The Subway Lunatic

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.

Another Subway Lunatic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgMXLdqGPUk

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. 

Minutes 02/29/12

Minutes for Wednesday, Feburary 29th.

Prepared by: Remington Drake

Present: Carmen, Jacqueline, Brooke, Jordan, Leah, Casey, Remington, Robert

Jordan presented the minutes from Wednesday, the 12^th. Suzanne wished to emphasize a point Jordan mentioned, which was that we should refrain from using “however” at the beginning of a sentence. It will be something she looks for in our future assignments.

There was some confusion over the new minutes schedule. Suzanne said she would address it at some other time, so we would not take away from class time.

Topic

Everyone seemed to enjoy the presentation given by Chris. Suzanne compared him to an electrician, or some other individual devoted to a field that has become an integral part of our society. Electronic communication has become an important tool in the workplace, and people like Chris are committed to its growth and utility.

Discussion

Most everyone did well on the persuasive letter assignment. Suzanne noted our improvement in avoiding garbage and filler statements, but she felt we could improve upon our wordiness. Using wordy and redundant statements displays a lack of precision, and it only serves as a crutch to avoid refining one’s ideas. Suzanne will pay careful attention to precision in our midterm assignments.

Exercise

To help us develop an awareness of wordy statements, Suzanne asked each of us to come up with precise substitutions for redundant phrases. 

Examples include:

personal opinion
immediate vicinity
referring back
end result
continue on
first and foremost
hope and trust
each and every one of you
various and sundry
attractive in appearance
at this moment in time

Robert asked if there was a place for nuanced phrases, and Suzanne responded not to use them in workplace communication. While some wordiness is acceptable in academic writing, attempting to write nuanced phrases for workplace communication only dilutes meaning. Conciseness should be a priority.

Topic

Before we began to edit each other’s rough drafts, Suzanne addressed the tenets of good editing:

1. Conciseness:
• Cut out the wordiness
2. Clarity:
• Your writing should not dwell on obvious statements.
• Have a clear point to what you write, and work to express it.
• Don’t be vague; there is no place for ambiguity in workplace communication.
3. Grammar and punctuation:
• While our punctuation is good, we must improve our grammar.
4. Appropriateness to audience:
• The audience is our class, so write in a familiar tone.
• Be sure the topic is about you and not someone else.
• Use of first person is preferred.
5. Idea development:
• Show, don’t tell.
• Know your intent. Seek to write a blog post that is entertaining or enlightening, or one that shows a different facet of your personality.

Important points to remember:

• Each person has a voice that you cannot cut out. You can still make suggestions about how the audience receives the message, but keep the writer’s voice intact.
• If you’re going to correct grammar, be sure you know what you are doing. Uncertain advice doesn’t help.
• Use understandable proofreading marks.
• Don’t over-edit. You want to be helpful, not evil. Remember to give positive comments where they are deserved. 

Topic
The syllabus has the correct due dates for the midterm. Your blog entry must be posted no later than March 4^th, 11:59pm. You are to bring a printed copy to class March 5^th. Both the entry and the hard copy will count towards 50% of your midterm grade.

You will present your entry on March 5^th, and this will count toward the other 50% of your grade.

• It should be no longer than 8 minutes.
• You should avoid stammering, excessive use of notes, and bad comport.
• You are not restricted to what you posted, but stay on your topic. Your presentation should supplement your post.
• If you include a photo, video, hyperlink, or other type of media, you will receive extra credit. It livens the post.

Discussion

We received someone's rough draft to edit. After editing, we met with the writer to discuss corrections.