since this is the Pit: Someone having diabetes is not my problem. Having someone with diabetes throwing a mayo soaked sandwich on the counter and crying is. Getting this possibly diabetic sap out of my hair is my problem. I don’t care what kind of health problems as person has, if they’re fucking assholes their assholes. But, you might be thinking “But this might-be-diabetic person might have diabetes! Its not their fault!” So, when this drunk person who screams “I wanna eat your pussy” its not their fault, its the alcohol’s?! See how stupid this is? Thing is, Don’t be an asshole, if you can’t handle being treated like one. EVEN if its not your fault that you’re being an asshole, not everyone knows that you’re assholeness is being brought on by low blood sugar.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/65 "2001-04-23T05:08:33Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> Oh, and fuck you, soulmurk

Hey, that’s cool. Just hold the mayo this time please.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/66 "2001-04-23T07:27:57Z")

</div>

First of all, we do have a right to complain. We can make all the fucking complaints we want. Read the fucking Constitution, dumbass.

Don’t tell me to get another job. I want a better job. To get a better job, I need to go to college. To go to college, I need money. To get money, I need this job. Don’t tell me to get another job.

Customer service can be a very draining job. I’ve had to work nine hours a day, four days in a row, in the summer, while the air conditioning was broken. I heard insults. People have spit at me. Physical threats. It’s all happened. Many times. So if the customers serivce that you’re getting is not up to optimum standards, it’s probably because the stupid company works the employees to exhaustion rather than splurging some of its precious profits on much-needed new employees. That’s the way that companies work right now. Either move to higher quality restaraunts and stores where they treat employees decently, or learn to live with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/67 "2001-04-23T07:51:14Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by drachillix \*  
> \*\* -snip- …Pizza was cooked and we were all in the back mumbling about what a bitch this lady was. When the pizza came out of the oven our manager asked us all to join him at the cutting table. We walked over, and he **instructed all 4 of us** to spit on her pizza. He then cut and boxed the pizza and presented it to the customer who then walked away quite pleased with her free pizza.

You’re a doorknob for following along with that shit. There’s no amount of shit that I could have encountered in my 6-7 years of customer service that would have lowered me to that level. That’s sickening.

That whole fucking team should have been fired.

I only hope you run into the asshole you were to her sometime soon in your future. You deserve it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/68 "2001-04-23T14:06:39Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \*  
> \*\*To me, there are two kinds of service. The kind that deserves 20% tip ( almost everyone ), and the kind that deserves to be stiffed. I leave a penny. That shows 'em that I thought about a tip, and decided upon a fitting one. \*\*

I had a waitress one time … man… we’d been totally nice, just ordering our food and sitting quietly eating and talking. Just my boyfriend and I. Anyway she was SO rude. When we finally flagged her down to ask for the check after waiting something like 30 minutes after finishing all our food and trying to catch her eye… she storms by, staying as far as possible from our table, and THROWS the check at us.

We happened to have a penny on us that we’d cut in half with wire cutters. We left her 1/2 a cent. Then we filled out a complaint card at the register. There was an elderly couple at the counter filling out a complaint card on the same waitress.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/69 "2001-04-23T14:15:47Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ITR champion \*  
> \*\*Finally, restauraunt chains have done studies and found that when orders are incorrect, it’s almost always because the customers didn’t order the correct thing, not because of employee mistakes. With that said, mistakes to get made sometimes, especially if you’re in a fast food place. fast food places are specifically designed to make food quickly, not correctly. That why they’re called ‘fast’ food. I got a chicken taco once when I wanted a beef taco. So what? A chicken taco won’t kill me. \*\*

I went to a pizza place once with my husband. We ordered a mushroom pizza. We got a pepperoni pizza. I told the guy “we didn’t order this, we ordered mushrooms” he proceeded to ARGUE with me “Yes you did order pepperoni!” At this point I got a little snippy. “I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 14 years old! I WOULD NOT ORDER PEPPERONI!!!”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/70 "2001-04-23T14:28:02Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by loislane138 \*  
> **I started this thread to vent on the sheer stupidity and rudeness of some people**

So it would only follow that being stupid and rude yourself would be counter productive. But you did it anyway. The whole “I don’t care” mentality is part of the REASON customers have no respect for fast food workers!

