Retail and Food Service: Yes, It's a Job

Everyone who knows me, knows me as an impatient and stubborn person. I am also not the type to give people the benefit of the doubt. Once you piss me off, you've pissed me off, and it will take a while for me to get unpissed off. Sorry, that's just the way the story goes.

I'm also often told that I'm needlessly mean to retail associates and servers. I think that is true. And mind you, being "mean" is not the same as being "disrespectful". I do my best to respect people as people, regardless of whether they are working behind the counter or leading a department meeting. I try to be polite and gracious, as social norms generally require me to be.

When folks and I say that I'm mean to retail and food service workers, I think the more accurate way to describe it is that I have particular (and very selfish) expectations, which come from my own years of working in retail and food service.

The way I understood my job as a retail/food service worker was that I was to provide a pleasant experience for my customers, who were paying for the product/service the business offered, as someone who was also getting paid as part of the job. (I have no idea what it's like to work for commission, though... that's probably very different.) It meant that I tried to maintain a smile no matter how busy we were. It meant that I provided all customers with the same service, or at least a minimum of it. It meant that I did my best to do my part on the job, without making mistakes, no matter how tired I was—and to cover for my coworkers, if there was need for that. It meant that, to a certain and great extent, I took a lot of shit from customers just for the fact that they were customers. (But I never did believe that customers were royalty.)

So this morning, when I dropped by my local (well... two cities over) and favorite Dunkin' Donuts (now rebranded just plain "Dunkin'"), of course I expected a certain level of service, that would enable me to have that pleasant experience I've always desired from a corporate donut chain. (One of my students also used to work here, and I remembered how awesome she and her coworkers were, so I think I just like this place a bit extra for that.) But when I came here this morning, the place was packed! Maybe not packed to the brim, but more packed than I'd seen the place in a long time. So of course everyone is furiously working, taking orders, filling boxes, making drinks, staffing the kitchen...

I know, I know. When the place is busy, sometimes you're just trying to clear what's on the plate in front of you, and you forget what it's like for the person coming in as a customer. But you know me, the impatient and stubborn ex-service worker. I demand you to be on top of your game, and I promise that I'll be a sweet and considerate customer as well.

I do not need you to tell me how busy your store has been; I just waited in line for several minutes witnessing that. If one of your cash registers is only taking cash, then someone can take 15 seconds to write "CASH ONLY" on a piece of paper and tape it up, so that your customers know in advance. If you are out of a particular flavor of hot chocolate, the please tell me that when I order. And when I say "Small", I would appreciate it if you wouldn't enter "Large". And finally, I do not need to know that you are new, because unless you only work here four hours once a week, I've seen you here before, and at some point that "new" status has got to expire.

We all make mistakes; we're only human. I still get embarrassed when I remember that one time I left the price tag on on a product and gift wrapped it for a customer. I can't tell you how many pieces of soap I had to buy myself because I cut them in the most wonky shapes possible. I remember when a customer asked to have less rice in her bowl and then she was like, "Um... can I get a bit more than that?" When I must not have been loud and clear enough when I told customers that it was soup OR salad, not soup AND salad.

But you know. This is your job, man. I don't care how young or old you are, how new or old you are, how busy the place is, how crazy corporate can be in its changes and demands. I am coming here to give you my hard-earned cash. We all are—and that's why your place is packed. I don't need you to thank us; I just need you not to make excuses. Because despite all this, you know I am coming back, I genuinely enjoy coming here.