Anyone ever worked in Fast Food? Who are the PC burger flippers and fry masters?

[Ebondale]

The closest I've come myself was being a supervisor at a big movie theater. We were pretty big on OSHA standards and cleanliness but I know that things aren't always like that.

Now I'm not big into fast food. Never have been. That doesn't mean that I don't eat a chalupa at Taco Bell here or there. Maybe a double cheeseburger off of the McDonald's dollar menu (or... in Alaska... the $1.50 menu) from time to time.

Anyone have any horror stories to tell about the fast food industry? I've heard rumor of McDonald's storing it's meat in blood worms or something like that.

Maybe if I hear some first-hand accounts of the seedy underbelly of the fast food industry I'll think twice before ordering a coney island dog at Sonic or a monster burger at In and Out. :D

[Ilvane]

I worked at a pizza place when I was 15 until about 18, but no more food service for me since then..It's hard work, and not to mention you get so dirty.

Angela

[Ebondale]

My wife used to work in a pizza place. She tells me to this day about how tough the work was due largely to the heat of the ovens. I guess getting free pizza is a good perk, though. :)

[Miss X]

I couldn't work with food. I'd get SO fat.

[Warriorbird]

I did specialty grilling for a while in college. Apart from that, closest I've come is doing wine tasting for my grandfather's vineyard.

[CrystalTears]

Ugh. I worked in McDonald's during the summer of my junior and senior years of high school. The worst.

Stuff would fall on the floor, like the buns or lettuce, and if you tried to throw it away, they would yell and say it's perfectly fine and tell you to keep on using it.

Although I learned to stop being lazy and bring in my own food for work as eating there all the time got to me. If you wanted to eat for free, you could only eat what would be on the dollar menu today (there wasn't a dollar menu when I worked at it). Anything else you had to pay for.

And what a waste of food. As soon as the breakfast time is over, they throw away all the breakfast items. They don't leave it there and allow it to get bought if someone sees it available. It's gone and breakfast is over no matter what. They also throw away everything left over at night. My friend's mom was the manager and she would take everything home with her. All they had in their fridge were piles of burgers and side salads. Ugh.

[Jorddyn]

I worked at McDonald's for a year in college. I never spit in anyone's food, I never fed them food off the floor. Our meat was not made from worms/worms blood/kangaroo meat. The place was very clean.

From snopes, regarding many McD's rumors -

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/wormburg.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/coweyes.htm
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/mcdshake.htm

Now, none of this is to say that McDonald's food is actually good, or that nothing gross ever happens in the restaurant.

There are different storage devices off the grill and friers for used grease. This then gets taken by bucket out to the grease dumpster (real, full sized dumpster). The shed the dumpster was in was one of the foulest smelling things I've ever smelled.

The french fries are only kept for a certain period of time, after which they cannot be served. Leftovers are scooped into a garbage can. What exists in this can by the time it is emptied is a large, cold greasy clump of.. well... former french fries. It is disgusting.

The grill people did mess with customers' food from time to time, but only if they were ridiculously rude. This ranged from squeezing pickles over a hamburger that the customer wanted no pickles on to drowning it in ketchup for those who wanted "ONLY KETCHUP ONLY KETCHUP NOTHING ELSE NO MUSTARD NO ONIONS NO PICKLES DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?".

Edit: I guess CT and I had different experiences :) And yup on the leftovers. I always closed, and had a fridge full of chicken fajitas, apple pies, and salads. I rarely bought food during the year I was there.

Jorddyn

[Amber]

In high school, I worked at this place called (I kid you not) Dicks. Their Whammy is the absolute best burger ever, and all of their prices are extremely cheap. I went there this past Christmas when I was back home and milk shakes are still only 63 cents, if I remember correctly. Anyways, order takers, which is what I was, are not allowed to write down orders and are not allowed to turn in orders until they've taken at least five, unless it's extremely slow.

How to describe this place... Ok, no inside seating area at all, an outside counter at which we order takers would stand and belt out "NEXT!" as soon as we'd finished taking an order. The next customer to push his way through the mob and to the counter would then give his order. We'd listen to their order, repeat it back at them, "Ok, sir, I have three Whammy's, one hamburger with no pickles, 3 large fries, one onion ring, one small pink indian, one large sprite, one chocolate shake, and one vanilla shake. Will that be all?", glance at them to see that they agree with what we've said, and then belt out, "NEXT!" while the previous customer pushed his way back to the back of the crowd and the next pushes his way forward. Repeat 'till you've five orders or nobody is waiting to place an order, turn around to the grill and fry area and belt out "23 Whammys, one hamburger with no pickles, one pepperoni pizza, 16 large, 4 small, one onion ring, two half buckets, one bucket!" Next, we'd go get all the drinks ready and once that was done, go start gathering up and bagging the food. Once bagged, back to the counter, call out, "Sir, you in the brown jacket! Orders up." and commence ringing out the sales.

It was a hectic place to work, but fun for the most part. I did have problems with folks not hearing me in the fry area, as I'm a quiet person and hate yelling.

No really disgusting stories to tell though. Only even halfway disgusting thing was one of the cooks getting fired for not washing his hands after using the bathroom, which is really gross, but not as bad as the horror stories I'd always heard of folks spitting in food, cockroaches in the kitchens, etc.

[Ebondale]

People who are rude at Fast Food places totally deserve to have someone shit in their sandwich. I'm always really nice at fast food places. Not because I'm afraid someone would do something to my food or anything like that but because I know that these people are working really hard and people are often times pretty mean to them.

I was in Walmart a few weeks back. This Walmart has a McDonald's inside of it. Anyway, there were lots of people in there who where ordering food and waiting for their food and one of the people at the register was obviously dealing with more than she could handle and she looked upset. Customers were being rude to her one after the other. Even her manager kept yelling things at her. At one point I actually thought that she was going to cry.

