What people don't know... Hurts US!!

[mamacat]

It makes me nuts when I see people being rude and nasty to people in service jobs. There is just no call for being rude and nasty to anyone, period. Plus I'm always thinking, "Are you crazy? This person is handling your FOOD!" And apparently, I'm right to think that, from what some of you are saying. Eek!

I never worked in food service, but when I was a supermarket cashier, I actually had a woman SLAP ME because I refused to take her coupon. It's good that your manager stands behind you--when that happened to me, my manager came over and made me accept the coupon, even though the woman was buying something different than what it was for. I still get mad about it, and it happened 15 years ago!

 

[mamacat]

Originally Posted by Emma's Friend

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone who does not treat our customers and employees with dignity and respect."

We actually had to post this sign in one of our McDonald's locations.

Wow! I can't even imagine what must have been going on there that you had to post that! Yikes!

 

[emma's friend]

Originally Posted by mamacat

Wow! I can't even imagine what must have been going on there that you had to post that! Yikes!

It's a store that we took over and the customers had a free food racket going on which the new owner wasn't going to tolerate. The store is doing much better now, even though our incorrect order policy makes some of our drive-thru customers angry. We require the customer to bring back the entire order before replacing or adding what might have been "left out". It's just incredible the lengths some folks will go to to try and get free food.

 

[lillekat]

I know the feeling - I worked in the catering business for a while - and I really really hated people that tried to jump queues. I remember once taking a woman to the side and calmly explaining to her that there was a queue, other people had been waiting for a while to get their food firs tbecause we'd had a problem with the gas mains and it had needed to be switched off while a repair was made. She told me I was retarded and I needed to take a good look at my life because I wasn't going anywhere working in a chippie. I then told her that I woudln't serve someone who was that rude to me and for her information, I was a student with a child to raise and that I'd happily work anywhere to earn some money. SHe told me then that I was a stupid girl for not keeping my legs crossed until I was married and at least over 30. So I refused her service. I wasn't going to rise to the bait. I simply refuse to serve her, when my boss asked why and I gave her the account, she banned the woman from the store. She wasn't going to ahve anyone treat her staff like that ever. So this stuck up moo has to walk three miles to another chippie instead. It's amazing what some people think they can get away with. She even had the nerve to tell me that the customer was always right - oh yeah... when they get their morals the right way around.

 

[maverick_kitten]

Originally Posted by turtlecat

I hated that about Germany.. Everyone treated me great until they found out I was 1/2 Turk, they were surprised (n the bad way, like I was keeping a dirty secret from them...) :/

thats awful! i've worked in fast food restuarants and in clothes shops and am always shocked at how badly we are treated. one girl i worked with was called an 'anorexic b*tch' because one customer couldnt fit into anything in the store and we are constantly shouted at if we dont have clothes in a size/colour/style they like!

customer also seem to think that i swe the clothes myself and therfore any comlaints about the quality or fit should be directed to me, especially if its a busy day and i'm already serving another customer.

i do admit, i give the worst customer service to mean people!

 

[maverick_kitten]

Originally Posted by mamacat

It makes me nuts when I see people being rude and nasty to people in service jobs. There is just no call for being rude and nasty to anyone, period. Plus I'm always thinking, "Are you crazy? This person is handling your FOOD!" And apparently, I'm right to think that, from what some of you are saying. Eek!

I never worked in food service, but when I was a supermarket cashier, I actually had a woman SLAP ME because I refused to take her coupon. It's good that your manager stands behind you--when that happened to me, my manager came over and made me accept the coupon, even though the woman was buying something different than what it was for. I still get mad about it, and it happened 15 years ago!

i cant believe that! i think its against the law for your employer not to give you adequete protection from abuse and injury. you should have sued.

 

[mamacat]

Originally Posted by maverick_kitten

i cant believe that! i think its against the law for your employer not to give you adequete protection from abuse and injury. you should have sued.

Yeah, I should have. But I was 15 and in my first job where I wasn't working for a relative (before that I worked in my dad's business). And I was a very timid kid. So I just sort of hung my head and took the lady's coupon. Part of what makes me so mad when I think back on it is the fact that the lady and my manager both took advantage of the fact that I was young.

