by Brenda Smith

Created on: February 22, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

I work as a manager at a Dairy Queen and I can say that it's too bad that it's the customers that keep the business going. It's too bad because if it weren't for the customers, everything would get done smoothly and efficiently and we'd be out the door at 5 past closing.

I come in contact with rude (understated) customers quite often, but I'll never forget the day that I became a "bitch" because I couldn't dip a customer's cone in chocolate coating. Again, I work at Dairy Queen, so in the summertime we get extremely busy with no let ups for 2 and 3 hours at a time. So you know product is going to run low and you're not going to have time to refill it before the next customer orders. Well, it just so happened that the chocolate cone coating ran low and nobody got a chance to fill it (and even if they did, it would take an hour to melt). I assigned two girls to run the drive-thru and they got an order for a small vanilla cone dipped in chocolate. They both explained that the cone dip was too low to dip, but the lady that had ordered became irate and wouldn't accept the situation for what it was. The girls got a little scared of the lady at drive thru and asked if I would try to deal with her. I'm usually excellent with unsatisfied customers (I smother them with apologies and offer free ice cream, etc.). Well this particular customer kept arguing that it's insane that we would run low on cone dip and she went on to say that she's in the customer service industry and we have done nothing to satisfy her and so on. Finally, I apologized again (which would probably make it the 5th or 6th one) and said told her that she's just one unsatisfied customer and that if she continued to argue with me that the 6 customers in line behind her would become unsatisfied because the line is held up. So as she drove off she yelled, "you bitch!". I couldn't believe my ears! And not because of the profanity. I was in shock that someone could become so upset over something so miniscule.

And not to mention the customers on cell phones! I told my manager that we should get a sign like a lot of Subway restaurants have. It explains, "If you are on your cell phone, you will not be waited on"...or something to the effect of that.

I'm so used to rude customers that when I actually get a kind one that smiles and says please and thank you and have a great night, I'm surprised and it just makes my night.

It's ridiculous how people can act, and I know that the customer is "always right"...but when they take it too far, I'm not afraid to stand up for myself.

I have another quick story. It was 5 til closing time and a well dressed couple straggled in. I took their order and was rushing around to get it finished and the man in the 3-piece suit said, "No need to be in a hurry, you get paid by the hour". Now I normally would have thought he was just being nice and trying to make it easier on me. I don't know if it was the way he was dressed or the way he said it, or both, but I took it as an insult. I gave a sarcastic grin and handed them their order and they were gone. I kept saying to myself, "I get paid by the hour...you SOB..". I felt as though he was looking down on me like trash because I worked at a fast food restaurant.

And this is how a lot of people view employees of fast food places. Most people working at fast food places are only there to make it through school or it's temporary work until they find something better. But customers think you're trash because you chose such a simple job serving people food. And it hurts! I go out of my way to keep my customers happy, and what do I get in return? I get a crappy paycheck and get to be viewed as scum by the people on the other side of the counter.

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