Eventually her manager comes in and shoves her out of the way and tells her to go get the orders. I took about 25 minutes total to get my two double cheeseburgers but when the girl came and handed me my To Go bag I smiled at her and said to her "Thank you so much, I hope your day turns out better than it is going now."

"Thank you!" she replied and a smile crept onto her face.

People don't deserve to be treated like that. "ONLY KETCHUP ONLY KETCHUP NOTHING ELSE NO MUSTARD NO ONIONS NO PICKLES DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME" to me translates to: Please drop a deuce on my burger and serve it to me because I can't be bothered to treat another human being with the respect they deserve for serving my ungrateful ass some food.

[SayGoodbye]

I'm from Massachusetts so it goes without saying that at some point during my teens I worked at a Dunkin Donuts. I've also done concessions and hawking at a local arena and stadium in my teens, I guess that counts as fast food.

Dunkins sucked, customers get bitchy when they haven't had their morning fix. And heaven forbid you should put four sugars instead of five. Also the stench of the place gets into your clothing and won't come out no matter how often you wash.

The concessions were awesome though, free shows/games whenever I worked was definitely a plus.

[crazymage]

Tayre will probably be working at one soon we can get an up to date on how bad it is.

[Soulpieced]

Tayre will probably be working at one soon we can get an up to date on how bad it is.

.

LMAO. That made my night... well, other than the Steelers demolishing the Broncos.

[SpunGirl]

I worked at Dairy Queen my senior year of high school, but all we had was ice cream (and a hot dog machine in the back, and I think we sold like... two hotdogs per day).

I worked at Coldstone my sophomore year in college. Ice cream isn't fast food, but it's the closest I've ever come. But ice cream was le fun. Once at Coldstone, we decided it'd be fun to drink margaritas after closing one night (I was 19). Well, we decided to break out the tequila/mix about an hour before we actually closed the store.. yeah. Heh. It was fun.

-K

PS Where's Jazuela's post in this thread? I think she's the only one currently on the front line of the Burger Empire.

[SpunGirl]

.

LMAO. That made my night... well, other than the Steelers demolishing the Broncos.

IT'S NOT OVER YET BIATCH.

-K

[Ilvane]

oh, on that note..touchdown Denver.;)

..

[Ebondale]

Touchdown Steelers FTW ;)

[DeV]

omg, I seriously love Coldstone creamery.

[Sweets]

In my early twenties, I was night supervisor at a place in Vancouver called Benny's Bagels. As a fast food place, it was a blast to work at. I worked the 11-7am shift so most of the customers were a)very drunk b)very high c)very both. I prefered the very high. They just wanted some good music and a brownie.

[Ebondale]

Fast food bagels? O_o

[Snapp]

omg, I seriously love Coldstone creamery.
Me too! Their pumpkin ice cream they carried during the fall is the shit!

[Augie]

When I was 15, I got my first job slinging popcorn at a movie theatre. That was a pretty hectic job, working the front counter on a busy Friday night when all moveis were sold out. We used to have to pop air popped popcorn at the beginning of the day (IE: 10 AM) and leave it there ALL DAY for people who could not have popcorn with butter or oil or salt or anything. People would come at like 8pm and want air popped and it was that same shitty as stuff sitting there. Same with the salt free popcorn. Once the regular popper had salt and oil in it, we could not use it again for salt free or air popped for fear of lawsuits.

I worked there for 2 years, through concession, box office, and projection and totally loved it. All the free movies and popcorn you could ask for. Plus we'd watch movies on Thursday nights at like 2 am when we had them built and ready for the next day. I'll never forget all of us drunk as hell watching Scream and gettin the living daylights scared out of us by one of the doormen who ran through the theatre in a scream mask and longcoat.

[Drinin]

I worked at McDonald's when I was 16 until I was fired at 18. It was good fun, until everyone was fired. There weren't really any 'horror' stories, but we did mess around. We'd melt happy meal toys in the mcnugget friers. During the summer we would take bigmac boxes and fill them with sauce to catch flies/bees, then we'd close them up and smash them. There were the infamous, "mayonnaise/tartar sauce gun" wars. Pickle tossing against the far wall. We'd send buns through the bun warmer upper like 30 times to stiffen them up then chuck them at people. And woe be to the person who asked for 'less' ketchup or mustard or whatever. We'd fill that bun up with ketchup so much taht you couldn't even pick up the thing without it exploding. There was a shitload more that we did, good times for sure.

[Augie]

Oh and for those of you who have ever worked in a restaurant, I highly recommend go seeing the movie "Waiting" with Ryan Renolds for some good laughs. I saw that and it totally reminded me of working at Dave & Busters. Funny movie for sure.

[Ebondale]

You worked at Dave & Busters? That must have been pretty fun. :)

[Skeeter]

I worked at McDonalds when I was 16. I made $4.25 an hour. For my one year anniversry they gave me a nickle raise.

If a McNugget fell on the floor we'd play soccer with it for a few hours until it got fuzzy and nasty. Usually that McNugget got thrown away. BUT if it was close to closing and we were one McNugget short, the McSoccer ball got a quick rinse in the greese and right in the box.

Most of the stuff we didn't fuck with, but I wouldn't reccomend anyone going into a restauraunt < 1/2 hour from closing time and not expect your food to be fucked with in some way. If I had already cleaned that grill and your high ass had to have a 1/4 lber at 1am, you were getting a fucking pube on it.

[Skirmisher]

All the people who messed with anyone's food for any of the above reasons suck.

[Ebondale]

Most of the stuff we didn't fuck with, but I wouldn't reccomend anyone going into a restauraunt < 1/2 hour from closing time and not expect your food to be fucked with in some way. If I had already cleaned that grill and your high ass had to have a 1/4 lber at 1am, you were getting a fucking pube on it.

