How dare you eat a cracker

[candyshopgirl]

So I'm at work and I'm putting away the order.UGHHHH I hate the order,the company never puts things in boxes and it all little stuff(like bags of mini candy bars and travel packs of band aids all over the place.) Anyways anyone that does inventory knows that its hard work and you might have to have a little snack. Well I open a mini pack of wheat thins and stick one in my mouth.I then had that feeling of staring.. and I then see this old man giving me the worst and dirtiest look I've ever seen,he was sitting in the lobby. I don't really understand it,I wasn't spitting it everywhere or smacking my lips. I guess he figures bad employee how dare you eat and not pass out (I still had a hour til lunch break.)

[blas]

When I worked at the gas station, we were allowed to have soda pop and something to eat if there were no customes, since we didn't get actual breaks. Break time was any time there were no customers. Which was almost never...but anywho, I'd bite into a sandwich or something and someone would walk in and say something smart like "Haha, gotta put that down!"

Even worse was when there was no customers, I'd step out to have a smoke, light up, take about 3 puffs, someone would pull up and go "Haha, ruined your smoke break!"

[karma_gypsy]

I hated those "your only break are the few minutes/seconds between customers" ... I worked at a place like that and I remember times when I'd have to sneak away from the front and try and shovel as much food as I could in my mouth ... 'cause you never know when you're gonna get your next "break" ...


The job I'm at now, we can eat in full view of the customers ... pizza .. drinks ... snacks ... just providing we're not chowing down when we're helping a customer .. of course

[Talon]

So you're not allowed to eat, drink, smoke, or go to the bathroom. We wouldn't want people thinking the staff weren't the Stepford-CSR's, all happy worker-drones.

Thus the inevitable conclusion should enough no-lifers complain. This just in from corporate: effective immediately, all employees will be required to be hooked up to catheters and IV bags during work hours, thereby eliminating the need for lunch or bathroom breaks. Smokers should wear nicotine patches. There it is, guaranteed to make sure nobody gets the idea that csr's are human beings, everyone (who matters) is happy!

[Nashida]

Oh, manager K and I used to be SO evil with that. We'd get iced coffees if both of us were opening, and stash them under the counter and every now and then take a sip to keep our sugars up (I'm hypoglycemic, he's a coffee-freak).

A customer came up to the counter while we were having one such "break" and said "You know, you should put those away. You don't get breaks." K and I took long, loud slucks from the coffees and said " 'K ".

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Geez, his head would have exploded in Kinko's if he came in during the Saturday morning shift. We'd be in plain view wolfing down wings or steaks (depending on who we could get to deliver). Heck, I've actually come up to the counter still chewing.

We didn't have time to take lunch breaks on Saturday.

Fortunatly, nobody ever said anything snotty to any of us. I guess they figured it was better than encountering a "back from lunch in 30 minutes" sign. One woman even sincerely apologized to me for dragging me away from my lunch. She actually said, and meant it, "Oh, folks, I'm so sorry for dragging ya'll away from your lunch!"

I suspect we have a better grade of customers down here. I mean, make no mistake we have our share of raging assholes, but I'd have to say the average person is reasonably polite.

[Anriana]

I suspect we have a better grade of customers down here. I mean, make no mistake we have our share of raging assholes, but I'd have to say the average person is reasonably polite.

As someone who takes calls from across the country I would completely disagree.


I could never even imagine telling someone "you don't get a break, put that away" because they were taking a drink. Especially at a gas station.

[godaistudios]

I also take calls from across the country as well, and taking into account the better grade, I have to say something.

When I worked for the giant entity known as AOL - (yes that place) people were pretty bad. I did tech and billing for them for just a couple months short of ten years.

Where I am now in my current job with a wireless provider - I can tell you, we have a much better class of customer.

So I'll say this much - depending on your job, who you work for, etc. can be a night and day difference on how customers treat you.

[daleduke17]

Even worse was when there was no customers, I'd step out to have a smoke, light up, take about 3 puffs, someone would pull up and go "Haha, ruined your smoke break!"

The other day I ran into the gas station to get some reading material while my car was being worked on at the dealer next door and saw the clerk outside taking a smoke break. I purposely took an extra long time looking around so she could finish her smoke. She came in all apologetic about me waiting, and I replied "Don't be sorry...I knew you were on break, so I took some extra time so you could enjoy it." She perked up and thought that was just awesomeness.

