Our Counter is NOT a Giant Trashcan

I hate getting receipts, personally. Whenever I purchase food at restaurants-- sit-in or fast food-- I always toss the receipts. Although some Panera locations have beeper systems or call names when food is ready, we shout out a number. The cashiers only give the customers ONE receipt with the purchase information and your number as a reminder at the bottom.

It never ceases to amaze we how:
1. People cannot remember their numbers to the food counter from the cash registers AND
2. How, although the numbers are in large print at the bottom of the receipt, people still come back to the cashiers to ask what there number was again. Just a tip, the cashier deals with at least 3 people a minute; they probably don't remember either.

This is annoying for several reasons, the most important being that when people don't know their numbers, they don't pick up their food. When customers don't pick up their food, it sits on the counter. If it sits too long, the customer complains it's cold and then we have to remake it. Then we are full cycle back to the issue of wasted food. Phew. So please, I am begging you, KNOW YOUR ORDER NUMBER...and for the love of God, listen when the consolidator is calling a number.

We already have enough problems on the food line with people trashing up the counters with their receipts. At our store, we used to have a very tiny basket that people would throw their receipts in if they didn't want them after they picked up their food. We were told by corporate to take the basket down for aesthetic reasons, so naturally, we did. Now, people are left utterly confused about what to do with their receipts.

Rather than keep them, they have decided to throw them on the part of the counter we place the food. So to recap: Food everywhere from people not picking up, receipts littered everywhere (resembling the blizzard of '96), confused people disoriented because they don't know their numbers, angry employees getting red-in-the-face screaming the numbers...

Stop the cycle, throw the receipt in the trashcan and just know your number, or in cases where they take your name... I suggest you remember that too.

This is a shout out to the guy who made my day.

Although I usually take the time to write down what people do wrong, I feel that it is necessary that I interject my complaints with a positive note. It truly is rare when we get compliments at Panera, other than "wow, that was fast." You may think that it a compliment, but to us, a customer telling us we were "fast" usually implies you usually think we are slow. So, avoid that one if you really want to say something nice.

Today, I tell you a story of triumph.

A couple of weeks ago, on a steady Sunday night, my co-workers and I were scrambling to get orders done. The difference between a busy and steady day is that a busy day usually has a lull period where we can catch our breath and clean, while a steady day has a slow, continuous line the entire duration of the shift.

So, we were dead tired as it was near close and we weren't cleaned up at all.

A man ordered something like two bowls of soup and one of those infamous Chipotle sandwiches that takes a few minutes to grill. He stood by the counter...

(which on a side note: DRIVES US UP THE WALL. When customers stand on the counter and breath all over food, that's just nasty. Will blog on this later)

...and just watched us work, so I assumed he was probably impatient. After a minute or so, I told him his sandwich was nearly done and he looks at me, SMILES (nearly fainted here,) and says,

"You guys do a great job. I'm in no rush, so please, don't worry about it. I'm just happy you guys are open so I can grab dinner tonight."

You better believe that guy got the perfect Chipotle, and a genuine thank you and "have a nice day" from me.

It's the little things guys, that has seriously kept me positive that some people appreciate us, even if just a little.

I dare to dream others will display this appreciation someday too.

The White Noise from Your Cell Phone Gives Me a Headache!

This is going to be a short entry because I wish to address one thing: What makes people feel that they are SOOOO important that they have to stay on their cell phones while they order their food? I'm not just talking about the people who are reading orders back to their families at home... they don't bother me so much.

I am talking about those crazy kids who just haft to inform "Janice that there is a HUUGGEE party tonight... ('I'll have a You Pick 2 with broccoli cheddar and...') I know! Its going to be so big. like everyone will be there... ('and a turkey sandwich with chips')... hahahaha"

When I, as your confused and lost cashier try to interject on your oh-so-important call:
"Ma'am, would you like everything on that turkey? Ma'am, would you? Excuse me? HEY! DO YOU WANT EVERYTHNG ON YOUR FRICKIN TURKEY SANDWICH?"

Then, I am screwed because I get bad customer service scores, I have a headache because if you try reading what I wrote above... it takes you for a loss and ...you are angry because for whatever reason you didn't want mustard yet it is on your sandwich.

Simple lesson...let's try to blot out some of that bitterness by just keeping the important calls for the privacy of your home.

I just learned how "inefficient" I am as a cashier.

I couldn't believe it... but I actually got to do a closing cashier shift last Thursday. I was surprised that I was even allowed on a register after so many months of being away from one.

Despite all of my complaints of customer rudeness... I went into the shift with a positive attitude... knowing that I would not have to do cashier again for a long time.