Thats a pretty sorry reason to mess with somebody's food. I could see it if they were rude to you but to mess with somebody's food just for coming in during normal business hours thats fucked up. A lot of people work strange shifts and can't get food at normal hours, you know.

[Skeeter]

I was 16. not the point of my highest maturity levels

[Augie]

You worked at Dave & Busters? That must have been pretty fun. :)

I did for a couple years, the hubby still works for them 8 years later heehee. It's a lot of fun but just like any job it had its setbacks.

The best part is all the free food you can get or cheap food depending on what your job is. <3 D&B food.

[Ebondale]

I did for a couple years, the hubby still works for them 8 years later heehee. It's a lot of fun but just like any job it had its setbacks.

The best part is all the free food you can get or cheap food depending on what your job is. <3 D&B food.

Free drinks, too? (Probably not, but that would be nice.)

[Ebondale]

I was 16. not the point of my highest maturity levels

Touche. :)

[Skirmisher]

I was 16. not the point of my highest maturity levels

Perhaps, but it perplexes me no end how anyone at any age can rationalize such behavior.

[Jazuela]

Still at Burger King. I don't get many horror stories, most of my customers are pretty awesome. This one lady though...

She came in last week. Looked like she crawled out of a trailer park, complete with missing teeth and a schmata over her head. Tried to use three coupons to get free food. I did my usual CS thing: "Oh, I'm sorry Ma'am but we're only allowed to accept one coupon per customer per visit." She gets all huffy with me and says she'll use one, sit down, get back in line, use another, sit down, get back in line, and use the third. I told her no, that's still one visit, I'm so sorry but she'll have to go by what it says, clearly, on the back of the coupon. Which is - one coupon per customer per visit. Then she gets all wierd on my ass and accuses me of profiling. I call for the store manager who backs me up on this because he was listening to the whole thing and knew we were dealing with a few pickles short of a whopper :)

She tells the manager she's gonna call the mayor and have me arrested for illegal profiling -

1) Our town doesn't have a mayor, we have a board of selectmen.
2) Profiling what? Ugly white women with bad teeth and poor fashion sense?
3) The woman was obviously crazy.

She made a lot of noise, I refused to serve her, my manager let me refuse to serve her and his fucking moron daughter, who also works with us, took all three coupons, and one of them was a free soda with the purchase of a salad - but the coupon specified "Not good for side salad" and the moron daughter let the crazy lady buy a side salad. And daddy dearest, who spoils his daughter rotten, didn't say a peep about his daughter giving away 8 bucks of food to a woman who should've been kicked out and banned from the store.

Fortunately as I said - most of my customers are awesome and they all felt bad for me (it was a pretty busy time of the shift so there were around 10 people in line). Fortunately - this crazy lady and the moron daughter and the even more moronic store manager all succeeded in making me look great.
I even got a tip from one of the regulars, and you know no one ever tips at Burger King :)

[Axhinde]

I worked at Chik Fil-A when I was 16. The free food kicked ass, because there was no limit. Plus I worked with a bunch of friends from high school. I basically did it all, working both the front and back of the restaurant.

I rememeber a particular incident, about a week after my girlfriend had broken up with me and denied my requests to be "friends with benefits". I had the day off, and went to say whats up to some people. This girl Alisha and I had always flirted, but back then I was rediculously blind when it came to taking hints or "seeing the signs" as it were. This was one such time.

When I got there, she went on break. So I decided to take her back to my house to chill for a minute (which was the right move, but like I said...I was blind), and went into my room. She layed on my bed for a while, then I took her home.

Later that night, she called me. She asked why I didnt put the move on her and bone her (not her words obviously). I responded with, "Oh shit, I didnt know you wanted to have sex!", she said "Duh. I had my legs spread." Naturally, I came up with "Well...we still can!". "Nope, you lost your chance." she told me. Fuck! A year later she boned my buddy Paul, and then my buddy Todd. Fuck, again. I coulda been the first, damnit! Oh well, she dated another of my buddies for a few years. Now she has breast implants.

End of Story.

[Ebondale]

Well she sounds like a real classy lady, Axhinde. ;) You're probably much better off for not having hit that.

Jazuela - I hate it when that happens. When someone gets away with ridiculous things just because their parent/spouse/etc manages the place. At least you know you did the right thing.

[SpunGirl]

I agree that it's fucked up to put a pube on someone's burger for coming in during normal business hours. Ew.

That said, I'm not totally innocent of food tampering myself. Once at DQ, we had some snotty bitches come to the drive-through. They asked for a blizzard, I made them one, they got all pissy and were like, "I wanted a BREEZE" (which is the same thing, made with fat-free yogurt). They clearly did not ask for a breeze, and they were huge bitches about it, but I took it back to re-make it without complaint.

The guy Tanner that I worked with grabbed it from me and put some yogurt on top, mashing it in so it looked like it was re-done. THEN he took it in the back and cut up a hotdog from the aforementioned hotdog machine, mixing it in with the ice cream. He gave the hotdog breeze/blizzard to the girls with a smile:)

That brings up another thing that was irritating and Coldstone. You'd always get the people who would be like, "Hi, I'd like a small nonfat yogurt... with snickers, cookie dough, kit kats and chocolate syrup."

WTF.

