Did five years in the Starbucks mines and another year on a pizza freighter. I’ll serve burgers before I fold a graphic tee. The solidarity during/after a rush forges comrades
I think the opposite for me mostly because rushes are really bad for ND people (at least for me anyway, dont want to speak for all of us, but Ive read that this is often true). Like I worked Burger King and it was constantly hell on me mentally.
Though I will say, I never worked the truly hellish retail jobs like Kohl’s or something. My retail job experience was two years at Hollywood Video, which had its badness but was a relatively chill job other than having to push the rental subscriptions. (Also a brief stint at a nonfranchise local toy store but I hardly count that).
Also worth noting though that the BK I worked at was a failing location with releativly few customers and even that was hell on me. I absolutely fucking hated it. It stressed me out so fucking much. Having to clean the dining room while the boss was counting down the drawer and there was only one person i kitchen and me out front. And then DING the drive through thingh goes off when im in the middle of wiping a table and it murdered my fucking head every time. Absolutely hellish environment for me.
Also worth noting though that the BK I worked at was a failing location with releativly few customers and even that was hell on me. I absolutely fucking hated it. It stressed me out so fucking much. Having to clean the dining room while the boss was counting down the drawer and there was only one person i kitchen and me out front. And then DING the drive through thingh goes off when im in the middle of wiping a table and it murdered my fucking head every time. Absolutely hellish environment for me.
My worst manager knew I hated drive-thru so they deliberately put me there even though I was the fastest and most error-free food prepper they had, by that manager’s own charts. They just hated me that much because I called out health and safety code violations.
FUCK I hated the drive thru DING.
“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH”
“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH”
maybe an awkward minute later
“ARE YOU THERE? HELLO HELLO?!”
And don’t get me started how hellish it got when a bunch of giggling WASPy teenage girls were packed into one vehicle and keep squealing over each other and contradicting each other’s orders and probably changing their minds after driving up and wanting to split the bill across 3-4 credit cards and maybe trying to speed off without paying.
I never had the option to work kitchen instead because the roles were strictly divided and I wasnt trained in it anyway. I probably would have preferred it.
Honestly if I could have just stood in ONE PLACE and just focused on JUST up front orders or JUST drive through it wouldnt be so bad. Drive through sucked for many reasons and you touched on some but it wouldnt have been so bad if i could have just focused on JUST that but i had to at MINIMUM run back and forth between drive through and front and bag all the orders, and thats when I didnt have to do extra stuff like cleaning dining room or trays. It was the juggling tasks that killed me more than anything.
Honestly if I could have just stood in ONE PLACE and just focused on JUST up front orders or JUST drive through it wouldnt be so bad.
Me too, me too. Even if it was a nonstop hectic pace all day, I’d have preferred that. I think people working at In-N-Out are a bit like that.
Having an asshole boss expecting the floors and tables cleaned while “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” is building up the timer which faults me (and risks getting me a write-up) if the transaction takes too long when there’s nothing I can do to speed the up and attempts to do so may also be a write-up if the complains really fucking sucked. Also the floor not getting cleaned might be a write-up and there’s also nothing I could do about that if there was a chain of “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” waiting behind the first one.
Did five years in the Starbucks mines and another year on a pizza freighter. I’ll serve burgers before I fold a graphic tee. The solidarity during/after a rush forges comrades
I think the opposite for me mostly because rushes are really bad for ND people (at least for me anyway, dont want to speak for all of us, but Ive read that this is often true). Like I worked Burger King and it was constantly hell on me mentally.
Though I will say, I never worked the truly hellish retail jobs like Kohl’s or something. My retail job experience was two years at Hollywood Video, which had its badness but was a relatively chill job other than having to push the rental subscriptions. (Also a brief stint at a nonfranchise local toy store but I hardly count that).
Also worth noting though that the BK I worked at was a failing location with releativly few customers and even that was hell on me. I absolutely fucking hated it. It stressed me out so fucking much. Having to clean the dining room while the boss was counting down the drawer and there was only one person i kitchen and me out front. And then DING the drive through thingh goes off when im in the middle of wiping a table and it murdered my fucking head every time. Absolutely hellish environment for me.
My worst manager knew I hated drive-thru so they deliberately put me there even though I was the fastest and most error-free food prepper they had, by that manager’s own charts. They just hated me that much because I called out health and safety code violations.
FUCK I hated the drive thru DING.
“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH”
“UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH”
maybe an awkward minute later
“ARE YOU THERE? HELLO HELLO?!”
And don’t get me started how hellish it got when a bunch of giggling WASPy teenage girls were packed into one vehicle and keep squealing over each other and contradicting each other’s orders and probably changing their minds after driving up and wanting to split the bill across 3-4 credit cards and maybe trying to speed off without paying.
I never had the option to work kitchen instead because the roles were strictly divided and I wasnt trained in it anyway. I probably would have preferred it.
Honestly if I could have just stood in ONE PLACE and just focused on JUST up front orders or JUST drive through it wouldnt be so bad. Drive through sucked for many reasons and you touched on some but it wouldnt have been so bad if i could have just focused on JUST that but i had to at MINIMUM run back and forth between drive through and front and bag all the orders, and thats when I didnt have to do extra stuff like cleaning dining room or trays. It was the juggling tasks that killed me more than anything.
Me too, me too. Even if it was a nonstop hectic pace all day, I’d have preferred that. I think people working at In-N-Out are a bit like that.
Having an asshole boss expecting the floors and tables cleaned while “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH”
is building up the timer which faults me (and risks getting me a write-up) if the transaction takes too long when there’s nothing I can do to speed the 
up and attempts to do so may also be a write-up if the 
complains really fucking sucked. Also the floor not getting cleaned might be a write-up and there’s also nothing I could do about that if there was a chain of “UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH” 
waiting behind the first one. 
Yeah the absolute fucking deathtrap the drivethrough timer had you in when you had to multitask was absolute hell.
It actually does. I’ve made lifelong friends from such experiences.
Second this. Making and serving food is good honest work, even if it’s capitalist slop
Yeah with commissions in the retail work I did it really pits the workers against each other. I was much happier on register shifts than floor shifts.