As a college student I always have a schedule that is filled
to maximum capacity. Between classes, rehearsals, and meetings there isn’t a
lot of time to eat. Today I decided that in between dance rehearsals I would
grab some food from Subway. I figured that this would be a good idea, because
it was quick and easy to eat. Also, it was an off time so the line wasn’t that
long, which was important, because I can be rather impatient.
As I walked to Subway my mind kept racing. As much as I
enjoy a good Subway sandwich, this particular Subway is infamous for messing up
my order in some way or another. I always try to be polite when this occurs,
but today was just one of those days.
If anything went wrong it would have put me over the edge and I would have been
in a funk for the rest of the day. I certainly could not afford to have my mood
spoiled with the massive amounts of work I had to complete on top of all of my
other commitments.
Long story short, I decided to go ahead and place my order.
The woman behind the counter kindly asked, “Ma’am. What would you like?” An
immediate sigh of relief came across my face. It looked like today was going to
be a good day. I responded quickly stating that I wanted a “six-inch turkey on
wheat with provolone toasted”. I got excited about this sandwich and the two
cookies that I always order to accompany my meal. My meal, however, was the
least exciting part of the following sequence of events. This is not about how
I was disappointed that they over toasted my sandwich and it crumbled in my
hands, or even that they gave me two burnt cookies that were way to crunchy for
my liking. No, this story is about what happened AFTER I got my food.
After I paid for my food, one of my suitemates, Justine, popped
into Subway and we decided we would stay and eat together. I got back in line
with her so I wouldn’t have to sit awkwardly alone (I don’t do well with those
types of situations). Just as Justine,
opened her mouth to place her order a woman stormed into Subway and started
ranting. This woman was about 5 feet tall, and had a red hoodie on as well as a
scarf wrapped around her neck. She looked ridiculous and Justine and I were
both taken aback. After a few moments we gathered that the woman was upset, because
her order was wrong. She had placed an online order and after picking it up and
opening it up she realized that it was incorrect.
I stood there is disbelief. The Subway worker who had
greeted me and my friend so nicely, calmly looked at the woman and just said,
“Ma’am could you please calm down? If you give me a receipt or a name I can
look up the order and fix it.” However, this was not good enough for the woman.
Instead, she made a horrible scene and proceeded to use language that my
parents would both be ashamed of if they ever heard me use, and most certainly
should never be used in a church. The worst part was that she was even
directing these words towards the other workers who weren’t event involved in
the matter.
Oh, but that’s not all. Everything got worse when we
realized that the customer’s friend, who she had trusted to place her order, entered
it wrong online, so it was not even the worker’s fault that her food was not
what she was expecting. Imagine that? Her food was wrong, because of her
friend’s incompetency and not the worker’s.
Clearly this woman was in the wrong, so my shock level skyrocketed
when she turned to Justine and me and said, “These people are absolutely
ridiculous. Can you believe they can’t even do something as simple as get my
order right?”
I looked at that woman, and gave her the most bizarre face
she had ever seen (look below at my attempt to recapture the moment). We told her we did not agree with her, and then looking a
little embarrassed, she ran back out of Subway.
We all finally thought the woman was gone for good, so the
employee who had been dealing with her recollected herself and maintained her
cool. We could tell that the employee was both baffled and upset over what had
just happened. I know I was impressed by the fact that the employee kept a smile
on her face, and continued to refer to the woman as “Ma’am” despite the fact
that she was most likely older than the customer. She looked at us and
apologized for the rowdiness we witnessed, and we reassured her that we
understood what had happened.
Justine and I went to sit down and finally enjoy our meals,
and then to our disbelief the woman came back. She asked for the manager, who
simply apologized and made the woman another sandwich. When she finally left, a
few tables filled with students started a round of applause. This day was too
much for me, but it did teach me one thing.
Always be nice to the people that prepare your food, because
they can spit in your food. Okay, maybe that’s not the point of this story, but
it does bring me to the point that being pleasant is key to making any
situation better. I admire that
one worker for staying polite, and not compromising her job by feeding into the
raging customer. Some people get worked up and make a big deal out of petty
things in life. Really, the small stuff is insignificant. If you don’t respect
others, then they will not respect you either. Trust me. I’d rather have a
crumbled sandwich and cookie than ruin potential relationships with people. But
then again, that’s just me. Maybe I’m the crazy one.
No comments:
Post a Comment