-K

[Jazuela]

There's some anti-Burger King website (there's an anti-everything site, it seems) floating around the web. Mostly disgruntled employees and ex-employees of the corporate shops. Ours is a franchise so our rules and regs are a lot looser (though our cleaning standards tend to be more strict). I can't believe some of the whining that goes on, but they have some "rules for customers" that crack me up because they really ring true. Some of them are just silly and not customer-service-ish at all, but here are some of the ones I really wish customers would abide by:

1) When at drive-thru, don't try to chat with us.
2) Don't sit there and go, "Hello? Hello?" We hear you, we know you're there. Wait.
5) Plain means NOTHING on it. (Edit: "With everything" doesn't mean anything at Burger King. If you want bacon and cheese please say so.)
6) Asking for the sandwich does not mean we will automatically give you the combo meal. (asking for the #4 doesn't mean we will automatically give you ONLY the sandwich either)
7) We are not mind readers.
8) Do not wait until you arrive at the window to change your order.
9) Know what you want BEFORE you get to the drive-thru sensor or the front register. We don't have all day, and neither do the people waiting in line behind you.
10) Park within arms reach of the window.
13) Don't lie about what you ordered from one place in line to another - thinking something and saying it aloud are 2 different things.
18) Turn off your damn radios when you come to drive thru. (addendum: turn off your windshield wipers once you get to the cashier's window)
19) Don't ask your kid to order for you.
22) Do not assume that we are dumber than you are just because we work in food service. We have everything from Masters in Finance to future lawyer/multilinguist to opera star hopeful, and are probably smarter than you are.
23) Learn to read a menu. (Jaz's addendum: If you can't read english, please don't pretend you can. You'll just end up ordering your meal with cheese, for here, when you mean no cheese, to go. I learned enough Spanish I can take your entire order that way instead and make sure you get your order "your way.")
29) No cell phones. (addendum: especially no 2-ways with the speakers turned up loud enough that the people at CVS across the street can hear the conversation)
33) There are certain things you just can't have. Deal with it.
36) YES, the kids meal does come with a toy, Einstein.
38) We understand that you cannot necessarily bathe every day, but please don't make everyone in the restaurant smell your cheap perfume, or B.O. or both.
39) Please observe times when breakfast is over. We will NOT get you Ciniminis at 2:00pm.
40) Quit using $20 bills to pay for a coke.
41) If your car or truck engine sounds like a jet engine, please turn it off when ordering. (Jazuela's edit: I'd rather that deisel/jet engine-sounding vehicles just not use the drive through at all. Starting it back up in the drive through is causing all our drive-through people to complain of ringing in the ears. It really IS that bad)
42) Brush your teeth (Jaz's edit: or stop leaning forward to tell me your order. BLECH)
43) Do not ask us to King size your food AFTER you've ordered everything. (Jaz's edit: Meaning, after we've already hit the payment key)
44) Say you want cheese right away. Otherwise we have to start all over.
45) Do not ask us to wait for you to make up your mind.
47) Do not make us keep saying "And what else?" "Anything else?" etc….
48) We give you the receipt for a reason. We don't want it back. And if we do ask for it, don't stick it in our face or throw it at us.
51) There are trash bins. Use them.
52) Don't ask for stuff off the broiler and then complain cause it took too long.
55) For the 2 minutes you are in drive thru, there is no one else in your car. Quit talking to them.
57) Don't try to blame us for YOUR mistakes.
58) Answer our questions.
59) At front register, don't ask us for sauce or something stupid while we are helping another customer. Ask the people who give you your food that ask you if you want any sauce.
60) Go to the window we tell you to.
61) Don't let your kids play with the display.
62) When we tell you something, BELIEVE US!!! We know what we're talking about.
63) And most importantly……

WE ARE NOT MCDONALDS!!!!!

We cannot sell you Happy Meals, McNuggets, or BigMacs!!!! Notice

the difference between a crown and a golden arch!!!!!!

from: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2645/

I left out "rules" I disagree with, because the site seems to be written mostly by kids who are still young enough to believe they are "entitled" by the mere virtue of their existence, and who haven't yet learned that customers are the reason they get paid.

[CrystalTears]

Now I've worked at fast food so I know what it's like, but some things I disagree with. Anything with "you" is meant in a general sense, not anyone specific.


22) Do not assume that we are dumber than you are just because we work in food service. We have everything from Masters in Finance to future lawyer/multilinguist to opera star hopeful, and are probably smarter than you are.
If you're so fucking smart, go do something else! Bragging that you may be smarter than the average customer while working fast food is not wise. Although I don't think you're dumber for working fast food after the age of 20, I think you're lazier.


40) Quit using $20 bills to pay for a coke.
If that's all I have, that's what you're getting. You have change, I don't. You want a sale? Gimme my coke and massive change!


47) Do not make us keep saying "And what else?" "Anything else?" etc….
Sometimes drive-thru people have no patience. Sometimes I've said "and.." and they say "anything else?", "Will that complete your order?". I say "I'm not done". Then when I say what else I want, I've seen them take out what I said before to put the new thing.


48) We give you the receipt for a reason. We don't want it back. And if we do ask for it, don't stick it in our face or throw it at us.
Every place is different, and many of them give you a receipt at window #1 to give to window #2. Most of the times we don't want the stupid receipt. It was $4 for heaven's sakes. I'm not putting it in my travel reimbursement.


59) At front register, don't ask us for sauce or something stupid while we are helping another customer. Ask the people who give you your food that ask you if you want any sauce.
Sometimes they don't ask. Sometimes they give you your food and say "next". Then you have to fight for the condiments. I actually adore those establishments that have condiment stations cause getting some sweet and sour sauce from anyone at the counter once you've paid is like asking Fort Knox for a piece of gold.

As for getting upset that it's not McD's/Burger Thing/Wendy's, people get used to calling something by a name. If you're upset about the competition, get over it. They are common mistakes. I'd rather someone say "we don't have the Big Mac, maybe a double Whopper instead?" but no, they're not that nice. "WE'RE NOT MCDONALDS! GO NEXT DOOR!".

