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> That's because for many, leaving food service had a lot to do also with its high-stress culture: exhausting work, unreliable hours, no benefits and so many ru

by pm90 5y ago

> That's because for many, leaving food service had a lot to do also with its high-stress culture: exhausting work, unreliable hours, no benefits and so many rude customers. I didn't realize that rude customers was that widespread.

theonlybutlet 5y ago
I suppose you just need that one clown to come in and ruin your day. The odds are stacked against you.
pphysch 5y ago
All you need is 1 jerk customer to have a bad work day, and those jerk customers are probably eating out multiple times a week at different locations
shakezula 5y ago
Have you ever worked restaurant or food service? I worked at McDonalds a few years after high school and it was the most demoralizing, depressing, and abusive job I've worked. Bussing tables wasn't much better in comparison either. But at least when bussing tables people didn't talk to you like you were human waste. I had people actually tell me that I was stupid, I had someone throw an ice cream at me because they were mad I was parking them to wait for their order, I got screamed at far more regularly than you would think. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and management was usually worse. No exaggeration: I would be homeless before working at McDonalds again. Not because of pride, but because it put me into a really bad depression.
- Ajay-p 5y ago
  Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Cec9Fb6JI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Cec9Fb6JI
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
thrill 5y ago
It's even worse than the article touches on.
MattGaiser 5y ago
Go on a cruise and spend some time people watching. People can be awful.
- speg 5y ago
  Cruisers specifically? People are awful everywhere :(
- Aboh33 5y ago
  Likely where the whole "Karen" Stereotype came from in part
ashtonkem 5y ago
It doesn’t take a lot of rude customers to really ruin your day. Even a 5% rate of toxic customers will weigh on your emotions heavily, given the outsized impact they can have. And the rate might be much higher than 5%.
foxyv 5y ago
The terrible customers are rare. Maybe 1% of the public. However when you service 200 people you will have an ~80% chance to run into at least one terrible customer. If you don't feel protected or supported this can be soul crushing. Even worse if you come home to poverty.
- maerF0x0 5y ago
  I think you're hitting the nail on the head here. 1) Lack of general(outside work) support for what essentially is an empathy job (care about the customer experience) 2) Lack of social enforcement of dont be a piece of shit. People used to call out people more for behavioral standards (swearing, presumption of positive intent, codes of dress, on and on the list goes...) Next time you see someone being treated poorly speak up. Everyone is too busy recording for youtube rather than interacting in the environment. We've become passive observers rather than active partakers in life.
happytoexplain 5y ago
Part of it is a numbers game. One asshole per unit of time is stressful regardless of how many non-assholes you serve in that same unit of time. Now consider that a waiter working a 30 hour week can serve hundreds of individuals at even a modest restaurant. Less objectively, I feel like assholes are much more likely to express their negativity in a service scenario. You may run into these people all the time and not see their behavior until you're the one serving them. The ways some people not-uncommonly behave can be absolutely gobsmacking. It's hard to relate to what is going on in these people's emotional thoughts. Spontaneous stress reactions like road rage are at least relatable, but the purposeful way some people treat others when being served by them can be, frankly, totally alien.
devwastaken 5y ago
In my experience out in more remote areas rude customers are a daily occurrence. People like to feel power over others, and have very little in terms of self control. Companies won't boot them because there's plenty of people whom are intentionally dishonest and will then label the company as being "sensitive liberals" or otherwise. Which then gethers people around it whom are just looking to take a bat to the "other team". It's a scapegoat for bad behavior I've seen multiple times.

by pm90 5y ago

theonlybutlet 5y ago

I suppose you just need that one clown to come in and ruin your day. The odds are stacked against you.

pphysch 5y ago

All you need is 1 jerk customer to have a bad work day, and those jerk customers are probably eating out multiple times a week at different locations

shakezula 5y ago

Have you ever worked restaurant or food service? I worked at McDonalds a few years after high school and it was the most demoralizing, depressing, and abusive job I've worked. Bussing tables wasn't much better in comparison either. But at least when bussing tables people didn't talk to you like you were human waste. I had people actually tell me that I was stupid, I had someone throw an ice cream at me because they were mad I was parking them to wait for their order, I got screamed at far more regularly than you would think. That's just the tip of the iceberg, and management was usually worse. No exaggeration: I would be homeless before working at McDonalds again. Not because of pride, but because it put me into a really bad depression.

Ajay-p 5y ago
Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Cec9Fb6JI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Cec9Fb6JI
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

thrill 5y ago

It's even worse than the article touches on.

MattGaiser 5y ago

Go on a cruise and spend some time people watching. People can be awful.

speg 5y ago
Cruisers specifically? People are awful everywhere :(
Aboh33 5y ago
Likely where the whole "Karen" Stereotype came from in part

ashtonkem 5y ago

It doesn’t take a lot of rude customers to really ruin your day. Even a 5% rate of toxic customers will weigh on your emotions heavily, given the outsized impact they can have. And the rate might be much higher than 5%.

foxyv 5y ago

The terrible customers are rare. Maybe 1% of the public. However when you service 200 people you will have an ~80% chance to run into at least one terrible customer. If you don't feel protected or supported this can be soul crushing. Even worse if you come home to poverty.

maerF0x0 5y ago
I think you're hitting the nail on the head here. 1) Lack of general(outside work) support for what essentially is an empathy job (care about the customer experience) 2) Lack of social enforcement of dont be a piece of shit. People used to call out people more for behavioral standards (swearing, presumption of positive intent, codes of dress, on and on the list goes...) Next time you see someone being treated poorly speak up. Everyone is too busy recording for youtube rather than interacting in the environment. We've become passive observers rather than active partakers in life.

happytoexplain 5y ago

Part of it is a numbers game. One asshole per unit of time is stressful regardless of how many non-assholes you serve in that same unit of time. Now consider that a waiter working a 30 hour week can serve hundreds of individuals at even a modest restaurant. Less objectively, I feel like assholes are much more likely to express their negativity in a service scenario. You may run into these people all the time and not see their behavior until you're the one serving them. The ways some people not-uncommonly behave can be absolutely gobsmacking. It's hard to relate to what is going on in these people's emotional thoughts. Spontaneous stress reactions like road rage are at least relatable, but the purposeful way some people treat others when being served by them can be, frankly, totally alien.

devwastaken 5y ago

In my experience out in more remote areas rude customers are a daily occurrence. People like to feel power over others, and have very little in terms of self control. Companies won't boot them because there's plenty of people whom are intentionally dishonest and will then label the company as being "sensitive liberals" or otherwise. Which then gethers people around it whom are just looking to take a bat to the "other team". It's a scapegoat for bad behavior I've seen multiple times.