The night started off great... people thanked me, smiled and said "have a good night" even before I could, despite a line out the door.

It was so busy that we started to run out of bread bowls, apples, Tomato Basil bread, paninis... basically, the popular stuff. Most customers were willing to compromise, but orders started taking a little longer to ring.

Then...after everything went so well, a customer drop her lemonade down the front of the register... right to the base of the computer system.

Fortunately, my fellow cashier ran to clean it up before it destroyed the computers, which would've called for the store to shut down. I kept taking orders while she cleaned.

Of course, we can't please everyone... so naturally the woman that was 2 people behind the girl who dropped her drink looks at me angrily while I'm taking someone's order. She decides it is necessary to taunt me and says "This is the most inefficient set-up I have ever seen. There is a line out the door. That girl needs to be ringing, not cleaning. Leave that to someone else. Where are the dining room people? I've been here forever...." Blah, Blah, Blah. Even her husband looked embarassed because no one else in line seemed to care.


Then after my co-worker tried to explain that someone would slip and the computer system might break down if we didn't clean up, the woman told her that she was stupid.

I understand that no one wants to wait in line, but c'mon--stupid and "inefficient?" That just seems a little over the top to me.

How much wasted food could be saved?

For anyone who has ever wondered what we do with our leftover breads and pastries, Panera actually has a strong priority to donate them to charities.

If you know anyone who is willing to pick up the donations, your local Panera Bread will be happy to bag up the extras and send them along for good use.

My own mother picks up all of the bread and bagels at the end of the night and takes them to a soup kitchen in West Baltimore. I actually went down to that soup kitchen once and the people who come in could not be more grateful for the donations.


The topic of wasted food though is an interesting discussion point. JB of the WASTED FOOD blog wondered exactly what we do with our leftovers. The real question though, is how can we reduce the amount of extra food that is made throughout the day.

It is more common than not that we will have to remake or change a completed order during our shifts. This means that the food we already prepared will get thrown away because the Health Department states that we cannot change food and hand it back over the counter.

My friend from work passed along this story about a remade salad:

Apparently, one of our trainers was teaching her trainee how to make the Greek salad a woman had just ordered. The woman came down and watched the trainer, who was standing by the salad station to makes sure it was being made properly. When the salad was practically completed, the woman decided that because the trainer was talking AROUND the station, she had spat in the salad.

In reality, the notion was ridiculous, as most people do not spit across a station when they talk.

The employees, however, were forced to remake the salad because the woman refused to believe this trainer had not spat in it.


This is the perfect example of wasted food. We had to throw away the contents of the first salad because it had received a complaint. We had no choice.

I am begging you as a customer to double-check your receipt after your order is completed or to ask the cashier to repeat your order.

This will reduce you having to bring something back, us having to throw it away and waste food, retrospectively causing food costs to go up because we have wasted to so much food because of stupid mistakes.

Panera is expensive enough people, let's not make it worse.

If you notice a problem, bring it up early. PLEASE don't just stand there and watch, THEN complain. That sounds pretty absurd... doesn't it??

You wouldn't curse in front of your family, so don't do it to me.

I think my most unforgettable Panera experience happened 2 years ago on a busy summer day. I was mainly a cashier at that time, so my job was direct interaction with customers at all times (this is why after 1 1/2 years I eventually got moved to crispanis and salads.)

An older man, probably about 60, came up and ordered two sandwiches like this:

"I'll take 2 chicken salad sandwiches. I'll have the first one on (pause) multi grain bread.

Me: With everything sir?

Him: Yes, with everything, and ya know, you can just put the second sandwich on wheat."

Keep in mind Panera still has two wheat breads: Whole grain(formally the multi grain) and honey wheat.

Maybe it was stupid to assume that after ordering one sandwich on multi grain and the second on "wheat" that he was referring to the same bread.

I was HORRIBLY wrong.

After reading his receipt two minutes later, he comes running back to me, interrupts the customer I was with and asks "WHAT THE HELL?? I said I wanted my second sandwich on wheat!"

I was still confused, so I told him both were on wheat. He looks at as though he is going to literally slap me and says "What could possibly make you think that I wanted two sandwiches on th same bread??"

Dumbstruck. I go get my manager and as I walked away to tell the sandwich maker the adjustments, the man looks at my male manager and say "It is just like B****es to screw it up. My wife is just like that."

My manager was pretty disturbed and just gave the man his sandwiches, said "she is one of our best employees" and asked him to leave.

Since that day I have never assumed Whole grain and honey wheat were the same thing.

But seriously, was the cussing necessary? No. We will ask you to leave.

Know Your Allergies...that is definitely not my job.

Panera recently enacted a policy that says that managers must make a customer's food from products that haven't touched any other food...IF the customer states they have an allergy.