There is also a Burger Thing manager that works the drive-thru at night who is the sorriest excuse for a manager I've ever seen. I want to complain but I don't know to who. He sucks. He has the worst attitude. You can see him rolling his eyes when you ask for something. He shows how irritated you've made him when you ask for condiments. I just don't like him. If you don't like taking orders, do something else. If you're understaffed, that's your own fault, not mine. I don't see why we have to suffer with nastygrams just because you hate your mission in life.

[Jorddyn]

My favorite drive through customers were the ones during rush hour who pulled far enough forward to trip the detector, but weren't actually at the speaker.

Actual conversation would go something like this:

"May I take your order?"
"I'm not to the speaker yet."
"That's alright, I can hear you. Feel free to order whenever you're ready."
"But I'm not to the speaker yet."

Seriously. You can hear me, I can hear you. ORDER.

Oh, and people who order stuff "TO GO". Really? I thought you were going to come in and sit down after you ordered...

Jorddyn

[Apotheosis]

I was working at a pizza joint when I was young (14 - 17).

Anyway, I remember one of the servers carried a pizza out to the customer (we were in the kitchen), and a piece of pizza fell off the tray and onto the floor. The waiter picked it back up real quick and put it back on the tray. I stared at him wide-eyed and he just kinda laughed.


That was the only incident of that kind at this place (in the years that I worked there). He didn't work as a waiter there for very long anyway.

[Jazuela]

The do not assume you're smarter than us is directed specifically to people who treat cashiers like they're on a lower rung of the food chain. I'm not complaining about working at Burger King. I CHOOSE to work at Burger King, the one I work for is a rather pleasant place to work most of the time. But my working there has no relevence to my intelligence, or education, and it gets annoying when certain customers think that I'm incapable of intelligent conversation just because I take their money 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The 20 bucks to pay for a coke refers to people who ALWAYS do that kind of thing, because they want change, and don't want to go to a bank to get it. They don't really want a coke. They just want to break their 20. We get a few of those types, and at the start of my shift I'm not given any 10s at all, and only 4 5s, and they know this because they come right after shift change, every day, and have experienced me having to ask the manager to change a 20, every day, for the past year.

The "anything else" thing - I don't work drive-through, I work front end. They'll stand there with a line behind them during the lunch rush, after having waited in line for several minutes until it was their turn. The conversation goes something like this:

"Hi there, what can I get for you today?"
"Uh..."
(smile and wait, fingers poised on the touch-register)
"Uh..a hamburger. No, make it two."
(after hitting hamburger buttons twice) "Anything else sir?"
"Uh..."
(smile and wait, fingers poised on the touch-register)
"Uh, guess a fry."
"What size, sir?"
"Medium?"
"Medium fry, sure thing. Something to drink?" (because I KNOW they're about to order a drink, which means I'll have to delete the entire order and re-ring it as a 2-burger value meal)
"Uh..."
(the customers behind him are starting to froth at the mouth, but I'm still smiling cheerfully, my fingers poised over the touch-register)
"Uh, sure. Diet Pepsi."
"Oh I'm sorry sir, we have Diet Coke, and you can fill the cup however you like since it's self-serve. Is that alright?"
"Uh...do you have regular coke?"
(My smile is starting to make my jaw hurt but I refuse to cave in) "Sure do."
"Mountain Dew then."
(I stare at him, dropping my cheerful facade for just a teeny tiny moment) "We don't have mountain dew sir" (I point up at the menu which lists every drink we have). "Do you want a soda of any sort, sir? I only need to know if you do, since as I said, you can serve yourself at the fountain."
"Uh...."
(Two customers in line have already walked out, the guy's burgers are getting cold because they make them as soon as I touch the button on the screen)
"Uh, sure. You sure you don't have Mountain Dew?"
(I delete the entire order, re-ring up the 2-burger meal, yell back (in spanish because our people don't understand english too well) for them to NOT make another 2 burgers)
"Nope, sorry. $3.17 please"
"Uh, oh yeah I need a #1 too."

Me, shouting to the side "Hey Steve (store manager), I need someone else to grab that other register right away."

And so on and so forth, and 5 minutes later - if I'm lucky, this guy will finally give me his entire order, which he knew he wanted before he ever got into line. This happens EVERY DAY.

The receipt thing - it says right on the top of the receipt, "Customer Receipt." It doesn't say "Ticket" or anything else like that. It is clearly a receipt. If they don't want it they can throw it away, but we are -required- to give it to them.

The sauce thing - once our customers are finished paying, they move down the counter to where they can get their food. By that time, the cashier is taking someone else's order, and the expeditor is available to give the customer sauce, which is located at THAT end of the counter. It's at that end, because that's where the expeditors put the food in the bags or on the trays. If a customer didn't get sauce, or the expeditor forgot to offer it, then the customer should be telling the expeditor, not the cashier at the OTHER END OF THE COUNTER where she is already taking someone else's order and showing no sign of being capable of moving away from the register any time soon. It's just common sense. Sort of like, if you go to the movies, buy your ticket, walk around the lobby, then go back to the ticket line, break into the front of the line, and tell the ticket clerk you want them to go to the concession stand and get you popcorn. You don't do it at the movie theatre, why would you do it at a fast food joint?

[CrystalTears]

CHOOSE to work at BK or not, the fact that you don't want to excel at something better is being lazy. Nothing wrong with being lazy if that's what you want to do, but let's call the walking, talking duck a duck, mmkay?

When I posted, it was in reference to ALL fast food. I don't really care how one or the other operates. My beef (heh) is with some general attitudes. Not everything is about Burger King. :P

I do realize that some customers don't show common sense. I still work customer support so you don't have to spoon feed that to me. However I still know that workers can be just as much of a pain in the ass as the customer, treating people badly for OMG having them work and fill their order or help them.

