I've been working in the food service industry for a little over four years. Not by choice, but it's what was easy, available, and paid the bills while I went to school. I've worked at a burger joint for four years both as a crew member and as a manager and at a frozen yogurt shop for two years as a team member and a shift leader.

During the time I've been working for these places, I've experienced quite a lot when it comes to the way things operate. When people tell you not to eat at fast food places because of a number of reasons, those reasons are usually justified.

I'll start with the obvious: the food. At the burger joint, to be completely honest, I can't deny that I eat the food while on break at work, but it's mostly because I don't have other options unless I bring food from home. The breakfast food isn't really as terrible as people make it out to be. I think the worst thing is the "folded eggs" which come pre-made in a bag and we just put on the grill with some water to heat them up. It's really a hit or miss with most items. If you come when it's slow, expect the food to have been sitting in the warming cabinets for a while. Those quality timers we have on the cabinets? Those are a joke. They never get used properly, other than to tell you which tray is the oldest and should be used up first.

Now on to lunch, where some of the more hideous offenses occur. With the lunch menu containing a significantly higher variety of food than breakfast, there is a lot more that can go wrong. Most of the time, the burger meat sits in a pool of its own grease to "keep it moist". The only time you will get fresh fries is during a rush. Otherwise they just sit around until someone orders them. Going through the drive thru will give you a higher probability of getting old food too. There's less of a chance that someone in drive thru will get out and come inside to complain about their food compared with someone eating in the dining room.

The nozzles on the drink towers are very poorly maintained and cleaned. They're left to sit in a sanitizing solution overnight and are often still grimy when they're put back on in the morning. The specialty coffee machines are very rarely cleaned properly and I've even had an instance where a roach crawled out of where the waste espresso grounds collect to be emptied every so often.

At the frozen yogurt shop things are often maintained better because it's a smaller store that serves less people every day. There are a few negative things though. The maintenance to fix internal issues with the yogurt machines is expensive and often goes for a while without being fixed. This effects the temperature of the yogurt and can cause it to sour. Also, those toppings you rarely see out usually sit in the back for months as "filler" if we run out of one of our usual toppings. Most of it is pure sugar, so it doesn't really spoil, but it's definitely not fresh.

Now this is not to say everything about the food or cleanliness at these places is bad. Most often, if we're slow at either place, we are cleaning. Counters, tables, doing the dishes, etc. I'd be lying if I said gloves were used as often as they should be though. Same goes with washing hands and employees coming to work sick. Neither place has sick days, so you either come in sick or forfeit 1/5 of your paycheck for a typical 40-hour, five-day work week.

On to the next part, the customers. The customers are what determine if my day at work is good or bad. I've seen it all: screaming, yelling, cursing, the works. It doesn't bother me anymore. I do strongly believe everyone should work in a service type job for at least a few months in order to realize how to be a good customer. I completely understand it's frustrating when your order is wrong, but taking it out on the cashier who obviously didn't make your sandwich is just plain ignorant. It's seriously as simple as you be nice to me and I'll be nice to you. If you calmly explain the problem, I'm a thousand times more likely to be more than happy to fix it for you.

When it comes to giving your order or paying, it's not that hard to look at the menu and decide what you want. If you have kids, please for the love of God do not take five minutes on each child asking them what they want in their kid's meal. The choices haven't changed, and nine times out of ten, the kid wants the same thing they usually get. Also, have your payment ready. I don't have the time to stand there waiting for you to fish your debit card out of the bottom of your purse or count out $7.68 all in change.

What really makes me laugh, though, is at the frozen yogurt shop. It is entirely self serve. Yet somehow, even with plenty of sample cups on the counter, people still manage to get the wrong flavor and want to throw it out and get a different kind. It also infuriates me to no end when people let their kids run wild and make a mess. The sprinkles and gummies your kid just dropped all over the counter? Yeah those go in the trash. Money down the drain because you couldn't take one minute and help your kid put toppings in a cup without making a mess.

Now I'm not saying every food service job is the same. I don't have any experience working in a sit down restaurant or as a bartender or anything like that. But from what I've experienced in fast food, the take home message from this all is: be nice to the employees and be mindful of what you order and when. Not all of it is bad, but not all of it is good. I'm sure many people have had some of the same experiences as I have working in the same places. This isn't meant to turn you off from fast food, but to serve as something to think about next time you swing by for a quick bite.