For what it’s worth, I’ve worked fast food and I’ve done waitressing and pizza delivery, blah blah blah.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/71 "2001-04-23T14:28:17Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by loislane138 \*  
> That reminds me of last week when a girl came in, threw her sandwich on the counter and DEMANDED to see the manager. Ricky, the manager, came in, apologized and gave her a new sandwich. Five minuttes later she came back, (and I kid you not) tears were streaming down her face, she threw the two halves of the sandwich on the counter, and SCREAMED “This is not a hard sandwich to make! Why can’t you just not put mayo on it!?” … She then screamed for us to get Ricky again … She tearfully explained that her order was messed up again so he personnally went and made it for her.

Let’s completely leave the customer’s reactions out of this for a minute. They were over the top, but we don’t know why; as Lynn pointed out, there might be underlying reasons for her behavior.

What I’m seeing is something happened that was out of the ordinary (i.e., a special order was placed), and the restaurant had a 33 percent success rate dealing with it. Life’s gonna be very hard on people who successfully handle unexpected events only 33 percent of the time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/72 "2001-04-23T14:30:40Z")

</div>

Interesting philosophical question: if you spit on a piece of food and the customer never knows, is he or she actually hurt by the action in any way? (Assuming, that is, that you don’t have a cold).

The customer eats his or her food, enjoys it, is happy. How have you actually hurt them?

Personally I always go out of my way to be nice to the service since I try to live by the “treat others as you would like to be treated” moral code. So I don’t think that the above would have happened to me. However the concept that some waitress _may_ have spat in my food at some point in my life just doesn’t bother me - I never knew it so it didn’t spoil my day and it clearly didn’t significantly harm me/

pan - ever the pragmatist.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/73 "2001-04-23T14:35:52Z")

</div>

Out of curiosity, what is the current wage at McDonald’s these days? 10 years ago when I worked there, I made $4.25/hr or whatever minimum wage was at the time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/74 "2001-04-23T14:35:52Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by OpalCat \*  
> \*\*For what it’s worth, I’ve worked fast food and I’ve done waitressing and pizza delivery, blah blah blah. \*\*

OK, a question. When you delivered pizzas, right? Consider the following scenario. Your boss has three pizzas on the counter that all have to be delivered to a street 5 miles away, during rush hour traffic. Do you take all three pizzas and deliver them in one run, or do you make three separate runs, thereby driving 20 extra miles?

[sub]Sure, it’s cryptic. But you’re smart enough to figure it out.[/sub]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/75 "2001-04-23T14:38:18Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*  
> \*\*
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \*  
> > \*\*For what it’s worth, I’ve worked fast food and I’ve done waitressing and pizza delivery, blah blah blah. \*\*
> 
> OK, a question. When you delivered pizzas, right? Consider the following scenario. Your boss has three pizzas on the counter that all have to be delivered to a street 5 miles away, during rush hour traffic. Do you take all three pizzas and deliver them in one run, or do you make three separate runs, thereby driving 20 extra miles?\*\*

Same run. Why?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/76 "2001-04-23T14:41:21Z")

</div>

You disappoint me 😉

Now apply the same reasoning, but replace “pizza delivery” with “replying to a thread”. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/77 "2001-04-23T14:54:13Z")

</div>

Well, I reply to things as I read them. If I waited til the end I’d probably forget what all I wanted to respond to.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, at the particular place I worked, it was against policy to take more than one delivery at a time 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/78 "2001-04-23T17:54:30Z")

</div>

**SPOOFE** … check the reply with the huge quote from **Lynn B** in it. Lynn describes how the person _could_ be diabetic, and **Loislane** replies

> [@](#):
>
> **I don’t care  
> \<snip\>  
> I don’t care if your blood sugar’s low**

Thats what I was responding to. Nobody said the girl in the OP _was_ diabetic, we were discussing what would happen _if_ she was.