For every person that says "uh" at the register/drive-thru when they know what the menu is, there is a person who doesn't know how to turn off a computer. I know your pain. :)

[Jazuela]

Yeah I know what you mean Crystal, as a customer I know there are order takers who are..not all that bright. Wendy's is notorious for bad service around here. Order something simple: Single with cheese, medium fry, small cola and you end up with a double, no cheese, extra pickle, biggie-fry, and no soda - and get charged for a chicken sandwich meal, biggie size. Gotta wonder if some of them even TRY to communicate with each other. I don't even bother going through the Wendy's drive-thru because of it. I wanna watch them prepare and bag my order so at least there's one of us (namely, me) who can let them know that yes, I asked for cheese because I really do want cheese.

Oh and yes, I'm lazy. After 20 years of office work I finally came to the conclusion that I don't want or need to work full time. Basically I consider myself in "early retirement" from the work-world and this is just something to get me out of the house every day.

[xtc]

I have never worked in a fast food restaurant but I think you guys have convinced me not to eat in them.

[CrystalTears]

I have never worked in a fast food restaurant but I think you guys have convinced me not to eat in them.
Someone needs to watch Fight Club. It's not just fast food, ya know. :P

[Kainen]

I worked at Taco Bell when I was 18.. and it sucked. The way they handled lunch rush (as we were near the local high school) was to call out the order number and leave it on the Order Out counter. Of course you had kids who picked up orders that weren't their's. The manager blamed it on me.. why? I don't know.. especially when I only worked in THE BACK!! I quit during the most busy time of the year haha.. she begged me to stay.. I said "fuck you, see ya!" I will never EVER work in fast food again.

[DeV]

CT is right. I am way more cautious about sit down restaurants than I am about fast food joints when it comes down to it.

[xtc]

Someone needs to watch Fight Club. It's not just fast food, ya know. :P

I worked in a few regular restaurants during University. I didn't see a single instance of someone spitting on food or any other health code violation. The worse we did was mix coke with mineral water when we were out of diet coke. However I am sure some sit down restaurants are just as bad, personally I stay away from the likes of IHOP and Dennys.

[Sean]

I never worked in fast food because why would I want to ruin something I enjoy?

[Jazuela]

Yeah the worst thing I remember any of us doing at BK to a total ignoramus customer, is filling their fry cup with the oldest batch of fries that are just starting to droop, instead of the newer batch. Still edible, still "within code" but just not as perfect as we could've given them.

I think one time one of the drive-through women conveniently forgot to give one lady some sauce for her chicken tenders, because the woman was taking like 5 minutes to make up her mind and holding up the entire line, and she ended up getting ONLY a 5-piece for a buck.

Just little stuff like that, but no one that I can think of has done anything "bad" to the food. Oh except to me, heh. The burger-board chick once loaded my hamburger down with mustard as a joke. I ate it anyway, it was kinda tasty that way. :)

[Alfster]

Yeah the worst thing I remember any of us doing at BK to a total ignoramus customer, is filling their fry cup with the oldest batch of fries that are just starting to droop, instead of the newer batch. Still edible, still "within code" but just not as perfect as we could've given them.

I think one time one of the drive-through women conveniently forgot to give one lady some sauce for her chicken tenders, because the woman was taking like 5 minutes to make up her mind and holding up the entire line, and she ended up getting ONLY a 5-piece for a buck.

Just little stuff like that, but no one that I can think of has done anything "bad" to the food. Oh except to me, heh. The burger-board chick once loaded my hamburger down with mustard as a joke. I ate it anyway, it was kinda tasty that way. :)


Are you 16?

[Divinity]

Worked at a Burger King when I was 14. I only lasted five days. I didn't touch the food or anything, I wasn't able to since I was young.

I just did the cashier bit.

[Alfster]

I left out "rules" I disagree with, because the site seems to be written mostly by kids who are still young enough to believe they are "entitled" by the mere virtue of their existence, and who haven't yet learned that customers are the reason they get paid.

It's written by kids because the majority of fast food employees are kids. And the elderly. And the mentally challenged.

And you, apparently.

[Jazuela]

No, I'm not 16. I'm also not one of the people who do that kinda stuff to the customers. I don't work the drive-thru and I don't do the expediting. I'm the front-end cashier. The only thing I -could- possibly do is ring up the wrong order, which just causes more problems for myself, or give out the wrong change, which also causes more problems for myself. The girls who do that stuff, however, ARE young. One's 16, the other just turned 20. That would be the manager's spoiled rotten daughter. This same daughter who makes fun of the mentally disabled dining-room attendant and pisses him off on purpose because she likes laughing at his reactions. Now there's a piece of work, that girl. She blames her mother for having to go to court, because mommy didn't pay the ticket she got for traffic violations. Instead of blaming herself for doing something to get a ticket in the first place. The world owes her, afterall...because she's a princess. Yeah.

[Jazuela]

Well I'm almost elderly! I think I'm even older than Parkbandit. And that's OLD.

[Artha]

Well I'm almost elderly! I think I'm even older than Parkbandit. And that's OLD.
She didn't graduate with Jesus, she taught one of his classes in high school.

[Trinitis]

Yeah the worst thing I remember any of us doing at BK to a total ignoramus customer, is filling their fry cup with the oldest batch of fries that are just starting to droop, instead of the newer batch. Still edible, still "within code" but just not as perfect as we could've given them.

I think one time one of the drive-through women conveniently forgot to give one lady some sauce for her chicken tenders, because the woman was taking like 5 minutes to make up her mind and holding up the entire line, and she ended up getting ONLY a 5-piece for a buck.

Just little stuff like that, but no one that I can think of has done anything "bad" to the food. Oh except to me, heh. The burger-board chick once loaded my hamburger down with mustard as a joke. I ate it anyway, it was kinda tasty that way. :)
As it stands, you work in customer service. Your job, is to service the customer in what ever mannor is required for that job. Being pissed at a customer for taking more then 30 seconds to deside what they want is not your right in your current job. Their choice pays your bills.

