Why are fast food employees so rude!?

Question

I know they only make minimum wage.
I know it's probably not the job they want.
I'm not here to put anyone down.
I've worked at fast food, i know it sucks but i was NEVER rude. I did my job with a smile on my face.

Story:
I went to Wendys yesturday. All i wanted was a medium fry and a medium coke .. im a vegetarian .. anyways, its not like my order was that hard. The lady taking my money was white .. she didn't say a word to me. Just stuck out her hand and slapped her gum real loud. Now, i live in a very nice city, not "ghetto" or anything. I gave her the money, she handed me the change and shut the window real hard. I got to the 2nd window .. black lady .. handed me my fry, didnt say a word and just stared at me .. then she said "what!?" .. and i said "i ordered a coke" .. she said "no you didnt" .. then the manager stepped in, handed me my coke, she also did not say a frickin' word!!!

What the deal????? Whats the problem????

I'm not here to judge people and their jobs. I'm deff. not like that, at all. Just wondering why the customers are treated like crap and the managers don't give a crap. I work in the restaurant business as a shift manager and i would never let that happen. Hmm, just curious.

98% of my employees make minimum wage and all i get is laughs and big smiles. So minimum wage can't be the reason can it?

Yes, i'm always nice, no matter what. Even if i get the worst service. And its weird, if my foods wrong, i never take it back .. just pick it off and get on with my life. Thanx for your answers guys.

!!!!! THIS IS what I'M WONDERING. YOU ARE CHOOSING TO WORK AT THAT FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. THE CUSTOMERS ARE NOT MAKING YOU .. SO DONT TREAT THEM LIKE CRAP !!!

*********** i get rude service all the time. i'm always nice, not overly nice .. but always "thank you, have a good day" ect, ect. *************

Answer 1

First of all Fast Food Corporations don't give a crap about their employees. They are only after maximum profit. I have not eaten fast food in over three years. I refuse to support their greed and ideals. Read "Fast Food Nation" and I'm sure you'll stop doing business with these evil companies as well.

Answer 2

You had a bad experience. Is it every time? I have been getting fast food for years and I don't think I have had rude service more than once or twice. I just read the other answers so I pulled this back to add more. Most of the employees I have had serve me are high school kids working part time or in the summer for extra cash. Maybe that is the difference. They are not trying to make a living. Most are laughing and joking with each other. I guess I wouldn't be very happy if I had to depend on min. wage to support a family. Still in any job where you work with the public an employee is supposed to smile and be polite.

Answer 3

Minimum wage job with not much chance of advancement and most people looking down at you for having the job. There really isn't much to get excited about. I know you say you respect what they are going through working there, that doesn't mean that they don't face 50 people a day that don't. I know that doesn't excuse their attitude, but I also know that most of the managers in those businesses are just glad to have employees that show up every day and aren't going to quit in 2-3 months when school starts or something better comes along, so most of the time there is not much incentive to encourage employees to better behavior, and not much effect if they do.
Try smiling and acting pleasant when you go there, reach out a bit and they should open up a bit more. It is nice to see a happy face wherever you are.

Answer 4

It's not the customer, it's the morality that gets people so low.
I had a same experience when I went to McDonald's down the street to get a Big Breakfast, and the cashier who was black, didn't give me a smile, it was like her face that said, "What do you want, like I care".

These people needs to get the idea that customer service is spoken through first actions. Like at Wal-Mart, they have a door greeter to meet each person with a smile. That makes the person's shopping experience even better, even if they had a bad day.

People who treat customers like garbage shouldn't even work in that store, in fact, they should be canned! You know that by experience. We need to reeducate the employees AND co-workers that something is not right and it needs to be changed and changed NOW.

Perhaps a phone call to the district office of that store's chain will help bring the store back to attention. That's why they have secret shoppers, to evaluate the store's friendliness and cleanliness. That store you were at, certainly got a clear and resounding "F".

Remember, it's not the customer that makes the store, it's the employees who know how to treat customers like true people.

Answer 5

I work in fast food, while I am going to college. It all depends on the management. If the management does not know how to motivate the employees, what do they expect. Where I work, we have a ton of complaints. As a manager, you would be applaud by the stack of complaints we have for 2007 thus far. Yes our customer service is bad at times. If the manager does not know, how can they teach the employees to treat the customers. Why was the lady at Wendy's chewing gum? that is a point deduction if the inspector comes in and sees her doing it.

Answer 6

Sounds like a problem from upper management that trickles down to the front line. They need to come up with some kind of motivational program for their employees. All new hires seem excited during the interview then get in a rut and take it out on others. I would go in and tell the manager that you aren't going to eat there anymore and the reason why. Then I would submit a formal complaint on Wendy's website. Remember, list dates and times of when this service occured so it can be investigated on their end.

Answer 7

Because like you said they only make 5 bucks an hour and they usually are not hired based on their personality traits-i ALWAYS say "have a nice day" when i pull away from the window regardless of how i was treated. So maybe the next person won't get treated as badly-some people just need a little pick me up sometimes. My motto - kill em with kindness-it will either make them have a better day or piss them off. Either way you can drive away reassured you did a good deed for the day no matter how small.

Answer 8

How long did you work fast food? Doesn't sound like long, or you would have your answer. Nothing worse than working for min wage, in ugly costumes while people look down their noses at you all day. Also, being covered in greasy food, taking out trash and moping floors is about as degrading as it gets for min wage sans benes. Lastly, many people take their aggression/anger about their lives out on people that are in customer service type positions. It ends up sticking.

Answer 9

The only thing I can say, they probably never received the proper customer service training. or they just had a big meeting and the head manager got in trouble for what the fry guy did. just a thought.

Answer 10

You definately know why they are rude, you should see the workers in NYC. I have to say that most of the workers are fustrated and probably don't realize that they aren't utilizing the skills they need to get through life. Next time you should find a phone number and make a complaint.