Thats also where I got the impression that she hates everyone.

> [@](#):
>
> \*\*  
> We’re not going out of business from one unhappy customer.  
> \*\*

She doesn’t care if someone gets pissed at her - the company won’t go out of business, and she’ll still get paid. I agree to an extent - but instead of laughing and being an ass, why not find out why she’s that pissed.

…And **soulmurk** , \*I personally am polite \* and _people being mean_ don’t refer to the same person / group of people. I don’t doubt that you are polite.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/79 "2001-04-23T18:15:55Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MrWhy \*  
> \*\*
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by loislane138 \*  
> > \*\*Oh, and fuck you, soulmurk, everyone has a right to complain. \*\*
> 
> Except, apparently, your customers. \*\*

They have every right to complain. They DON’T have the right to act like festering dick sores. EVER.

Complaint: ‘I ordered this without mayo. Could you fix it?’

Festering dick sore: Well, you read Lois’s post. Wait, obviously, you didn’t. Let’s review:

> [@](#):
>
> That reminds me of last week when a girl came in, threw her sandwich on the counter and DEMANDED to see the manager.

Or do you not see the Grand Canyon sized difference between these 2 things?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773/80 "2001-04-23T18:49:27Z")

</div>

I’m sorry, I was not aware of just how bad it can be. I can understand, I would not hesitate to help if asked. I would also have tried to make SURE the sandwhich didn’t have mayo…I absolutely LOATHE mayonnaise, anyways. I agree-the manager should have made certain. Now, since we DON’T KNOW why the woman acted as if she did…well…it was still poor behavior, if she wasn’t sick. Still, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know.

Unlike you, though, lois, I acknowledge that NOT ALL CUSTOMERS ARE ASSHOLES. In fact, the majority are not. It is just that the few that are are the ones we tend to remember the most. Lois-it seems to me you are NOT one of those employees like we tend to support at Customer’s Suck-you seem to be part of the problem.

I mean, if someone was abusive in the first place, I wouldn’t be too thrilled to help them. IF I knew someone was sick and feeling like they were being suffocated, I WOULD try. I remember we had little old ladies who would come to the grocery store I USED to work at, and would need things lightly bagged, they needed help taking things out, etc etc. I remember one who felt very dizzy waiting for her ride, and asked if I could come outside with her and hold her hand. I didn’t mind at all. In fact, she was really sweet, and you know, the fact that she’d come shopping just after surgery, and was pretty gutsy, was pretty cool to me.

I would save the I don’t care attitudes for the people who deserve it. I’ve learned humor works best. For example, the register gives the wrong price, anymore I just say, “I did it on purpose, actually. It’s the first step in my plan to take over the world.” I said that to everyone within earshot a couple of weeks ago when the registers broke down for nearly an hour. EVERYONE LAUGHED. I’ve found that being funny and trying to make people laugh works best. They can’t insult you when you’re trying to be humorous. And most people behind them will commiserate with you when they leave. “What a jerk! You handled that REALLY well-I would be spitting in his face!”  
Again-I am so hoping to find another job. Even a smaller store would be better-I can’t deal with tons of people in a busy store-I feel claustrophobic.  
(Incidentally, I once screamed, FUCK YOU! to a guy who called me a bitch because I wouldn’t open my drawer to give him change AFTER a sale. He misread the amount to give me, and I have him the change, and he got pissy and demanded I open the drawer and change it. We are NOT ALLOWED-security reasons. Trust me (short change artists). He started swearing, and I said, please don’t swear at me. We were very busy, everyone had called off, and I was alone. He said, “You bitch.” And I lost it. I IMMEDIATELY regretted it.)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773.md?page=3)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/say-a-prayer-for-the-late-shift-fast-food-employees-of-the-world/62773.md?page=5)