This is the exact way I treated every customer in my fast food working days. I never once screwed up someones order on purpose. I never once gave them sub-par products because I was upset that they showed up 3 min before close. It was my job to serve, and thats what I did.

Now, onto another matter.

As of late, it's been my experience that the fast food world has gone to shit. Most of their food tastes like crap anymore, and their service is horrible. It has got so bad, that my friends and I no longer leave without checking the bags and sodas completely. Case in point, the drive through worker for BK cannot seem to understand the difference between coke, or any other soda. Because you order anything but coke, and you get coke.

[Ebondale]

Case in point, the drive through worker for BK cannot seem to understand the difference between coke, or any other soda. Because you order anything but coke, and you get coke.

Thats how things are in some areas of the country, though. In some areas you could say "I want a coke." and it could totally mean Mountain Dew. *shrugs*

[SpunGirl]

LOL, to get you out of the house every day? Go do some volunteer work. Don't act like youre so high and mighty for "choosing" to work at BK. Give me a fucking break.

-K

[CrystalTears]

If she's that bored, she can come over and clean my house.

[Wezas]

There's a McDonalds near my house that has such bad service even the local DJ's (who have a nationally syndicated show) have commented on it. And every time I went there and had a bad experience, I noticed the gray-haired russian lady was the one that took my order. I started going to a different McDonalds, almost as close.

No bad experiences.

A few months later I go through the drive through and order, and notice I hand my money to the same gray-haired lady. She jumped McDonalds! And I checked my order..... it was of course wrong.

Since my wife has been on this health kick I haven't been eating as crappy dinners, so I'm not sure if she's still there.

Btw, never worked fast food or any type of restraunt. First job was at a gas station where *everyone* got full service, even at the self-serve pumps. Meaning we cleaned the front & back windows of every customer, asked them if they'd like us to check their oil/fluids, tire pressure, etc.

Taught me alot about customer service. I learned how to use my "yes ma'am"s and "yes sir"s to prepare me for the corporate world.

[Latrinsorm]

Being pissed at a customer for taking more then 30 seconds to deside what they want is not your right in your current job. Of course she has the right to be pissed. Everyone has the right to be pissed for any reason, it's called free thought. Taking it out on someone else is not allowable, but let's try not to get too Orwellian, eh?
Their choice pays your bills.Try that line on the police sometime. "I PAY UR SALARY U CAN'T BE MEAN 2 ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11"

[Jorddyn]

Try that line on the police sometime. "I PAY UR SALARY U CAN'T BE MEAN 2 ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11"

I tried that once, and the policeman responded positively. He even was nice enough to give me a ride and a place to stay for the night.

Jorddyn, complete liar :)

[Apotheosis]

Not to get too off topic, but after watching supersize me, I am glad I gave up fast food a long time ago.

It is just le puke.

[CrystalTears]

Not to get too off topic, but after watching supersize me, I am glad I gave up fast food a long time ago.

It is just le puke.
Heh, go figure. Whenever I see a portion of that movie, I feel like having a Big Mac. :D

Seriously though, it was rather gross, but think about it for a second.. if you eat any kind of fast food for every meal of every day for 30 days, you're going to get sick and you will gain weight. This isn't rocket science here.

If you eat a chocolate bar everyday for lunch and dinner and then gain weight, are you going to blame Hershey for it?

[Skirmisher]

...

Jorddyn, complete liar :)

Yet another reason for the "Ban Jorddyn!"campaign to charge onward full steam ahead.

[Jorddyn]

Yet another reason for the "Ban Jorddyn!"campaign to charge onward full steam ahead.

:(

(345678910)

[Jazuela]

Clean your house? Fugeddaboudit. One of the reasons I work to get out of the house every day, is hubby gave me options when we got married:

I can work, and he'll help out with the housework. Or I can stay home and BE a housewife. So - I work. Plus I don't like asking him for money, he already pays all the bills. My paycheck covers the groceries and weekly expenses. I tried the housewife thing. Kept the house spotless for around a week, then I said screw it, no one's coming for dinner tonight anyway, the dust bunny under the kitchen table is just fine where it is.

Burger King isn't rocket science, but I get to socialize to some extent (when it's not busy and one of the regulars comes in we talk while I'm out in the dining room filling the napkin dispensers and what not), our store is just off the highway so we get a lot of international visitors and sometimes they'll tell me about the country they're from..it's within walking distance to the house, the schedule is almost perfect, and my boss pretty much lets me handle "being the cashier" my own way since the customers seem to enjoy the service and send compliments to the district manager on that survey thing they call in from the back of their receipt.

[CrystalTears]

LOL! Okay, you're too funny. "handle 'being the cashier' my own way". WTF does that mean? You can take a $50 when prohibited normally? Give back a roll of quarters instead of a $10? When you grill it back you ask them to put a smilie face on the wrapper? Seriously, get over yourself.

Paint it any color you want, it's just someone taking the easy way out. Don't want to do chores so you work and "socialize" with teenagers, and then talk down to people for not understanding it. With this attitude, you really are not in the position to judge those that order a Diet Pepsi with a Whopper and fries, or that they want onion rings but not onions on their burger, or even their intelligence for that matter. Wow. Just.. wow.

[Czeska]

Only food work I did was the summer I was 19. I wasn't old enough to buy beer (missed the grandfather clause when it switched to 21) but I could sell it. Ended up working in Concessions at Sea World. $6something an hour, 13 hour days, 104 degrees all summer, flipping burgers, pouring lemonade, and of course... selling beer. And did I mention 11 bee stings in one day? LOVED IT !!

One amusing anecdote.. 2 kids come up.. mid-late teens.. and ask me if I card for beer. My response ? "I do now."