 

[amy-dhh]

MyRage...

Just wanted to let you know that as someone who gets take-out food quite often, I am ALWAYS (repeat ALWAYS) nice to the people serving me and making my food. We have a pizza place right at the corner and most of the guys there know us by name now. Same at the deli. Same at the diner. When we've occassionally encountered a rude person working at a take-out place, we remain polite and patient! They are people too, with feelings, working in a difficult industry.

By the way, I've also raised my kids to be polite and not to look "down" at ANYONE, or treat anyone in retail, food service, cleaning service, etc. badly. Everyone deserves respect whether white collar, blue collar or food-stained collar

. I've worked in food service myself, and my husband used to work in retail and did so for MANY years.

ps. When I get horrible service or someone in a take-out place is particularly rude to me it's quite simply really. They just won't get my business again if it happens more than once. There's a deli by my husband's job, and the people serving the food there were very nasty -- it happened to us twice. That was more than five years ago. We haven't been back.

 

[myrage]

Originally Posted by TTMom

My Rage, be careful with hot sauce. My sister and I both have capsaicin reactive asthma. In other words, no hot sauce. But then we're usually super nice to people and give great tips unless they REALLY piss us off (in other words, ignore us almost to the point of not even taking our order and fawning all over other tables from the moment we walk in).

With the Jalapeno juice (it's not a sauce, just the juice that they come in) I was making the pizza, and I joked that we should put some on, my coworker actually did the pouring, but I was involved... We knew the girl, we know she's not a nice person. She's always rude to us, she used to work there, and is good friends with a manager. She'll just come into our store, walk around, and talk to that manager, and even eat out of the make-line(That's where all our toppings are) I really have a hard time with someone who ISN'T employed there doing that. She also gets 'special cheesy bread' cuz she's one of the manager's best friends.

Some of your stories makes mine not so bad! I knew you guys would understand. I am nice to everyone in service also. Mostly just because they are as human as I am. Even if the job seems like the lowest job on the 'totem pole'. Without the people in the service industry, we'd HAVE to do everything ourselves, then we'd be back to growing our own food, cooking our own food, making our own clothing... etc. I like aspects of the world now, if only people could learn TO GET ALONG!!!!!!

But thankyou for pointing that out, I hadn't thought of that.

 

[myrage]

Originally Posted by ComeresMom

MyRage...

Just wanted to let you know that as someone who gets take-out food quite often, I am ALWAYS (repeat ALWAYS) nice to the people serving me and making my food. We have a pizza place right at the corner and most of the guys there know us by name now. Same at the deli. Same at the diner. When we've occassionally encountered a rude person working at a take-out place, we remain polite and patient! They are people too, with feelings, working in a difficult industry.

By the way, I've also raised my kids to be polite and not to look "down" at ANYONE, or treat anyone in retail, food service, cleaning service, etc. badly. Everyone deserves respect whether white collar, blue collar or food-stained collar

. I've worked in food service myself, and my husband used to work in retail and did so for MANY years.

ps. When I get horrible service or someone in a take-out place is particularly rude to me it's quite simply really. They just won't get my business again if it happens more than once. There's a deli by my husband's job, and the people serving the food there were very nasty -- it happened to us twice. That was more than five years ago. We haven't been back.

lol, I am glad there are polite people out there. If only everyone was like we are here. With some of the really rude customers that we get will threaten us with going to classic pizza, or pizza hut. I just think to myself, 'GOOD, LET THEM DEAL WITH YOUR KRAP!" lol. Some of the people... we didn't need their business anyway.

