Fantastique wrote:
Azelma, sincerest apologies for any insult. That was not my intention. Perhaps I didn't explain my thoughts thoroughly, as I got caught up in my anger towards the douche in the story (and towards those who support him, if only because they don't want to take Aestu's side for whatever reason). Here is my fully thought-out attitude towards these kind of situations:
Though I may have the attitude of a "rich and entitled" person, I am not the kind of person who would unjustly flip out on anyone, as you presume. In fact, I don't even think you'd be responsible for upholding "customer is always right" - that is for managers and other higher-ups. I would take any grievance to them, politely, and collect what's owed. If he tries to be a douche, he will get owned. Simple. Similarly, if you are a douche at the register, you will get what you deserve (hence the "unjustly").
It's simple. Be nice, I will be nice. Be a douche, you will be owned. In addition, if you DO happen to make a mistake, simply own up to it, fix it if you can, and we're good. But just as my seemingly "rich entitled" attitude rubs you the wrong way, the whole "am working here cuz I have to so everything should be excused" attitude infuriates me. Yes, I understand that some people HAVE to work there or whatever, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to do a bad job. I have a certain expectation of retail workers because, and let's be honest with ourselves for a second, the jobs are not hard to do. Some may be taxing, sure, but none are difficult. Therefore, anything less than 100% is unacceptable. If you can't give your 100% at your job, you should find one in which you CAN give 100%.
Back to Aestu's story, the manager was a douche. Plain and simple. And as he was in a leadership position, he should have had more tact. HE is the one who chose to adhere to the whole "customer is always right" in order to get more business, but he should have prepared to accept the flip side of that deal. As soon as he accepted Aestu's money, he became obligated to provide as perfect an experience as possible.
Just my two cents.
Thanks for clarifying and I'm sorry if I flew off the handle a bit there. Having spent many years getting shat on by douchebag customers, I get sensitive about it.
You're right with mistakes...retail isn't hard. Still, you're dealing with humans. Mistakes happen.
I can only speak to fast food since I never worked retail...but I know we'd serve thousands of people in a given day (2nd busiest Wendy's in Columbus) -- and yeah, I know I made some mistakes from time to time. But the job is hard...there's a lot of stuff going on, and yeah, maybe I forgot your frosty while I was serving 3 other people in the drive through at various stages....I'll apologize and do my best to make it right. Berating me and trying to make me feel small because I inconvenienced you for 30 seconds while I corrected the error is petty. The people who flip out when a mistake is made frustrate me because it's obvious they have no empathy for your situation.
We live in a society where people always want to make others feel small - that's the problem. This douche manager wanted to make Aestu feel small. People yelling at a high school student working at Wendy's want to make him feel small. I know I had douche managers at Wendy's who did the same thing. It's a problem we have -- there's no collaboration...just competition. If you have an advantage over someone, you are likely to exploit it. It's a shame...I wish we worked together and respected each other more.
I am curious though, have you ever worked at a restaurant or fast food?
