I’ve been in the service industry for many years now and I love it (as much as someone can enjoy a low-paying job. We’ll just say it’s the least painful “pick your poison” for me.) I’m very social, I like building real relationships with regulars. This is my first corporate service job in a long time and it truly makes me sad. We’re under so much pressure to let abuse from customers slide, to just take it. And then this same company is panicking because their retention rate is embarrassingly low, but why the fuck would anyone stay when the company stresses so hard in their training that we literally can’t even say to customers, “that’s a rude way to speak to me”. And it’s so depressingly frequent that they are rude. I try not to internalize it but I’m a person “🤡 and I’m tired of pretending I’m not”.
I wish there was a way I knew was safe to stand up for myself without repercussions but it seems that in any way denying a guest’s abuse is a problem. Why is there so much pressure to accept dehumanization? It causes real, lasting psychological damage.