In reality, I hated working in a deli. It was three to seven hours of standing, getting all types of meat juices dripping down your arm, and getting yelled at by customers who think it's a good time to talk down to a high school aged kid making their food. I was always sore when I woke up the next day from a long shift and emotionally exhausted because it really is a thankless job in this society.
I say I hated working "in reality" because I found ways to love it when I was there. I would be glad to pick up a few hours even now to help the people I worked for. To this day, I'm not sure I'll ever be employed by such kind people who made it worth the exhaustion. Rude customers are awful, but I honestly miss them. How fun is it to be yelled at by someone for making their sandwich wrong or for cutting their lunch meat too thin? Is there nothing better to complain about in this world than the thickness of your damn cheese? I once was yelled at because a total was a dollar more than the customer expected and had to go through their receipt three times before they believed it. It's pointless, but I could sit and fume at how ridiculous this side of humanity is or laugh at how comical it can be.
It makes it really hard for me now, however, to accept when people in other jobs treat their customers poorly. I have literally grinned at the face of someone who was telling me I was a dumb bitch and agreed with them because that's just what you do. It's awful, but it was usually because the customer asked for pasta salad instead of macaroni salad and I was supposed to just know he wanted the latter. I get it, it's rough doing the same thing every day for people who seemingly don't appreciate it, but it's your job and you have to make the best of it.
There's also so many people who would kill to have your job, and they would appreciate all that comes with it. If you can’t make the best of your situation, do everyone a favor and move on. It’s making your life miserable and the decent people around you miserable. You can’t apply for a job where you’ll be dealing with the public and not expect to be spit on occasionally. You also can’t deal with the public at any point in your life without that expectation. So if you’re walking down the street and someone gives you attitude, do what you will. But for God’s sake, if I’m confused over something stupid, your job is to give me the simple answer my dumbass should have already known in a polite manner with condescending undertones. If someone’s mumbling politely, ask them kindly to repeat themselves until they yell in your face and call you deaf - don’t yell in theirs. If someone says their sandwich that you wrote the ingredients down to a T is wrong, you accept it and say, “Silly me, how could I have written down hot peppers when you clearly wanted sweet?”
It’s all about insinuating that the rude customer is stupid; you can’t say it outright.
As long as you continue with the charade the customer is always right, you’re the one with the last laugh. Because the customer is, in fact, (and this, they never tell you) wrong sometimes and we all know it. You, my friend, are going to make them feel like something special for two minutes in their sad, sad life when you take the blame for their lack of intelligence. However, when you don’t like the job you work every day, your life is just as sad, so don’t sink to the level of your shit customers and make other’s lives Hell to make you feel better for your two minutes.
It’s a shit cycle we’re all a part of, so please grumpy workers everywhere - make the best of it and know that some of us do feel your pain. If you wish to use your experiences with my dumbass in a future article about the pains of working in your job, I understand.
Though when you're on the clock, just go with it.