If people like pizza so much, why do they insist on being rude EVERYTIME!! There is this woman, from a business (Her um... the man she calls her boyfriend owns a business, she doesnt' actually work for him, but it is run out of his home... where she resides) calls us and is rude to us everytime on the phone, then calls back and complains every single time they order. The bad thing is that the man she is living with is like an uncle to me, I've known him my whole life. He was really good friends with my dad's parents, and pretty much best friends with my stepdad. Not to mention they are in the same motorcycle club together. The woman, she's with him... he can't make her go away... LOL anyway... She is horrible. I refuse to take her phone calls. With our caller ID, we know who is calling. I've told her a million times she needs to be nicer to the people on the phone etc, but she's just NOT a nice person. I'm almost to the point where I am going to tell him that everyone at dominos hates his business cuz SHE orders pizza. She was even really rude and immature to me when I was 18 cuz she got fired from a club(like a bar) that my parents were members of... Like I had anything to do at all with her getting fired. GEEEZE, I was more adult then her when I was a kid, and she was way older then me, with two kids, one MY AGE!!!!!!! yup, some people are just naturally rude. I don't think that she could be nice if someone took all the anger, and meaness out of her.

 

[wellingtoncats]

Hi Tia,

Well you may or may not know but my family owned a small Pizza & Fish n Chip for a couple of years which we closed in 2002. I can honestly say (I worked there) that we never had any really rude customers to deal with, we dealt with all the locals and they were really friendly. Plus our gourmet pizzas were made fresh before your eyes!

 

[yosemite]

There is no excuse for anyone to be rude to anybody else. We all serve a purpose and good honest work should be lauded regardless of what one does. I have a friend who LOVES to clean - she's a cleaning lady at a hospital and a dang good one too.

Once in a restaurant (I was treating my husband), the waitress pandered to his every whim and pretended I was invisible for the most part. When the check came my husband said (a little louder than necessary), thanks honey for the nice treat. OOPS! I left her not one penny for a tip. When she came to retrieve the credit card slip, before I gave it to her, I calmly told her why she got no tip. She just flippantly said no problem and stormed off.
I had actually overheard her tell another of the waitresses that she hadn't made much money in tips that day - I wonder why!

Normally I'm a generous tipper, but she was actually rude to me and since I was the one paying that was a big error on her part.

 

[coolcat]

Oh Tia I´ll send you a big hug!

so sorry what happen...

 

[laureen227]

when i was a airline reservationist, i learned the order you need to have them retrieve your reservation. now, when i call, i automatically give the info in order - they're always very surprised & pleased. it's worth it to find out how people prefer things - then they're so much nicer to deal with!

 

[squirtle]

Thank goodness for Pizza Hut having online ordering. I order the pizza, an d even use the coupns all online. It is SO easy and convienent. YThe last time I ordered pizza on the phone I got into a huge fight with the girl because she was very rude and unfriendly and actually used the F word with me! I called back to speak to the manager and she kept hanging up on me so I had to call another one of their locations and speak to that manager who called the store where the problem was and spoke to that manager. I ended up getting a $30 credit applied there under our phone number. After that I tried the online thing and have been very pleased. It will even tell you how long it will take for the pizza to be delivered.

 

[katl8e]

I work inbound customer service, for an automobile financing company. I'll answer a call and people will immediately start screaming "I paid off my car, now WHERE'S my title?" or "Why can't you lower my interest rate?" They don't identify themselves, have their account numbers or want to verify their security information. Under the privacy laws, we have to make every attempt, to verify that the person we are speaking to is authorized on the account. We cannot give out personal financial information, to anyone who isn't authorized, by the customer.

The ones screaming about their titles, have usually mailed the payoff, a couple of days before. The post office takes between 5-7 BUSINESS days to deliver mail. Our cashiering department posts the payoff, within 24 hrs. If the payoff isn't certified funds, it can take up to 10 days, to clear the account and release the title. Then, it is another 5-7 BUSINESS days, for the post office to deliver that.

Please don't scream at your lowly customer service rep. If you will calmly state your issue, nine times out of ten, he/she will be able to resolve your issue, then and there.

Bill and I order pizza, from a local shop. Our previous favorite "PJ's" messed up our last few orders and "PH" kept referring me to another branch. After calling three, within a 2-mile radius, I called Chariot Pizza. We had our dinner, in under half an hour!

