Too Slow?

Why are we so slow?

1).

Could it be that we are shorthanded?

Sometimes it happens. People don't show up for work when scheduled, people quit without notice,
and sometimes people get sick and can't come in. Sometimes we are just shorthanded because we
don't have enough employees to cover the store.

Customers don't understand this. They don't understand why we just can't hire more people. It
isn't that we aren't trying to. We have signs posted all over the store stating "Help Wanted",
and there is a sign out in front of our building, and one over by our drive-thru. You can't
miss them. We also advertise through our local school system. But if we aren't getting the
applicants, just where are we supposed to get our employees? Duh?! I'm not a magician, and
I can't snap my fingers and produce employees out of thin air.

We have the child labor laws we have to abide by, so when we do run shorthanded, working some
of our employees longer hours is not an option. Many of my employees range in age from fourteen
to seventeen, and as the law dictates, there is a limit on the number of hours that they are
allowed to work per day and per week. This will also vary depending on the time of year -- the
number of hours they can legally work is less during the school year as opposed to the how much
they can work during summer vacation.

The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is very strict about us abiding by these child
labor laws. Any violation carries a very hefty fine and time in jail, and I'm sorry, but I am not
willing to take that risk just because someone wants a hamburger in two seconds.

And don't tell me that we should just hire adults then. Think about it. How many adults do you
really know who would be willing to work in a fast food restaurant? If you know a few, send them
my way. We need the help.

And another thing. We can't work our employees 24-hours a day, seven days a week. I'm not willing
to do that. Are you? Some of our adults have families to support, and some of them are having to
work several jobs just to make ends meet. It wouldn't be fair to expect them to spend so much of
their time in our restaurant and put them in a situation where they end up neglecting their other
responsibilities.

2).

So, then, if you are so shorthanded, why is an employee on break while there are customers to
be taken care of?

Once again, the child labor laws are very strict. For every five hours a minor is at work, that minor
must take a half hour break. I am also required by law to make sure that the rest of my employees, if
they are working an eight hour shift, have at least a half hour break. And me, well, I tend to work
anywhere from eight to twelve hours in a shift, all of which is spent on my feet. I generally do not
get a break, and if I do get hungry, I have to grab a quick bite in the back, and get back to work.
Sometimes if we are slow, I can sit down for a few minutes, but that's all I get. I am not complaining,
mind you, but this is the way it is.

I often wonder just how many people who do complain about our employees taking breaks are willing to
give up their break time at their own jobs.

3).

Maybe the customer ahead of you had a very large order.

This teacher decided to bring her entire kindergarten class to our store for lunch one afternoon. She
had a total of twenty different orders in addition to her own, and her assistant's. She insisted on
having them all rung up separately. Meanwhile, there was this man standing behind her waiting impatiently
for his turn. We had all six registers opened, and as each cashier had finished an order, they kept
asking, "May I help someone?" or "May I help whoever is next?" I noticed two of my cashiers had no people
standing in their lines, and everytime they asked, this man ignored them. He continued to stand in my
line and wait. Finally, he spoke up, interrupting the teacher in the middle of one of her orders. He
started shouting at me if it would be too much trouble that I could go ahead and take his order since
he only wanted two items, and he was in a hurry. I politely pointed out to him that there was a cashier
two cash registers down from mine with no one standing in her line, and told him that she would be more
than happy to take his order. He got mad and stormed out of the restaurant.

And, he will undoubtedly spend the rest of his sorry life complaining about the poor service he received
at our store.

Recently, oh, about a month ago, I was working lunch shift as an extra to help out. Our lunches tend to
be very busy, and this one day in particular was no exception. Our lobby was packed. We had all six
registers open, and we were all doing the best we could to take care of everyone. I, myself, was trying
to take of four customers at a time. But I still have to fill these orders. I would take four orders,
put them together, take four more orders, put them together, etc. This man standing in another cashiers
line about four people back from the register, came rushing over into my line, cutting in front of someone
else who had waited longer than he did, proceeded to ask me if we had any soup that day. I said yes, and
told him what kind. He seemed to be interested in the vegetable soup, and wanted to know what kind of
vegetables were in it. So I told him, and when I said there were tomatoes in the soup, he snapped. He
started screaming at me, "You are so God-damned slow! And you never smile! Why does it take you so damned
long to take care of your customers? A hell of an example you set for your employees!" Oh, I was so mad
I wanted to reach over that counter and HIT HIM!!! But instead, behaving myself, I apologized to
him for having to wait, and with that he stormed out of the restaurant.

The customer behind him, the one he cut in front of, smiled at me apologetically and shaking his head.

"Don't you just love this place?", he said.

"Oh, yeah. I just adore it." was my response.

But there isn't all that much that I can do about it. I do the best that I can, and I move as fast as I can,
and this is why I feel that customers do tend to be unfair in their expectations. That same asshole came back
about two days later, and nailed another manager, and over soup again. He stormed out of the restaurant without
placing an order, again. GET A LIFE, MORON!!!!