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.