 

[carolcat]

Muahahahha, I too have worked in the food industry, done hair and nails too, and I used to tell my customers this, "an intellegent person never messes with someone who is handling their food, hair or nails....even a stupid person only does it once, unless they are blind deaf and dumb......" they usually took the point right away... :-)

 

[noni]

Fast food. Ah, yes....fast rage.

Once, while working at Taco Bell when I was 16, I had to get two more pennies for someone's change, as my drawer was out of pennies. I told the guy, who was a jerk, that I was getting additional change from the other register. I smiled nicely. I reached for the cashier next to me, needing to buy more change from him. As my back was slightly turned, my customer started screaming about how I was stealing from him, picked up the cash register, and slammed it onto my back.

My neighbor cashier backed away really fast, as I went down to my knees. The bad guy vaulted the counter, and started grabbing all the cash he could get his hands on. I had managed to get back to my feet, and he slammed me back into the steam cabinet. As my back is burning (literally), he was screaming invectives at me, and I was smacking him as best I could. I reached over and got a hot spatula full of beans (it was the closest thing to me) and slammed it on his head.

At this point, two guys who'd been eating there came over the counter, pulled this (edited, but it rhymes with hutherpucker) off me, and got him down on the ground. Fortuitously, there was a cop car who'd just decided to come here for dinner, and were walking in. The cops came over the counter, pulled their weapons, put the bad guy in cuffs, and got me ice for my back. They called backup, and an ambulance.

The shop closed down for the night, but fed all the cops who showed up. I went to the hospital, no tacos for me. We lived a block and a half away, and my brother saw the lights and sirens and got my Dad as I was on the stretcher. Poor Dad.

Turns out the bad guy had a serious record, and was prosecuted. I went back to work for a few weeks, but couldn't deal with it...so I quit (Dad was very happy). Good thing, too, because about 6 weeks after I quit, there was a murder and attempted murder at the store. Who did it? The bad guy...he was "looking" for me.

I testified at his trial, and he pled guilty in the middle of it. I wasn't yet 18 when I testified and didn't really understand all the ramifications of things.

I don't go to Taco Bell anymore, and this was more than 20 years ago.

MyRage, I'm sorry you had a bad day. It sucks when people get mad for no reason. For the record, I am always polite and nice when getting fast food, pizza, or other delivery.

Best-
Michele

 

[krazy kat2]

EEK! What horror stories!
I am working as a temp at the national customer service call center for the United States Postal Service. People that call in are nice for the most part, but we get some real Jacka$$es, too. The will start screaming numbers at us as son as we answer the phone, needing zip codes. We have to ask several questions to calculate postage, and people get all bent out of shape. The worst is asking for the info for domestic package shipping.
"What zip code are you sending it from?"
"West Podunk, Arkansas."
"What zip code, please?" This will go on several times until they finally scream the zip code at me.
"What zip code is it going to?"
"North Hell, Nebraska."
"What zip code, please?" Then we go back and forth until they scream that zip code at me.
After I finally get that out of them, then I ask how much it weighs.
"I don't know, it's just a small box, however much that weighs."
"Approximately how much please?"
"Maybe 15 pounds." (A SMALL BOX?!)
"How fast do you need to get it there?"
"I want it there by tomorrow, how much will it cost?"
"$45.75"
Then the fun begins!
"IHAVENEVERPAIDMORETHAN5DOLLARSTOSENDAPACKAGEAROUNDTHEWORLDYOUSTUPID@#$%^&!
And they wonder why people "go postal!"
Oh yeah, we are supposed to accomplish all this in 110 seconds.
I won't even go in to "check day!"

 

[mrsd]

Originally Posted by noni

Turns out the bad guy had a serious record, and was prosecuted. I went back to work for a few weeks, but couldn't deal with it...so I quit (Dad was very happy). Good thing, too, because about 6 weeks after I quit, there was a murder and attempted murder at the store. Who did it? The bad guy...he was "looking" for me.

I testified at his trial, and he pled guilty in the middle of it. I wasn't yet 18 when I testified and didn't really understand all the ramifications of things.

Wow. A case of fast food truly killing. (Although I know fast food does contribute to heart disease and obesity.) What a scary story.