I used to work for Cold Stone and a father and his two sons came in. He was a middle-eastern immigrant that spoke poor English, though his sons were clearly very American. Helped the sons out, no problem, helped the dad out with his "Love It" size (medium) ice cream, and made him a bit too much. This was common, because depending on the number of toppings a customer wanted, that might increase the volume of the entire dish. This guy wanted a lot of pineapple, and I mean a lot. Just kept having me pile it on. This not only made his ice cream bigger, but more watery due to the juice. But like I said, this was fairly common, and to avoid giving him a bowl of ice cream that was super messy and spilling over the sides, my standard way of dealing with it was by putting it in a bigger size cup, while still only charging them the size that they ordered. So I threw his "Love It" size into a "Gotta Have It" cup, our biggest single-serving size. This had the intended effect of making the entire dish far less messy, but also made it appear as though I was ripping him off, because the large size of the cup made the medium size of the ice cream appear smaller than it actually was. This dude was super pissed and started yelling at me in broken English, and due to the language barrier, I could not explain to him that it was a larger cup than he ordered, and why I put it in there.
But I also understood, based on his assumption, why he was pissed. I don't think it's necessary to berate a college student making minimum wage in public, but if he thought I was ripping him off, fine. I appreciate the dude standing up for himself. The thing that did piss me off though, was his sons just standing there ignoring us. They could have easily relayed the situation to their dad and avoided the confrontation and embarrassment, but nah, fuck that. They were off in the corner of the store in their own world.
My next job was at a Van's premium store in a mall. During really busy days (back to school and Christmas, mostly), it was always a fifty fifty shot that customers would take note of how busy I was helping several customers, and act patiently, OR act super pissed that they weren't my top priority. Had several really nice people give me compliments to my managers during these moments, and even an Austrian couple who were tourists (Southern California, big regional mall, and a brand popularized in movies and TV- tourists were common) offer me a tip that I couldn't accept. One time, however, a lady came in with her three daughters during back to school sales. and while bringing each of her daughters several pairs of shoes, lacing them, helping them try them on, etc. she got furious at me for so much as asking other customers how they were doing and letting them know i'd be happy to grab them whatever pairs of shoes they wanted to check out. This is during our busiest season, and every sales associate is swamped with several customers. You see a new customer? You approach them. Make them feel welcome. Let them know they can ask to see a pair of shoes. Mom wasn't having it though. She took all three of her daughters and stormed off, leaving me to organize and clean up the refused pile of shoes they went through. She stopped by the register to tell the assistant manager running the store at that moment what a poor, disrespectful associate I was. Ugh, that one still pisses me off to think about.
So fucking glad not to be in food service or retail anymore, and very careful to be as respectful and understanding to any folks in those positions who help me. I feel awful whenever someone makes an honest mistake and goes out of their way to make sure it doesn't inconvenience me, because I have to assume they're used to dealing with some unruly sorts. Had a waitress forget to bring me guac at a restaurant, and she tried to comp our drinks over it. It literally took an extra five minutes to get the guac, I really didn't mind. She refused to charge me for the drinks, so I gave her the cost of the drinks added onto the tip and told the manager as I walked out what an outstanding waitress she was. Please treat the folks serving you with respect. Half the reason why these employees hate their jobs is entitled, rude, shitty customers. Respectful, polite, happy customers make all the fucking difference in the world, and can even make going to work an enjoyable experience.
