My name is Mr. Paycheck

My name is Mr. Paycheck
By Ralph Dickerson

I worked in fast food for several years, and also worked as an assistant manager at a franchise restaurant in Owensboro for a time, so it is not easy for me to write this blog regarding the poor service I receive in so many fast food restaurants.

*Too many fast food workers today don’t realize the customer is really their paycheck.*

The food the customer orders and pays for each day gives the restaurant chain the funds to provide them a weekly paycheck. Yet, too many servers act like they are doing the customer a favor by waiting on them, when it really is the other way around.

Over the years I have encountered my share of bad servers. I will list two examples of the bad service I received.  One day I went into a fast food restaurant in Owensboro, and a young lady approached the cash register and asked if she could take my order. Just as I was about to place my order, a male working in the kitchen yelled to her, and she turned around and talked to him for approximately one minute about something that happened a few days earlier. She then turned around as asked again to take my order, and when I went to tell her the guy in back said something else to her, and she turned around again and carried on about a minute conversation with her. She again turned around and asked for my order. Just as I was about to give my order to her, the guy in back said something else to her, and she again turned her back to me and carried on a conversation with him for about another minute.

She then turned back to me and asked if she could take my order. By this time I was quite frustrated because three times she turned her back on me at the counter to carry on a personal conversation, so I asked her if she was finished talking to the young man in the kitchen. She became upset with me and muttered something under her breath.  I thought about reporting her to the manager, but did not because I did not want to get her fired.

In retrospect, I should have. Both her and the male she was talking to deserved to get fired that day. I was not being rude to her in any way, I was just trying to place my order and she kept turning her back on me at the cash register.

Another incident happened after this one at another restaurant, and I did speak to the manager, and I think the server did get fired because I never saw the server there again. I went into a fast food buffet restaurant in Owensboro and sat in a section. I saw a server walking around through the section, but the server never came to my table.
Two men walked in and sat a table in front of me, diagonal to my table, and the server immediately walked over to them and brought them their drinks. The server never came over to my table. I had to actually get up and go to the serving station to get my coffee. At no point did this server or any other in the restaurant attempt to come to my table.

When I finished eating, I walked by the server and asked if I had sat in a closed section by accident. The server said no. I then asked whose section was I sitting in during my meal. It was this server’s section. I asked why the server never came to my table, and the server said, “I was too busy,” and then laughed about it.

I noticed the server’s name, and when I walked out I went by the comment booklet sitting at the exit. I wrote down the server’s name, how I the server refused to come to my table, but served a table in this section that sat down after I did. I also wrote that the server claimed to be too busy to serve my table, and laughed about it. I then tore the page out of the book, walked up to the hostess and told her to give the comment to the manager. At first the server said I should just leave it in the book. I told her firmly to give it to the manager immediately. I guess she could tell I was very mad, because she immediately took the comment sheet to the manager.

At that point I walked out of the restaurant, across the parking lot and over to another unrelated business. While in this other store, the manager of the restaurant called me and said he wanted to discuss the incident with me sometime. I told him I would be there in just a few minutes as I was basically next door.

I went back to the restaurant and asked for the manager. He came out and wanted to know what happened. I showed him where I sat, where the other table sat and that the server refused to serve my table. I also pointed out the server in question, and told him the server laughed when I inquired about why the server refused to serve me. The manager apologized profusely for the server’s actions and gave me a coupon for a free meal. I went back in that restaurant several times after that, and never saw the server again. I am guessing the manager terminated the server’s employment.