[Warriorbird]

Given the fact that you work customer service, CT, who are you to judge? As annoying as Jazuela is to me at times, I imagine she's dealt with more difficult situations than I have in the past year.

[CrystalTears]

Please, I'm not the one saying that I'm the shiznit at my job and that my customers can't possibly be smarter than me, and here's my chance to fuck with their work. She needs to be knocked off her high horse once in a while with her superiority, as though working at BK is now some kind of fucking art form. I got fed up, sorry.

[Amaron]

I waitressed at a tiny coffee joint until I found out the manager and most of the waitresses were lesbians and hired me because I was cute... bordered on sexual harassment...

I left there very fast.

Disclaimer I have no problem with gays I have several guy friends who are, but keep your hands off when told...


Then I waitressed at a Pizza Hut and ended up a manager...

People are nasty and gross.. like I was running over to clean up when some kid puked in the pan pizza pan..... gag

I hated it.

so glad to be in a profession I love.

Landrai

[Aaysia]

Funny, I didn't see get anything like that from Jazuela's post. I got that she gets frustrated with certain situations at her job (like i think everyone does). If she says she chooses to work at BK, then that's her choice *shrug*

If anything the people insulting her about where she works is coming off as having a 'high and mighty' attitude

Just my two cents.

[Ebondale]

There's a McDonalds near my house that has such bad service even the local DJ's (who have a nationally syndicated show) have commented on it.

That wouldn't happen to be Don & Mike would it?

[Wezas]

That wouldn't happen to be Don & Mike would it?


That would be them. They asked their news man Buzz to comment on that McD's during their bi-annual Absinthe show a while back. He laid into McD's pretty good.

[Ebondale]

That would be them. They asked their news man Buzz to comment on them during their bi-annual Absinthe show a while back. He laid into them pretty good.

I bet that was great! I miss Don & Mike, I can't listen to them in Alaska. >_<

[Jolena]

Funny, I didn't see get anything like that from Jazuela's post. I got that she gets frustrated with certain situations at her job (like i think everyone does). If she says she chooses to work at BK, then that's her choice *shrug*


That's what my take was on it as well. I even reread the thread a few times to make sure I didn't miss something vital that would show where Jazuela was coming across that way. Can't say I ever really saw that from her though.

[Wezas]

I bet that was great! I miss Don & Mike, I can't listen to them in Alaska. >_<

1067freefm.com

They're streaming on the web.

FTW.

[Ebondale]

<3 Wezas :D

[Jazuela]

Given the fact that you work customer service, CT, who are you to judge? As annoying as Jazuela is to me at times, I imagine she's dealt with more difficult situations than I have in the past year.

I wouldn't know about "more difficult" situations, but we get a few doozies. Since this is the thread about fast food horror stories, and not "who is too lazy for a real job" (whatever the fuck that is)...

This past summer, a guy who looked REALLY down and out staggered into the store. He was slurring his words like he was drunk, smelled like alcohol, and could barely stammer out that he wanted a 99-cent sandwich and a small soda. So we keep an eye on the guy, we're not sure what to make of him - is he just a harmless homeless guy who we'll have to *kindly* escort out to the outdoor patio to eat, so he doesn't scare off all the other customers, or is he gonna end up being a whacko who tries to rob us or get pissed at the world and take it out on our other customers? You never know these days.

So he takes his food and weaves through the lobby to the patio on his own, and falls flat on his face. The boss's daughter (of course) thought it was funny and was just laughing at him. The rest of us were kinda mortified, and the store manager called 911.

Turned out the guy was in diabetic shock, which was why he smelled like alcohol, staggered, slurred, and was in there asking for a quick sandwich and soda. He was in desperate need of carbs and sugar and was pretty close to a coma. After the emergency crew helped him up and got some food and soda down his throat he seemed a lot better, and insisted he was gonna be fine, thanked everyone, and headed back to the sidewalk where he walked in from.

We've had a few folks fall, mostly kids on rollerskates inside the building, and I always tell them NO SKATING IN THE BUILDING so mostly they're just idiots who think that a solid concrete floor won't hurt them if they fall. Do they really think I'm telling them because I'm some mean person? I don't give a shit about lawsuits, it's not my store. I'm telling them because I would really hate to think that some kid ends up cracking his skull open. Fortunately it's only been bruised knees and elbows so far.

[CrystalTears]

Sorry guys, I split the thread into it's own so that it could continue with the conversation.

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=18231:)

[SpunGirl]

Please. Let's not forget that Jazuela is the same bitch who lectured me for not living in a nice neighborhood (wrong assumption btw) when my packages were stolen (either by UPS or from my doorstep).

I'll never make fun of anyone for doing honest work that supports them and/or their family, but there's no reason to be so fucking superior about it, "Oh, most of us are smarter than the customers, and I CHOOSE to work here just to get me out of the house!"

If you're such a goddamn genius that needs to get out of the house, go bestow your gifts of intelligence on a volunteer agency.

-K

[Brattt8525]

Please. Let's not forget that Jazuela is the same bitch who lectured me for not living in a nice neighborhood (wrong assumption btw) when my packages were stolen (either by UPS or from my doorstep).


If you're such a goddamn genius that needs to get out of the house, go bestow your gifts of intelligence on a volunteer agency.

-K

That was her who said that? I remember the thread and someone saying if you lived in a better neighborhood it wouldn't have happened LOL like you live in a crime zone right.

Oh and she did say she liked BK for the socializing too damnit. Not too sure how much socializing cashiers get with the you want that super-sized and here is your change? If you need to "get out" of the house jesus there are malls and parks and umm anything else other then working at BK and coming home smelling like the grease they cook the fries in.

[SpunGirl]

Right, or you could make friends and socialize with them like a normal person. Unless your superior attitude puts people off, in which case forcing your adolescent BK co-workers and Whopper-lovin' customers to socialize with you is the next best option.

-K