I don’t know about you, but when I started my first customer service job I was under the impression that it would be easy. My coworkers and I would all get along swimmingly and those that I would be serving would treat me with dignity and kindness. I quickly learned this was not the case.

I have been working both food and retail service since my sophomore year of high school and will be soon entering my senior year of college. My blissfully ignorant 16-year-old self was thrown into a newfound stress that is customer service. Now, if you haven’t worked in the service industry you are probably under the illusion that these jobs could barely be as stressful as some manufacturing jobs, and to an extent you are right. The actual job description is not too difficult to comprehend and perform, and the tasks are relatively easy, that’s why it’s pretty easy for many high schoolers to start out in the service industry.

What makes the job mentally and physically draining are the people. The customers, your coworkers, and even management can change your mood from enthusiastic down to bitter in a matter of seconds. It can, and I’ve seen it, change the most optimistic to incredibly cold hearted. I know not everyone is this way, but a majority of the population does not treat service workers like humans. That seems like a pretty jarring statement but in my experience it is true. Have you and a couple of friends ever visited Taco Bell late at night and thought it’d be funny to mess around with the employees?

Have you or someone you know walked into a restaurant a little less than half an hour before closing and expected exceptional service? Then don’t tip the server because the service was not up to your expectations? Have you or someone you know ripped apart an entire stack of clothing to find your size without putting the cluttered shirts back into a neatly folded pile? Have you yelled at a server or cashier for the corporate policies of their place of employment in which they have no control over but it slightly inconvenienced you? Have you stiffed a server because your drink wasn’t refilled in a timely manner? I’m sure you or someone you know has done this and have boasted about it without taking a millisecond to think about the person on the other end.

You may also think that you were the only person to have done this to the employee during their shift but I can assure you, you were not. I’ve seen the most well rounded servers be broken down into tears because a customer was upset over something and decided to take it out on them. I’ve personally been called every name in the book because I wouldn’t give a customer a beer to go with his carryout order (due to my company’s liquor license policies).

I’ve served customers who wouldn’t dare look me in the eye when I’d ask them their food or drink order then complain to a manager I was not “social enough” to be a server. I’ve had people literally run away from me and avoid all contact with me when I tried to ask them if I could help them find anything in the store. I’ve had parties of 15 and over stiff me because the kitchen messed up their food, something that was completely out of my control. I’ve also had to clean up shit and used pads and tampons out of dressing rooms and on the floors of bathrooms, along with baby vomit off of tables and myself. I’ve wiped egg off the sides of buildings and on multiple occasions had to clean vomit that had been sitting in the parking lot all night. Most of these things people will do on purpose because they think it’s funny but don’t take the employees into consideration.

What people who have not worked in the customer service industry do not understand is all the work behind the scenes. Contrary to popular belief you are not the only person being served and not the only thing on the employees mind. In the food industry specifically, serving customers is about 10% or their actual workload. The front of house workers work diligently to not only serve customers, but to constantly stock, run food, make sure the kitchen has everything they need, help answer phones, roll silverware, pour drinks, take out trash, clean as much as possible, among other things, all while trying desperately to give excellent customer service so they can possibly receive a tip which in turn pays their bills and puts food on the table. Also noting that once you’re the age of eighteen management legally does not have to give you a break and in most restaurants I’ve worked you seldom are able to sit down and take a breath during your shift. Even when the restaurant is seemingly slow, it is actually significantly busier than what meets the eye of the customer. Again in my experience, in a typical five hour shift, we will have about seven or eight angry customers that complain to a manager and then stiff the server. This is turn will put the server in a terrible mood and they inadvertently take it out on the rest of the staff, changing the dynamic of the entire restaurant.

Most of the time these customers will complain about things that are completely out of the servers control (i.e. manager or corporate policies, or kitchen mistakes). They will also then cause a scene which puts other customers in sour moods and basically, the whole shift will be ruined. All because customers do not take the time to understand the issue and instead immediately become enraged and degrade the only person who is trying to help. Working in the customer service industry has helped me shape the person who I am today, but is also the most degrading work I have ever done.

These are just my personal experiences but I’m sure there are those out there who have or is currently working in the service industry that can relate to my stories.