Bad Days at Work
To tell you about myself, I am a graduate of psychology, and what I learned in my degree is empathy, to put yourself in someone’s shoes, especially in the psychological aspect. This has helped me navigate life. A degree I wished for and finally have something to show for, but my job doesn’t align with my degree, but it has helped me. I am a frontline worker at a popular cafe, working as a barista, server, and now an on-and-off cashier. I have seen different kinds of people and how they treat people in the service industry, and I never let it get to me. I was called rude and told to smile when I helped customers, regardless of whether they were rude or saw me as a human. I put myself in their place: I am a paying customer spending money at a place that is out of my price range, and I want to get my money’s worth, including getting the service I think I deserve. I understand that part enough, but mind you, we don’t have a service charge. For example, once, we got a blackout. No one got their phone on hand, but still continued on. However, since it’s a complete blackout, we stayed in our position. A customer kept calling us on the other side of the counter. I cannot get back there; there is no light, and we cannot see our way. She made a fit and showed attitude. She is a kid, and her mind is not yet developed, so we cannot make orders in this condition, but we did our job. She orders and leaves with an eyeroll. Continuing on with the story the cafe I work at opened a new branch because of its popularity and needed a lot of staff. We got pulled out; it was hectic, and there’s a feeling of never-ending work constantly piling up, and it’s getting worse by the minute. It was overwhelming, to say the least, but I still tried my best to do as much as I could. I served food to customers, had to apologize to most of them because the kitchen, the bar, and the dispatch area were backed up with overwhelming tickets, but still it went on. I got there, I did the most, and made sure not to add fuel to the fire. One thing I saw is that one of the trainees I have trained constantly put me down. I do not know what her deal is, but I let it slide. I tried to help, only to be criticized and yelled at. I am calm because why fight like there is a prize to win?
Okay, a backstory of this person. I am training her as a barista. One thing I noticed about her is that she is loud and all talk, nothing much to show. Then, on my day off, I heard that I was apparently at fault for something. Then, I remember what happened. She is trying to refill the stocks. Then suddenly she refilled something that shouldn’t be there. She’d already done it, then suddenly she asked, “Is this syrup right?” We looked at the tub, which has no label, and it looks like the syrup I just said, maybe because there are so many syrups made, it could be one of them. Apparently, I told her to do it. Something that irks me is getting thrown off the bus. My interaction with her is limited. I am not happy to see her or be friendly with her; I’m just there to be professional. Then, when I get there, she suddenly becomes bossy, telling me I am wrong and yelling at me for putting a ticket back. This person doesn’t like me, okay. Then I heard her jokingly say that the opening is her last day, and suddenly go on a break when the piling issue wasn’t going down, only thinking of herself, trying to be the one in the dispatch area, and failing when she couldn’t keep up. Thankfully, someone was helpful and did something in the end.
But as the day is ending, people are getting tired and stressed out, and the orders are not stopping. I was called out and told I made a customer cry. I look back at everyone I interacted with that day, which begs the question: who? Because I never got a face-to-face interaction or complaint, but then I was suddenly called. After hearing the full story, one of these customers got their first order wrong, and it was not resolved. The server who served it did nothing and went on their way. I am circling and going up and down, looking for the customers I am trying to serve. Finally, when I yelled, they answered. That is when I remember yelling, “I have been calling over and over now?!,” and went and got it. Still, the boy came. I told him I could serve it for him, and he said, “ No, it’s okay.” I said, “ Okay, thank you. But after that interaction, I don’t know what escalated. Just that his family talked about how I raised my voice at them, and the customer nearby also came and said I should not do that, and that boy was about to cry, but did not. They left without having their orders completed or fixed. They apologized on my behalf, and the story I made someone cry has spread to my co-workers and who knows who. (Later I learned someone ratted me out for a different thing and it added to issue which did not made me look good)
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Looking back, I realized that this job hasn’t paid me enough to be this patient and understanding with people, but I have to take the high road and be the bigger person because it is my job to serve others, ensuring they enjoy their time at the cafe opening. Then it got worse; it was Google reviews regarding a rude staff member (Which is about me), so that did not help. I am trained to be understanding and ensure fairness and professionalism, but other customers did not make it easy. I was seen as a robot with no feelings, just there to do what was asked and be yelled at if I did not do it in the perfect order. This job has made me less of a human and is slowly draining me away. I am supposed to be understanding of people’s wrongs and to have unconditional positive regard, but being seen as less has been hurtful, to say the least. To survive, I have to be the bigger person. I admit my mistakes, and this is a lesson I will learn from. And ensure you know how to handle it for the next.
It doesn’t have a good ending, but as time passes, you kind of learn to move on from the incident because, little by little, it has become a small matter. Later, I was dubbed the server who made a customer cry, and I am honestly grateful for not being seen as a bad person, but reciprocated with empathy as my co-workers understand the situation I was in and have to accept that, unfortunately, it comes with the job and have to get used to it.
