So, the winter storm has passed, and now everything is covered in ice, the temperature is in the single digits, and the wind chill is in the negative double digits.
Personally, I think it's pretty self-centered, condescending, and uncaring of people to roll up and order curbside, in conditions like these. To sit there on their arrogant, entitled asses, in their warm, toasty cars, and expect us to go out in the cold and ice and bring their food right to them, like good little servants. If you don't want to go out in the cold, what the hell makes you think I want to?? Come in and get your food. Or, just go through the drive through like everybody else, and then NOBODY has to freeze.
But of course people still order that way, because they think they're too good to get cold, or to wait in line, like common people.
Anyway.
After taking a couple curbside orders out today, I told my managers I wasn't going to take any more. It's dangerously cold. I almost fell on the ice, both times I went out. I'm not putting myself at risk like that for $12 something an hour.
On top of that, of course most of our staff called in, so we were extremely short-staffed. Which honestly, I expected.
My managers, we'll call them B, and female T, or FT, were fine with this. B even said he almost fell, too. So we started telling anyone who ordered a curbside, if they called asking where their order was, or if we could get their attention out the window, that they had to come in or go through drive, to get their food.
Some people seemed a little irritated, some were fine. Whatever. I didn't care either way. My managers were in agreement. They had my back. I gotta look out for me. And customers need to understand that the world doesn't revolve around them, and they can't always get their way-especially when they're being jerks.
Cool.
So B leaves at 7, and we have to close the lobby, because it's literally just 4 of us and the manager, running the whole store. So now everything-door dash, mobile orders, curbside-has to go through drive. Because we literally don't have anyone to run stuff outside. Drive gets a little backed up at times, but runs smoothly overall.
Then the 3rd shift manager comes in at 9. His name also starts with T, but since he's a dude, we'll call him Male R, or MT. (Incidentally, MT is also B's brother.) Two coworkers leave at 9:30. That leaves just me, FT, MT, and one other coworker. Drive slows down.
Another curbside. It's ONE degree out. MT takes an order out, even after I tell him what we've been doing all night. Two more people roll up in curbside. I call out the window to them, that they have to go through drive. Immediately, the phone rings. MT answers it. I see him gathering an order.
“You gonna take that out to them anyway, after I already told them to go through drive?” I ask. He says, “No, she's going to walk up here.” As he walked out the door I called after him, “Your brother had my back.”
She did not. AND he took the second order out, too.
Meanwhile, FT just says nothing. She's great to work with and I love her. But she only has my back until I disagree about it with another manager or coworker. Then she just goes quiet and stays out of it. Which only makes me madder, because I don't like confrontation either, but you're a manager. Take your stand, and stick with it.
At this point, it was my quitting time. So I just took off the headset, clocked out, and left.
But on my way out, I passed MT coming back in from running those orders. I let him have it.
I told him (and keep in mind this is fast food; it's a different type of work environment, and we cuss at and around each other all the time, so the swearing was pretty par for the course), “Way to have your fucking team's back, MT. We've been doing things a certain way all night, and you come in and change it, ten minutes before closing. That's fucked up, and you know it.”
Then, when I got home, I sent him this message:
“You straight undermined me, right to a customer's face. That's not right, and I don't appreciate it. Especially considering [FT] and [B] had already agreed with the way we were doing things, and why we were doing them that way. You made me look like an asshole in front of that customer. You embarrassed me. And that's messed up. If you wanted to run orders yourself, that's your prerogative. But to do it like that, after I already told them we weren't, made me look-and feel-like a shit. (And it reenforced to the customer that they get what they want, no matter what, no matter how snarky they act, no matter the risk to, or treatment of, us employees.) It wasn't WHAT you did, MT. It was HOW you did it. And how you did it, really cut me down.”
I'm not a confrontational person. In fact, I HATE confrontation. But I hate disrespect, even more. I WON'T stand for it, and I WILL stand UP, for me.
I will, and I DID.
Period.