It had to happen EVENTUALLY. (Long)

[Nijiero]

So I'm taking a huge step forward in my professional life. A Job I recently applied for was offered to me this morning, one that allows me to FINALLY leave the world of Food-Service, hopefully forever. Training beging in a week and a half...

While I do feel bad about the very-short notice, I did hand in my one-week today. And, Naturally, given the way things went today, it will be a week to truly test my limits of how far I'll go. And I've discovered that Work life is much more enjoyable when you no longer have to give a Rats ASS about personal repercussions.

Before we go further, I'd like to state for the record that, no, I have no intentions of being a wrecking-ball for our stores customer relations, I owe them a Year and a Half of loyalty for the decent employment I was given, despite ups and downs. And TODAYS Incident truly came from taking a hit for a co-worker who was innocent.

So, I show up to take the reigns as the Nightshift PIC, as per usual, having given my notice to the manager earlier that day. Work proceedes as normal, with no problems... untill a lul in the business, roughly right after dinnertime... I'm working with some cash on the register, while a female coworker helps a three-person family that has come in, them being the only ones in line. I am within earshot of the entire process. Man, Wife, and Daughter are giddy over some ridiculous reason, and trying hard to spread this joy around. It's nothing that anyone else would really have any REASON to be happy for or CARE about, for that matter, and it's obvious that female coworker isn't feeling it. So she quietly makes their food as they request it, maintianing a very pleasant demeanor the entire time, not one little hint of rudeness or even annoyance anywhere the entire time. They reach me at the register, and coworker retreats to the other end of the foodline once again... while he pays, Man leans close to me, and asks 1) For the phone number for comments line, and 2) What her name is. I find myself thinking this is rather strange, but I point to the number, convinently located on our napkins, and inform them of her name, as per my obligations, I ask if there is a problem... he tells me "That girl was very rude!"... and this simply pulls a quizzical look over my face as they go to sit down and eat. She was no such thing, not even a little.

But thats certainly not the end of it, oh NO! Five minutes later, man returns to counter weilding devastated sandwich, demanding we remake it! He has found not one, but TWO hairs in the sub! Long, nasty ones, that CLEARLY Belong to Female Coworker! And there's TOO MUCH MUSTARD, TOO! This raises a few questions, because A) Female Coworker is incapable of shedding long hairs because she has very SHORT hair, beneath that hat... and B) YOU WERE STANDING RIGHT THERE WATCHING AS SHE APPLIED YOUR MUSTARD, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY "THAT'S ENOUGH MUSTARD"? Idiot. Despite this being completely bogus, we remake the sub together, taking back the accused sub to the back area, where it is afterward thorougly inspected for the offending folicle strands.... guess what we didn't find? Shrugging, we decide to let it die.

Yeah right. He returns two minutes later to throw the SECOND sandwich back at me across the counter and says that he wants a refund, instead, because daughter has Lost her appetite...

I am THOROUGHLY Aggrivated at this point, and it occurs to me that I no longer have anything to fear... and realize that it'd be much easier if >I< was the one to have been the offender, for those who remain behind, like innocent coworker... so, working the refund process, I tell him that he should have asked for the refund BEFORE we used more foodstuff to remake a sub that was now going to go to waste, but I'll give him his money anyhow.

SC: "You should just shut up and give me my money. Be lucky that I don't ask for it ALL back."
Me: "You wouldn't GET a full refund, sir, because two of those subs ARE being eaten, right over there at the table."
SC: "I would if I wanted it back. Your employee there is horrible at her job. And she dropped hair in food, too!"
Me: "Sir, I thorougly inspected the food, and there were NO hairs to be found in it."
SC: "What? Well, of course not, cause we took them out! Are you calling me a Liar? Thats what your doing, isn't it?"
Me: "Actually, yes, sir, I am, and here's why... (Coworker), could you step up here and take off your hat, please?"
She does... SC see's her short hair, and the impossibility of her having shed the "Long, gross Hairs" he claimed to have found.
Me: "So, either you ARE a liar, or she spontaineously sprouted bangs which spewed off like porcupine quills into your food. Here is your refund. Please take it and be on your way, sir."
SC: "We're not done eating our dinner! We'll leave when we're done!"
ME: "No sir, you'll leave now. You've insulted my employee, who has done nothing to you, and you have wasted my time and supplies. You're not welcome to remain here today."

SC huffs and returns to the table... and SITS DOWN... despite being told to leave, as was my full authority to do so, I HAVE checked with the management on this, he sits there and starts telling his wife to go ahead and finish eating, and picks his own sandwich up... while daughter sits there foodless watching them.
Oh, Hell No....

Me: "Sir... I have asked you to leave. You now have two options... Stand, and leave on your own through the door.... or be THROWN out, THROUGH the double-pane glass window." I am a 6'2" 350lb man... and I'm a mean-looking motherfucker when I'm angry... he took one look at me and realized that I was most certainly capable of making good on my threat... they got out of there quick, fast, and in a hurry.
All of this was recorded on our Security Cams. I will not dispute one single bit of the incident if this man wants to call and complain to Management. What are they gonna do, FIRE ME? =P

Now I just have to decide if I want to spend the remainder of my time going all out on those who truly deserve it, or spend my last week at the subshop in quiet reflection of my days here. I'm not looking to Burn the Bridge, really... but there are some choice people I REALLY wanna get ahold of.
Opinions?

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

I still regret that on my last day at Go Kart place, I didn't use the announcement mic for karaoke. Take from that what you will.

[Food Lady]

I get that all the time: customers & CWs wanting to control how I feel, when all I think I should be required to do is be cordial. If I were in your CWs place, I'd have appreciated you challenging the SCs accusations before giving the corp. #, as in asking investigative questions under the guise of obtaining evidence and details about my supposed infraction, so as to better understand the problem (when what you would really be doing is making the SC try to prove his incorrect point). As far as doing anything else, I say that you don't know the future. It's possible your new job may end sometime, on good or bad terms, and you will still need a reference from current job. Be careful.

[infinitemonkies]

There's nothing quite as liberating as working a job where you don't care if you get fired.

I worked at a Pizza Hut several years ago, back in the kitchen, no customer interaction. But then the owner made me cover closing shifts at the Taco Bell he also owned for a couple weeks. I really hated it, but then realized I could do whatever I damned well felt like; What are they gonna do, not let me work there anymore?

My only self-imposed rule was to not fuck with the customers in a negative way.

2 examples of things I regularly did:
1. Make a customer say quesadilla over and over again until they pronouce it right (Kay Suh Dee Ya). Then reward them by giving it to them for free.
2. Customer comes in right before closing, "yeah, can I get a gordita <or whatever>?" "Nope. But I'll give you a large fry and a drink for free if you'll take them to go." "Umm, okay." "Great, hey, do you want a couple apple pies too? I'll just have to throw them out when we close anyway." "Sure."

And everyone's happy. Except for maybe the boss, but he had no idea what I was doing, and if he did have even a vague awareness of what was going on in his stores in the first place, he wouldn't have been in a position where his entire staff consisted of zero managers and 6 part-timer highschool kids who cant work closing shifts. Note: I was told I'd have to cover at most 2 weeks until they hired a new full-time closer. It was 4 months before they did.

[jjllbb]

i am SO jealous!!!!