Fast Food & The Workers

I don't usually rely on fast food to get my day going. However, there are times that I do eat those when I have a certain craving for it, or if I'm just plain lazy to make my own meal for work. Then, there's another scenario in which I eat fast food just to save some money on my budget during a trip ... The last thing mentioned actually happened recently. My friends and I went to Ocean City, MD on a wonderful Sunday morning. We ate at McDonald's along Route 50. Breakfast was on its last hour. All of us took the breakfast deluxe that consisted of scrambled eggs, beef patty, pancakes, and hash browns. Yummy, huh. Well, uhm, all didn't went according to plan. Jimmy was doing good and had his order ready with no problem. My friend Raymond and I had this one cashier. She was doing her job. However, her listening skills didn't seem to be attentive. And I've seen her make mistake after mistake facing each customer. Either she was having a bad day, or she's really like that. The other fast food workers seem to do a good job in their performance despite being busy just to meet the customer's expectations on the fast-delivery of the food. She was doing me wrong like she did to my friend, Raymond. She wasn't listening to him when he said, "For here." (indicating he is dining in.) Instead she put his meal in a bag and gave it to him. And as for me, I was missing a hash brown for my order. She kept me waiting for a while but I kept my composure intact. I told her what happened and she seemed to have listened (as I was assuming because of what I see in her body language). But I was fooled. Another coworker (probably a supervisor or so) gave me my hash brown after I said it wasn't in my deluxe breakfast. He was cool. Then she did the unthinkable. She rang me up for $1.05. I reiterated to her once again, "This hash brown was missing from my meal." I told her I wasn't paying for it. Then she rolled her eyes at me and I proceeded back at the table to join my friends. It sucks she didn't listened to me and I thought she did. What a bad impression she has left on me, but I know it's not McDonald's fault. And the situation could've been worst had I been so hostile and acting ignorant towards her ... I thought that was the end of it. Now it happened at Wendy's today. The listening process from a worker was again a part of the conflict. This was at the Drive-thru. I was telling them that I wanted 2 crispy chicken sandwiches and it took like a minute for them to tally my totals. It's funny how silent the speaker was. I thought I was expecting a reply right away. Seems that there may have been a lot going on inside. Then the worker said that I have to pay $3.28 for 3 crispy chicken sandwiches. And I'm like, "Here we go again." Being it the second go around, I still maintained my composure and tolerance to another unexpected situation. When they were asking me for my money, I spoke to her clearly and loud (a bit, just for the worker to hear) but still kept myself calm even with a smile when it came to clarifying my order. It took at least around a minute or 2 to get the order done again as she was getting assistance from the supervisor in charge. Then, a sigh of relief. I was able to eat my sandwiches at work and conveniently return myself to my tasks at hand. You see, even with some patience and some do-good attitude, you can always turn a negative to a positive - and that things'll be okay no matter what circumstance it would be, like the fast food situation. I'm sure the workers from both fast food chains will do a pretty good job in the times to come and do well in their performance and evaluations. Like all of us Americans who work a job, they (the fast food workers) should also get the same sense of appreciation they deserve even during the tough days. We all have a role respectively in what we do and they do, too, as they serve us food - day in and day out.