I've worked as a cashier at KFC for a year, and in that time I've gotten some pretty strange compliments, if one could call them that. Because I have great customer service and am usually smiling and trying to be helpful, I guess one guy thought that meant he could call me "Smiley" and say "I want YOU for dessert!" When I asked one guy if he wanted honey or butter for his biscuits, he remarked to his friends, "She can butter MY biscuits!" One guy (who I honestly thought was trying to be nice) said that he could see me become a manager at KFC. My initial response was shock. Why would I want to waste my life in fast food when I had a perfectly good acceptance letter? Of course, there's nothing wrong with the fast food industry, but my dreams are just a smidgen higher.
And there have been insults, too. Last summer, I dyed my hair blonde, but my hairstylist had failed to inform me that the color of my hair would drastically decimate my IQ. Case in point: I was dealing with a particularly persnickety customer who couldn't make up his mind, and when he had, insisted on me repeating his order. Five times. After he had made up his mind, I sweetly (Did I mention I have great customer service? I seriously wanted to bash his face in) asked if he wanted anything else? He responded with this gem: "No, I wouldn't want to hurt your LITTLE BLONDE BRAIN." That pissed me off. Just because my hair's a certain color, I am suddenly incapable of understanding yet another request? Not to mention that homeboy was being a major douchebag. And that it had ALREADY taken all of my self-control to keep from yelling at the prick. After I had handed him his order, I flashed a smile, and in my best I-am-SO-happy-you-came-here-please-come-again-I'm-not-plotting-your-murder-at-ALL voice said, "And just so you know, I got a 32 on the ACT the first time I took it, and am planning to pursue chemical engineering next year in college--unless, of course, you think the practical application of chemistry, physics, and mathematics would be too much for my 'LITTLE BLONDE BRAIN' to handle."
I've been propositioned, had my number asked for, and been called "hot" and "sexy" (which I guess is an acceptable thing for a stranger to say?) more times than I can recount. My response to these is usually that my girlfriend doesn't like me dating total jerk-offs. (However, this sometimes has the nasty effect of making them even MORE interested.) If they try again, I say that my workplace has a strict sexual harassment policy and if they continue they can vacate the premises immediately. I guess the fact that I'm working and therefore can't beat the shit out of them makes it okay for them to say downright offensive things because I must OBVIOUSLY be available. I mean, a girl who works at a fast food place being in an actual RELATIONSHIP? Ridiculous!
However, today I received what I think was my first actual compliment since I began work there. No comments on my looks, no demands for numbers. Just one guy saying "Thanks for the spunky attitude." =))) I like that word. It just seems like it's one step behind "kickass."
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Ah, sexual harassment, the last pleasure available to sexists in an economic downturn. If a man can't afford to go to a strip club and pay to objectify women, he can at least treat any woman in a service job like she's an unfeeling, servile robot whose only reason for existing is to take abuse and make men happy (and sometimes I wonder if those two are synonymous).
Seriously, the way the MSM goes, I wouldn't exactly drop my teeth in shock if I saw an article like that. "Former sex-club customers now turn to harassing random women to save money: 'I was broke, but I just couldn't survive without making someone else feel like crap,' man says."
There's so many dynamics in what you describe, too. Would he pull that on a bank employee? A professor? An executive? The classism/sexism cocktail is especially toxic.
I loved your reply to the gentleman who doubted the power of your little blonde brain. I take it your management has been pretty supportive of you through all of this? Many customer service jobs would fire a woman for standing up for herself in a situation like that.
"One guy (who I honestly thought was trying to be nice) said that he could see me become a manager at KFC. My initial response was shock. Why would I want to waste my life in fast food when I had a perfectly good acceptance letter?"
You know, I love this site, but hardly a day goes by without classism and snobbish elitism raising their ugly heads. I see strong parallels between your condescension towards those who make a career out of working in fast food, and the condescension shown to your "little blond brain" by that customer.
This. Very this.
Yeah. Definitely agree with this.
I wasn't trying to be snobbish, and I'm sorry if you took it that way. I just meant that a lifetime of working at KFC doesn't exactly sound that appealing to me at the moment. My boyfriend is actually going to bust his ass to get a management position there, and I'm happy for him, because he's decided that's what he wants to do. I just meant that KFC management, for me at least, isn't where I see my future headed. But who knows?
I'm sorry I apparently didn't explain it well enough. I thought the sentence right after clarified my point, but I was clearly mistaken.
So what that she doesn't want a job in fast food? If you do, more power to you, but it's not for everyone.
I've got shit for money, and I swear to god I'll never, ever work another customer service job again. I hate it, the pay is shit, and the customers are awful. People would tell me I was great at my job (which I was) but there was no way in HELL i was going to make a career out of it.
If that makes me a snobbish elitist or whatever, I don't care.
It's not about what you want or don't want, it's about the attitude that looks down on those who do work in the fast food industry. It's about reacting with "shock" when someone suggests that you'd be a good manager. It's about not recognizing that there are numerous reasons why someone might earn a living working at a KFC, and that many of those reasons have nothing to do with intelligence or personal worth and everything to do with random life circumstances. It's about the sheer blind privelege associated with being able to take a nice compliment like "I can see you as a manager at KFC" as anything but that- a nice compliment.
I agree. It annoys me when managers who know that you are interested in higher education say stuff like that, because it's like they are trying to pressure you to not pursue your goals, however if a customer said something like that I would be very pleased because they are simply telling you that you are doing an excellent job. It's rather condescending to get angry at someone who is telling you that you are good at your job just because you find the work "beneath" you.
I NEVER stated that being a manager would be beneath me! I hate working there already, and I sure as hell wouldn't want that as my permanent career. I have some amazing managers who, for some reason, actually like working management, and that's what they love doing. Which is a great placement for them, but not exactly that great for me. And honestly, the thought that I could see a job as "beneath" me is hilarious. If you only knew...
Possibly someone with a passion for chemistry and physics would be unfulfilled in a job that requires a only surface intellectual contemplation. As an engineer, I know that an interest in physics belies a passion for finding out how things work, how the world is controlled by forces we cannot see, and how one can manipulate those forces to a useful purpose. Management of any type of service-centered business is probably not going to fulfill those desires. And there is nothing wrong with that. Nor is there anything wrong with taking pride in, and having enthusiasm for, providing an affordable service to one's community and facilitating employment for one's neighbors.
As for the harrassment one endures at a job like that... I think we're a long way from getting respect on the job for service industry types. Unfortunately, I think some of those people probably thought they were brightening your (ostensibly dull) day. Others must think that once you're wearing a uniform you are a mindless drone that will take any kind of abuse. Or you'll find it is flattering. You're clearly a better person than me, those type of comments would inspire me to offer to spit in people's food. I'd probably be fired pretty quickly.
At my current job, I occasionally field comments that border on offensive or just unnecessary. I try to always respond with a "I mean business" look and just say "Not appropriate."