Customer Service Trials and Tribulations

Let’s talk about how wrong customers are. No, you are not always wrong, but you definitely are NOT right all the time. I’ll begin with some of the egregious things customers do:

1.       Leave a mess in the lobby – honestly? Is your house this nasty?

2.       Purposefully give crew members a difficult time while ordering – do you have nothing else to do? Well, seeing as how you live in Huntsville, I guess so.

3.       Lying about what you ordered – you ordered everything off the dollar menu then paid me in pennies, where did that Big Mac and large milkshake come from? Riiiiight….

4.       Being loud, obnoxious, rude, and overall a pain in the ass – please leave. You all irk my nerves and bring me that much closer to becoming an anarchist.

Now let me clarify. This is not an exhaustive list about what’s wrong with customer service, specifically in the food industry. These are just some of the more irritating things SOME customers who frequent fast food establishments do. Not all customers are bad. Most are actually nice people who just want their food so they can go home. The above list is for all the a-holes that could care less about the people who serve them their food. They lack respect and think that we (crew members) work expressly for them and have to do what they say. PAUSE!

I work for McDonald’s. The corporation itself pumps out the most processed, foulest “food” on the planet and people flock to the “restaurant” as though it’s the best thing since sliced bread. I get paid barely above minimum wage to put up with lazy, incompetent and selfish management PLUS selfish customers. My immediate supervisor is too busy trying to bed new crew members, which is why I work with so many lazy people. They aren’t there primarily to work, well they are but in a more horizontal fashion. Anyways, a step down from him are a few managers which I work with on a more regular basis. A few are ok, but then two are just downright lazy. I HATE working with lazy people and even more I DESPISE lazy people that succeed. I’m over here busting my butt to make it and you are over there swiveling around in the office chair eating. Working for a lazy, bossy, overbearing, micromanaging, and rude swing manager is flat out unbearable. So, while I’m in the back being yelled at over making a cheeseburger too slowly (although I have 8,562 other sandwiches in front of it), I also have to put up with remaking “wrong” sandwiches and orders that didn’t exist. Not only do I have to put up with management who frequently abuse their power, but now I have to deal with some idiotic customers who feel they are entitled to 10 free cheeseburgers for their wait. I know you saw the line before you pulled into the drive thru. Want my advice? COOK DINNER AND EAT AT HOME! America is already obese and now here you come with a $35 order then wonder why there’s a wait… People kill me with the “I’m-a-consumer-who-wants-what-I-ordered-10-seconds-after-I-ordered-it-and-I-BETTER-get-it” attitude. Do me a favor and go to Wendy’s. Their food tastes better, albeit probably as crappy nutritionally as McDonald’s. I want to see the people that complain so much try working in a McJob. You wouldn’t last a week.

Patience and Perseverance

PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE

Patience is a virtue. It is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean remaining steadfast in the face of delay or provocation without acting under annoyance/anger in a negative way. It can be the difference between life long happiness and your dreams crumbling before your eyes. Do I wait? Do I hastily choose the easier option without ever knowing what could have been had I waited? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I have always struggled with patience, whether I wanted a video game right then and there, getting a new pair of shoes, waiting for friends to get ready before going out, being interrupted with some inane task, and the list goes on. I recently learned that patience is essential to success. For example, I’ve been losing weight by changing my diet and exercising 6 days out of the week. Before, I’ve tried and failed because I wasn’t patient enough to stick with it and didn’t stick with it because I saw no results. This time around I’m sticking with it. I’ve drastically reduced the amount of sugar that I consume, have stopped eating fast food, rarely eat fried foods, and partake in the Insanity home exercise regimen. The results: I’ve gone from a 22 to 15 in jeans, from an XL to L in shorts, and a lot of inches lost. Since I’m still losing, I don’t want to go out and waste money on clothes that I’ll shrink out of within the next couple of weeks. On to perseverance…

Perseverance is the steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles or discouragement. Perseverance and patience go hand in hand. If something isn’t going your way and you are impatient, you’ll most likely quit. I had this issue previously with my weight, but I changed my mindset and stopped giving myself excuses. I’m doing it and getting it done. Now where I need reassurance is with my education. Do I wait it out and continue entering scholarships with the hopes of finishing where I want? Do I allow my worries to get the best of me and just cop out and go to the local university? Do I choose the next best (actually better) university which has an amazing financial package in an attempt to foresee that I won’t be getting into where I want? Maybe I should just relax and enter for all the scholarships I can, notify the schools that I’m interested in going to, see which school offers me the best financial aid package, then attend that institution. Fight for what I want or sit back and wait? Hmmm…

College Woes

Being 24 and having $100,000 of educational debt is very depressing. And the worst part is that I haven’t even obtained my Bachelor’s degree… Why? Well, I’ve been trying to pay for my own education since my parents didn’t save anything for my studies. I have had to skip every other year so it’s taking me twice as long to graduate. At this point, I CAN’T QUIT. For one, I put my loans on forbearance/deferment for at least six months. That buys me enough time to enroll in an institution for my final year of studying.

Now, I can either attempt to finish where I started (Drexel University) in one year or apply to University of Alabama Huntsville with the possibility of adding an extra year, since schools are out to make money through tuition and fees. Here’s the bad part, Drexel is a private institution and very expensive. With an EFC of 00000 (for you smart FAFSA completers), it isn’t my best bet but I’d finish with a top 100 Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and International Business. Also, the job possibilities in the tri-state area far outnumber the prospects in Huntsville. While UAH is in the top 200, would I be able to find a good entry level position to help pay off my vast debt? Which brings me to my next point…

The cost of living up north is double, triple in some areas, what it is down in Alabama. But you are compensated by receiving a bigger check.  Also, I was thinking that if I did finish out at UAH and decided to move somewhere with more work/business opportunities, would the fact that I had a UAH degree and not a Drexel degree lessen my chances of receiving the job offer? I know the economy is pretty horrible right now, but I refuse to keep the McJob I have right now forever. AND, on top of that, I have to go to one of these two institutions because if I don’t, the banks/companies that loaned me money to go to school will not care if I didn’t finish, they will want all $100,000 plus interest back. McDonald’s doesn’t even pay their managers enough money to be able to pay that amount of money back while living comfortably. Decisions, decisions. Oh, there’s more!!!

I’ve entered into every available scholarship that I’m eligible for in order to receive money for school. Whether they are $500 or $25,000, if I fit the guidelines, I’m applying or have already done so. Also, I’m thinking of starting a campaign on IndieGogo. If people can fund comic books, viral videos, documentaries and other creative ideas, why not fund someone’s education. I notice that there are also some serious campaigns on there for cancer patients and families trying to get expensive medical procedures for their sick, loved ones. I figure that I’d give it a shot. It would do me more harm than good if I didn’t at least attempt. Either way, I’m finishing my college education before 2015.