I went through the Sub-Way drive-thru in my hometown tonight like 20 mins before close… yeah, I felt like a dick but there were people in the store already so it's not like i made them get stuff back out.
So, everyone inside got their food and left and the guy was just making my sandwiches and I was pretty sure I was going to be the last customer of the night. And this dude just looked ragged, like just exhausted to his core.
He got to the window and gave me my food, and I saw him muster his inner strength to give me a big smile and a “thank you” when I literally just watched him slog down the sandwich line silently praying for God to take him from this awful place.
Man, it made me feel terrible for this guy. I said “Dude you're working too hard and it's too late for you to owe me a smile.” I gave him a pretty nice tip and drove off.
But the look he gave me as I pulled away, like genuinely confused that someone didn't expect a backflip from a guy making minimum wage.
We train people/ourselves to give entirely too much of themselves to work for employers who don't give a single damn about them.
So, while this is not a story about my anti-work experience, I encourage every rational/sane person here to let the people who serve us know they can let the mask slip for us. We don't require the utter subjugation of your human spirit in exchange for your meager wages.