Apparently, there were two separate incidents in different restaurants where customers complained because they got allergic reactions after telling cashiers they were allergic to something in their order.

Since then, corporate management has been seriously cracking down on making sure that we do not hear of such complaints again.

I have absolutely no problem with this; if a person is allergic to something, I do not want to be the person that causes them a crazy health crisis.

I will do the right thing and change my gloves, get new food and get on with the rest of my orders.

The real problem comes when people yell at us because they "don't want nuts in their food" when nuts were clearly listed as an ingredient on the menu.

Of course we will remake your food, but check the menu carefully of you are severely allergic to something.

We actually have nutrition guides under the cashiers that have every ingredient in every food item listed. All you, the customer, has to do it ask to check an item and we'll give it to you.

I get a little upset when I see a man throw a sandwich back at my co-worker and complain that we should say that is allergen was in it on the menu.

There are so many allergens in the world, listing each one would be impossible.

If your not sure (I will repeat this...) JUST ASK.

How many extra dressings does a person REALLY need?

What most customers don't understand is that Panera Bread employees bake the baguettes ourselves, are constantly running back and forth to stock our stations with cheese, meat, and vegetables and most importantly, we have to portion out our own salad dressings.

Every shift a salad person comes in, they are usually forced to spend an hour plus making dressings to prepare for "the rushes."

We don't do this because we think that we won't have enough for all of our orders, we do it becaus customers are continuously asking for extra dressings.

Here is another story to illustrate why it is annoying when customers ask for extra, extra items with their orders:

Sunday night, I worked a 3 p.m. until close shift, and the person who worked the morning shift left my station stocked with dressings. Knowing that I would get some customers that would ask for extra dressings, I worked until about 4 o'clock filling every extra inch of my workspace with these dressings.

Sure enough, a woman came in around 4:30 and ordered a Fuji Apple Chicken salad and a Asian Sesame Chicken salad, both with extra dressing.

After checking through her order, the woman went back to the cashiers to ask for more dressings...not just Fuji and Asian dressings, but 2 Caesars and 4 Balsamic vinaigrettes, which come with completely different salads.

It was probably the most blatant case of taking advantage of free dressings I had ever seen.

It is because of cases like this that facilities such as Panera are eventually going to be forced to charge 30 cents a dressing.

My advice: Seriously don't take more than you need for the salad you buy. You are eventually going to ruin this for yourself and other customers.

The complaint is not giving one, even two dressing for a full salad, but do you seriously need 6?

Just something to think about.

Definitely Don't Yell At Us If Its Not Our Fault

I'm going to start this first entry off with a little work story....

I went into Panera early last Thursday morning to set up the salad station because the lunch rush is always pretty busy in the afternoons. I was actually in a pretty great mood when I got there because I was working with two people I actually enjoy. So I got stocked up, made extra to-go dressings and waited for the rush to hit.

It came around 11 a.m. when about 12 college students came in for their daily bowl of Broccoli Cheddar soup.

During this time, a woman came in to order our brand new Chipolte Chicken sandwich, a spicy sandwich with chicken strips, bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato and this really spicy sauce. Then the thing goes on the grill for about 2 minutes.

I got all 12 orders going, but I had my co-worker John make this Chipotle sandwich first because it went on the grill.

During that 2 minute grill time, I started putting out finished orders... and probably finished at least 5 or 6 during that time.

To my dismay, I look over and there is a woman in scrubs glaring at me like I had killed her children. I mean, this woman was angry, and she was waiting for me to look at her.

I asked her if I could help her (which I think she took as rude because her snarl became even more defined) and she angrily replied that she wanted her money back.

I asked why... and her answer?

"I ordered my sandwich (Ahh... the one that takes 2 mins to grill?) and you have put 5 other orders out before mine. Its absolutely ridiculous. I want to speak to a manager. I want my sandwich now and I will never come back."

Yes, screaming at me because I left her sandwich on for the full 2 minute duration and continued to help other customers rather than stare aimlessly at her sandwich while the cheese melted.

She went to my manager and proceeded to inform him of my incompetence for well, doing my job.

Needless to say, it ruined the rest of my shift and I definitely in turn was less friendly to the rest of the customers.



So the lesson here is this: if you're having a bad day, don't take it out on us. Retrospectively, we may end up spreading that bad mood to someone else and that is not fair to them.

Keep in mind that if you order a "grilled" sandwich, well, it doesn't grill in 5 seconds, and no, I will not look at it and ignore other customers.

If you do not have time to wait, order something else.

Common courtesy is really easy people, make sure that that your argument is worthwhile before you choose to ruin someone's day.