# Too afraid to speak up and now I may mess up **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150 "2019-09-13T04:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/21 "2019-09-14T21:35:47Z")
Strange to put you on drive-thru before they put you on the front register. Can you ask to try that first? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/22 "2019-09-15T05:28:39Z")
> [@Stinky\_Pete](#): > > Based on information you gave I say you have come to just the right conclusion on what to do, “…go to your manager tomorrow and tell her that you have no idea what you’re doing”. > > However I wouldn’t recommend you use that wording. Better I think if you said, “I’m not comfortable working the drive up and would prefer to do a different job” (Or use some other similar wording that is right for you) > > Part II is that you will need to stick to your guns and despite whatever your manager says keep saying you would prefer not to work the drive through. The manager likely will try to talk you into doing it and you have to be strong on this point. I’m not sure what ‘guns’ they have to stick to. They pay you to work there, and so you have to work wherever they tell you. You can (and should) tell your manager 'I’m not sure I’ve been trained enough for this position; I’m afraid I’ll make mistakes doing it." The manager will likely tell another employee to give you some more training, and/or reassure you that everybody makes mistakes at first and you’ll do fine. But you do have to work there if the manager says so. It’s pretty common for managers to want to have employees cross-trained to be able to handle different positions in the store, because that makes it easy to fill in as needed. And it makes you a more valuable employee at the store. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2019, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/23 "2019-09-15T05:58:27Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > Strange to put you on drive-thru before they put you on the front register. Can you ask to try that first? Ditto. Back when I worked at McDonald’s years ago, I worked at a normal front register for a few months before working the drive-thru. Everything seems to go faster in drive-thru, and taking the orders from a disembodied speaker or headset is another complication. Nevertheless, like anything else, you get more proficient the more you do it. And I second the idea of getting proficient at as many crew positions in the restaurant as you can. Before I stopped working at McD’s, I could handle just about any position, including front counter, drive-thru, fry cook, and grill master. It also made the days more interesting, because you weren’t necessarily doing the same position and the same task every shift. ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/24 "2019-09-16T14:13:43Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > try to sound like you enjoy being there. Put a smile in your voice, dig? Yes, smile DELIRIOUSLY. Don’t ruin someone’s hamburger experience by speaking in a monotone. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/25 "2019-09-16T14:21:09Z")
Just curious if the OP really has a problem with the cash register or something else. Maybe she isn’t comfortable dealing with the customers face to face, or just has a general anxiety problem. Even the cash register problem may be because she’s not numerically literate at all and needs a little help there. Anyway, the OP only has that one post, if this is real I hope she can get through it, life has a lot of hills like this to climb, but they get easier as you get practice climbing them. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/26 "2019-09-16T14:47:22Z")
I used to have a lot of anxiety about speaking on the phone. When I got a job that would involve using the phone a lot, I was terrified. I probably even cried. Now, I’m a totally normal person who uses the phone all the time and it’s no big deal. I’m cured! Well, you know, a _fairly_ normal person. Sufficiently normal. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/27 "2019-09-16T15:47:06Z")
I did the drive-thru at Wendy’s back in the 90’s. The register did _not_ do the math. But that was a single window store so when I took an order I would read the total to the customer and then hang the ticket for the person assembling the order. Then I’d be taking cash for whichever car was at the window which could be the order I just had taken or it could be from 3 orders before. I had to learn how to count up (well, I already knew how to do that from previous jobs). I always set the cash across the tilled money and under the metal tab because it gets very windy at the window (worse in the winter because there was also a heat blower to help keep you from freezing). As soon as I gave them their change and they pulled away I would right side the cash. Besides taking orders and handing the food out I had to pull drinks (sometimes an ass. manager would slide in to help with that) and frosties. During non-rush hours I’d be making sandwiches, getting fries, cooking the burgers etc. plus bagging the orders. My drawer was usually either spot on or a few cents off. Except near the time when I quit and my drawer kept coming up off by $4 or $7. I quit one day when the ass. managers were in the back laughing and yakking and we got slammed. Both in the front and the drive-thru. There were only 3 of us on the line so we called back for help but none came. After the slam was over they came up front and wanted me to run the mop through the store. That was the last straw for me. I took off my apron, my visor and my nametag and said “I quit.” They lost an Opener and a Closer (I worked split shifts 4 days a week and 2 days a straight 8 hour shift). I walked across the street and filled out an application at the restaurant I had worked at in high school. Not as many hours but way less stressful. A month later my friend (an ass. manager at Wendy’s) stopped over where I was now working and told me that the other ass. manager was fired for stealing cash. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/28 "2019-09-16T16:24:07Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > I did the drive-thru at Wendy’s back in the 90’s. The register did _not_ do the math. FWIW, the registers at the McDonald’s where I worked in the '80s did do the math. You pressed the button for each item and then hit the “Total” button to generate the total. You then punched in the amount the customer gave you, and it calculated the change. > [@mistymage](#): > > …My drawer was usually either spot on or a few cents off. Except near the time when I quit and my drawer kept coming up off by $4 or $7. > > …A month later my friend (an ass. manager at Wendy’s) stopped over where I was now working and told me that the other ass. manager was fired for stealing cash. After my first shift on the front register at McDonald’s, I was told that my register was exactly $20 short. I was counseled for this, and informed patronizingly by the shift manager of the fact that all drawers were counted after each shift. Of course I was well aware of this, and I was incensed at the accusation that I had pocketed the missing money, but I was also fairly certain that I hadn’t made any mistakes. I was counseled to “be more careful” and it never happened again. I later heard that this sort of thing happened every time a new person started, but only when this particular manager counted the drawers. They finally figured out the manager was stealing money from the drawers of new employees, and then counseling them about it. They put a stop to it by firing the manager. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/29 "2019-09-16T17:45:36Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > A month later my friend (an ass. manager at Wendy’s) stopped over where I was now working and told me that the other ass. manager was fired for stealing cash. What an ass! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150/30 "2019-09-16T20:22:21Z")
> [@robby](#): > > FWIW, the registers at the McDonald’s where I worked in the '80s did do the math. You pressed the button for each item and then hit the “Total” button to generate the total. You then punched in the amount the customer gave you, and it calculated the change. Registers that do this have been available for a long time, but they used to be much more expensive than the basic cash register. So stores that needed fast service and/or had lots of young, untrained workers (fast food places had both) paid the extra money for the calculating registers. But your local hardware store, etc. didn’t spend the money for that. (Now, I think every register is computerized, and computes change & more. I don’t know if you could still buy one that doesn’t.) Back about then, the owner of a pair of fast food places (Burger King, I think) came into our bank to borrow the money to buy all new calculating registers. (They were that expensive; he needed a loan for this.) He had calculated that what he was losing in slower service + losses from giving incorrect change\* were large enough that these new registers would pay for themselves within a year or two. - He said that when a cashier short-changes a customer, they nearly all notice and object (or complain next time); but when a cashier gives them too much change, only about half of the customers will say anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-afraid-to-speak-up-and-now-i-may-mess-up/840150.md?page=1)