[rerant]

I have one of those jobs where a break only comes whenever I can get one and I had a bit of a run-in with an SC a couple weeks ago.
Let me just set the scene for you.
A rush came through and I'm working alone.
During the rush the espresso machine exploded ALL over me(read: the dealie that the espresso goes in and hooks to the machine popped off because I didn't put it on tight enough and the pressure built up), so that's hot espresso all over me. Milk boiled over, again all over me, and all over the counter and the floor, the top to the blender wasn't on tight enough and, guess what, spilled all over the place, someone came in and wanted a drink for which the mix wasn't made (and requires brewing several shots of espresso plus chilling time) so I had to do that AND I ran out of 5's 10's and loonies (dollar coins) and couldn't find the key to the other register to get more.
All this in about 10 minutes.
UGH!
So I got everyone out and left for a much deserved cigarette.
I'm outside and a woman walks by, sees me smoking, sees there are no other employees in the cafe and says, "You shouldn't be out here smoking, you need to be working."
To which I responded, "Well considering I've been alone for five hours with three more to go so if I wasn't out here taking a break the owners could get in some serious trouble. I NEED this cigarette and I EARNED it and I WILL finish it!"

She never even went in.

[hotelnpa]

We don't get official breaks at the hotel either. (Well at my previous chain we did, but not at this one.) Anyway, this always seems to happen:

Customers are gone, the phone stopped ringing, now it's time to eat! I warm up my Lean Cuisine in the lobby microwave and wait for it to beep when it's done. I take my food to the back room (we have cameras so I can see people entering) and dig into my first bite.

Then of course someone comes up. Or a guest wants a towel or something. 9 times of 10, they bang on the bell. Hello! I see you! They even bang on it when they see me coming to the desk. I think, ok, easy and quick check-in, no biggie, my meal will still be warm. About 90% of the time, that's how it goes. But why do the long check-ins (misspelled names, want to have two different payment methods, a walk-in who is indecisive, etc.) always seem to take place when I have food waiting?

By the time I get to my food, it's cold. Then of course, I get no phone calls or walk-ins.

[daleduke17]

Customers are gone, the phone stopped ringing, now it's time to eat! I warm up my Lean Cuisine in the lobby microwave and wait for it to beep when it's done. I take my food to the back room (we have cameras so I can see people entering) and dig into my first bite.

At the grocery store one time I had something similar happen. We were rushed and shorthanded (of course). The co-supervisor sends me on break. I get to the back of the store, heat up my Hot Pocket, get the Hot Pocket right to my lips, ready to bite into it and...

"Dale, answer intercom..."

I grab the phone by the break room after sitting my food down. "Dale, yeah, we're starting to back up again." I say ok, and start up front. Only, I had enough forethought to grab the Hot Pocket, go through the backroom to the Produce doors, and then walk to the checklanes, giving me plenty of time to eat my delicious treat.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Way I looked at it, they could kiss off if they didn't like to see me snacking. Trust me, if I'm snacking on the job, believe you me when I say there was a reason for it.

It's not unreasonable for a hypoglycemic to think taking off your head with the corona wire out of the color copier is a good idea. Low blood sugar can cause EXTREME beligerence. I know a fellow hypoglycemic ripped the front off a vending machine with a wrecking bar. Seemed reasonable to him at the time.

Technically, at Kinkos on Saturdays, we were allowed breaks. It's just that it really was not practical to take them. We just made do. One of the guys on the shift was an assistant manager, and he nearly always approved free lunches for us on the store on Saturdays, just because of the situation. So we didn't mind.

The thing with Kinko's is that I think most of the customers realized that we had the power to make your day go easy, or make it go very, very hard. And since most people tend to wait till the last minute to get anything done, they didn't have time for their order to get dragged or screwed up. So they had enough sense to not provoke us into an retalitory strikes on their precious church programs or business presentations. In that store, that sort of thing happened less frequently than you might think, but the customers didn't know that.

[Sableonblonde]

I had a similiar experience once when I was running a food cart all by myself for hours, and the line was never ending, literally. I had some little candies in my pocket (I don't know if I'm hypoglycemic, but I do pass out if I go more than a few hours w/out eating) and tried to whip one out and pop it in real quick between customers, but ended up struggling with the wrapper for like, ten seconds, and the next guy in line snarled at me and made a real nasty comment about me to his ten year old son. Christ!

Some people's egos are so fragile...if they see an employee who's total attention and actions aren't focused on the customer or their work and it's almost like they take it personally somehow...you should be there to serve them and make them the center of the universe, damnit.

[Lingering Grin]

You kidding my last job, they didn't care if we at ate at the counter, in full view of everyone.


One of the managers even bought us all dinner once. There was 4 of us (Manager, me, CW, and mechanic) chowing down on a 3 foot PLATTER of chicken tenders that was set right on the edge of the counter.

Nobody said a word