Do you want fries with that?

Have you ever gotten frustrated with your service at a restaurant? We all have at one time or another. What do we usually do? We complain. After a day of visiting with my family in Lexington and hearing food service stories, I began to ponder this problem. Today while raking up the leaves in my yard I had a revelation!

Most of time it’s young people working these jobs and they’re just trying to make enough money to buy gas or pay their car insurance. They might be planning for a big date on the weekend or hoping they will get enough money this month to help with college payments. They are not planning on making this a career, so they don’t try to be happy with their work.

Some do make food service their life. I have friends in Charleston who own a Chick Fil-A on Hwy 17 in Summerville, (shameless plug, Melody and Chris). The ladies at Waffle House on Pelham and I-85 haven’t changed in years and the sweet ladies that get up and make the biscuits at Hardees consider this a calling.. All these, and more, are making food service their life. But most of the workers are young people. We all have friends or family members who were in food service at sometime or other. All three of my kids worked at restaurants at some point in their lives.

What got me to pondering this issue was hearing my nieces talk about their experiences. Kelly worked for two weeks and quit because she didn’t want to wear the polyester uniform! Rebecca quit after two weeks because they wouldn’t give her her birthday off! My nephew, Robert, did work for the ‘Golden Arches’ for 8 years before he found another life. These were young people who had other things they wanted to do in life. Kelly now owns her own photography studio, Rebecca is now an RN, and Robert is in the banking business.

These are the ones who are cooking your food or waiting your table. So smile and encourage them. This will make them feel better, and you will get better service.
Who knows, one day that young person might be taking your children’s wedding photos, giving you dialysis, or helping you get a loan!