Quote Originally Posted by Lainey View Post
First rant of 2019, but, I finally saw up close a fast food worker get hollered at by a customer. Customer is male, 50ish, and having a fit because he said they got his order wrong. Worker apologized and said the sandwich he wanted would be x amount extra since he was charged for a cheaper sandwich. He complained loudly that since it was their fault he should have gotten the sandwich for free. She explained again she'd have to charge the difference, and this is where he blew up and leaned far over the counter and pointed a finger in her face that he knew the owner and would make a personal complaint to him, etc. Then he stormed out keeping the food they'd given him.
At this point the worker went to the back and when she came up front a few minutes later I heard the shift lead tell her that she handled that very well (meaning she tolerated having this clown go nuts on her).

Another data point: it was during a very busy lunch rush, but all of the counter staff I saw were very polite and most importantly, were reading back the orders to each person. So it's possible the order was given wrong, the order was misunderstood, or the workers mixed it up.

Despite that, my rant is: When did it become okay to go berserk over a sandwich mistake??

I've been reading online about how fast food workers say that baby boomers are the ones most likely to do this. I've never personally done anything like this, but I'm ashamed for being in that cohort that is likely to have these blow-ups. No wonder no one wants to be a service worker if this is just a typical day at a minimum wage job.
Your rant makes me think of one of my son's stories:

My son works in the restaurant industry. He's a server in a casual restaurant. One time he had to cut bread as a side job just before getting a table. He forgot to brush himself off. He went up to the table and and introduced himself, and in response to his polite introduction, the customer (who was with a friend) said to him, "You're disgusting!" My son said, "Excuse me?" She replied, "You're FILTHY!" He looked down and saw he had forgotten to brush crumbs off his black pants.

He said, politely, "I'm sorry, ma'am, if you would like I could get you a different server." She declined. His coworkers heard the exchange and all offered to take the table, but. my son said, "No, I can handle this." I have no idea what transpired over the course of that service with that customer, but when she left, she left him a $130 tip on an $80 bill. I was really proud that he took up the challenge to return hostility with kindness. BUT we had the same question: what makes people so MEAN????

Civility is out the window, and I agree--we baby boomers can sometimes act like a bunch of entitled children.