Tales of a Fast Food Order-Taker

3

     This happened fairly recently so it still hurts. It was an hour and a half before my shift would end and I was showing Crystal how to stock the drive-thru area, things like cups, lids, etc. so I'm at the back of the restaurant. Of course that's when my headset dings letting me know someone has pulled up. "Hi thank you for choosing A Burger Place, what can we make fresh for you?" I say and mouth to Crystal asking if she's good without me. The guy is already rattling off his order when she nods and shoos me away. 

     "So that's a double burger with onion, lettuce, tomato, and pickle, correct?" I repeat to the guy as I speed walk to put in the order on the computer. 

    I hear him sigh, "No, I said a hamburger with onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo."

     "I'm sorry about that," I say and input that into the computer, "did you want that with cheese?"

     "I said a hamburger  with onion, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and mayo."

     Now bare in mind, I get hundreds of people in the drive-thru saying they want a hamburger when they actually want a cheeseburger so I often ask if they want cheese or not. "So no cheese?" I ask.

     "Oh my God! Do I actually have to say no cheese?! Son of a bitch are you that stupid!? Jesus!"

     I can hear a chorus of "wow's" and "Jesus dude chill" coming from the kitchen. I can feel my heart clench and my eyes well with tears. "Is there anything else I can get for you sir?" I ask managing to keep my voice level. 

     "No you dumbass."

     "Your total will be at the window," I turn off the headset and pull it off. My hands are already starting to shake as I look at Crystal whose already walking over to me, "Crystal I can't-" I say shaking my head and holding out the headset which she grabs.

     "I got it hun," she says gently and guides me to the step ladder we use to fill the custard machine and as a seat. I see Tom brush past me from his place in the kitchen and go over to the window. From there I don't remember much because of my panic attack. 

     Later in the week I learned more from Ruth. Tom essentially told the guy to fuck off, never talk to his employees like that again, and better yet do NOT come back. Ruth, whose former military, told me that if he did happen to come back she'd punch him in the face and literally say to him 'fuck off'. When Heather, who is like a second mom to me and a lot of the other girls I work with, she was horrified and said she'd do the same thing. Jail time be damned. 

     So as a personal note to all of you reading this, please, be kind to the person in the drive-thru. We may be in a lower end job than you, but that doesn't make us less of a person. We are not dumb, slow, or handicapped. We're just people trying to earn a living like you. Besides, if it wasn't for the fast-food workers like us, you wouldn't get your fancy coffee or bagel. Not to mention your lunch when you forgot yours at home. Or the night you don't feel like cooking dinner, its the fast food people who makes your dinner for you and your family. So please, I understand if you're having a shitty day, but don't take it out on someone who had nothing to do with it.