Monday, February 27, 2006

the girl who is rolling her eyes...

Ok, I live in the hospitality hub of the USA and you would think that with so many people working in the industry you would get decent service around here. Not so. I went in to Subway's tonight and the two girls behind the counter were like robots. Not a smile, a hello, a how are you doing? Nope. An expectant look was all I got. Plus they were both cracking gum with their mouths open. It was like watching cows chew cud. Disgusting. Now, normally, this would irritate me and nothing else. But they were out of everything I wanted...I ordered a steak and cheese, they had to go refill the steak. I ordered a meatball, they were out of meatballs. I ordered a chicken pizziola, they were out of chicken. I ordered three kids meals, they were out of the bread for kids meals. So I said, "You basically have nothing I want then?" And the girl waiting on me said, "It's not my fault."
Wow. Really, just wow!
You don't work here? It's not your job to stock, to prep, to give decent guest service? Really? Who's job is it? And while I was actually asking these questions out loud. Not in a loud disruptive way, but in an incredulous-I-can't-believe-you-actually-said-that way. Then the other girl came over. Pierced in every conceivable place on her face. Now, I really don't have a problem with that, because it's an image thing encouraged where I work. But it felt out of place and rather incongruous at a Subways. She tells the girl who was "helping" me, "It's ok, don't worry about her." Right in front of me!
Again, wow.
Turns out that this girl is the manager. Really? Again, wow. She tells me its not the other girl's fault--but its not her fault either. The morning shift didn't stock and she's not even supposed to be in.
Can I say wow again? Or is it just being too repetitive?
Is it too much to ask to be able to go to a fast food place, get what you order, have someone actually treat you as a person and not an order, and possibly, just possibly, get a little human interaction? And if anything is wrong, sincere empathy and an attempt to make it better, not just make excuses?
Am I taking this too seriously?
I just find it inconceivable that this girl (who was probably born about the same time I got my first job) is a manager and acts this way. I wouldn't let my worst employee act this way and I would never treat a patron the way she treated me--bored indifference.
It's a lost cause, I know. But it just bugs me.

1 comment: