Fast Food Slavery: Part 2

Hey everyone! So I previously did a post in this Fast Food Slavery series after I just got my job at Wendy's earlier this summer! Well in celebration of my last shift TODAY, I decided it was finally time to post some more ranting.

1) I'm not psychic. I cannot read your mind. If you ask for something and don't specify what EXACTLY you want on it, how am I supposed to know that you didn't want cheese or ketchup or anything on it at all? Or if I asked if you wanted the combo and you said, "no" and then after I give you the order ask why you didn't get your fries or drink....I'm pretty sure we were both there when I asked you if you wanted the combo.

2) I already know that I can't fully focus when someone talks so I miss some of the stuff that is said (it's actually called selective hearing...I'm not even making it up hahaha) but please never mumble. And then don't get mad when I say that I can't hear you because really? It's just rude in general to not speak clearly when someone is trying to make sure that you have a pleasant experience.

3) I'm not sure if a lot of people realize this, but drive thrus in fast food places have timers that times how fast our service is. Everyday, we try to meet our goal while also being friendly and accurate. It's pretty tough....but it's even more tough when you take more than 5 minutes to order. Not saying you should know exactly what you want RIGHT when you get up to the speaker, but just know that when you sit there taking your sweet time, there are at least 4 people listening and getting frustrated because this one order is going to mess up their otherwise great average time.

4) This is probably the most common problem I run into but we do not create the prices for the food we serve. Just because you don't like that that particular burger by itself is $3.69 doesn't mean you have to buy it let alone get rude with me because you think it's "ridiculous"...pretty sure no one is forcing you to get it.

5) Yes, we take credit cards...it's the 21st century. Sorry to be blunt, but come on.*

6) If the service is ever slow going, it's most likely because we are understaffed. We're usually supposed to have around 12 people for a rush and if we only have 6, it's not going to be as speedy. Not that we don't want you to get your food as fast as possible, it's just we are literally going as fast as we can.

7) I can understand maybe a child being timid and not being able to address a stranger (me, the cashier) to tell me their order...but if you are an adult and you're speaking to another adult to say your order for you when you're both right there, it's getting just a little ridiculous.

8) If you only say that you want, say, a #9 and then say "that's it"...what did you want? The combo? Just the sandwich? What to drink? WHAT SIZE? The questions are endless.....it'll just be easier for everyone if you say something along the lines of "a #9, medium, with a Diet Coke" because then that's all I needed to know.

9) This might just be a minor thing, but it actually kind of bugs me when someone asks for "McNuggets" or a "Happy Meal" or something...do you seriously not even realize what store you just walked into? We're actually not all the exact same amazingly enough.

10) Before I even worked at Wendy's, I realized that people literally do not even care how disgusting they are and the fact that someone has to clean it up. I can't even tell you how many times I've had to clean our condiment stand that's smeared with ketchup, drinks spilled, napkins everywhere, and more. I don't really know why the napkins are everywhere because they CLEARLY were not being used to attempt to clean up the mess. Try to be decent and help by not completely destroying where you eat. Not to say do our entire job for us, just don't be extra disgusting just because you can.


*I actually prefer cards because that means it takes about 2 seconds to swipe the card, there's no way I can mess up your change, and if it's a big order, I don't have to worry about you maybe giving me a $50 (which means I have to go run and drop it in the safe before I give you your change cause that is stressful for everyone involved).

After all of this, I actually had a pretty decent experience at Wendy's! At first, I was pretty intimidated but then I got to know my coworkers more and everyday was a new adventure. I don't think you'll ever have that kind of bond with other people because you had to slog through all the crap people throw at us and we have each other to laugh at/get mad about it with. It'll be a little sad to know that I most likely won't see a lot of them ever again, but I'll always have the hilarious stories from this summer to last me.

Until next time,

Ames

My Biggest Secret.

A lot of people that know me probably don't know this about me. I have psoriasis. I'm tired of feeling ashamed for that since I have no control over it. It's one of my biggest secrets but it's ironic since it's not something I can really hide.

For those of you who don't know what psoriasis is, it's a chronic auto immune disease. Psoriasis is when your body overproduces new skin cells. They build up in patches all over the skin and that is what you see. It's a lifelong disease with no known cure and I was diagnosed with it when I was 11. So I've lived with this for 9 years. I really don't publicly tell people about it. Even a lot of my best friends and people who have known me my whole life have never gotten my whole story about it. Honestly, at this point in my life, I can't even remember not having it. 

It's caused some of my greatest insecurities and it's probably the one thing I've cried about the most in life. One of the worst years in my entire life was in middle school. I know a lot of people had their worst year in middle school, but mine was pretty terrible. A lot of people remember one particular year where I wore a hat everyday to school. This wasn't because I thought I was cool or anything remotely close to that. It was because that my psoriasis had gotten so bad that year on my scalp I literally had a decently sized bald spot from it. I was too embarrassed to go to school like that and obviously I couldn't just not go to school. So I had to get special permission from my principal to wear it. People jokingly would sometimes take my hat off, but they had no idea the real reason I was wearing it. It was terrifying and everyday I was scared that people would see what I really looked like without the hat and not want to be friends with me anymore.

If you've met me (which if you're reading this, I hope you have), you've most likely seen my psoriasis on my arms and legs. There are months where it's been barely noticeable and then months where it's very obvious. I can have breakouts of it depending on stress, different environments, etc. I've tried pretty much every type of medication since I was 11. Some have worked for at least a short time, but most all of them have had no affect. I've had creams, sprays, lotions, UV light therapy, and so much more. Since there is no cure, I'll have this the rest of my life and it will never truly go away. 

Luckily, the few people I have told have been amazing. They understand and they don't judge me based on how I look. You'd be surprised that more often than not, people judge me when they see it. If I got a penny every time I caught someone staring at it on me, I know I'd be rich. They might get grossed out and it's really hard to deal with. I can't change the fact that I have it. There are a lot of things I hate about having it, especially the fact that I can't even try and donate bone marrow to anyone, namely my own dad, because leukemia is an auto-immune disease and so is psoriasis. 

But while having psoriasis is the hardest thing in my life, it's actually made me a better person. It's taken me 9 years to understand that. My larger than life personality is actually to compensate for my lack of normal appearance. It's also helped me to never judge a person by their looks because I hate when people do that to me. 

Now this was really hard for me to write. Why did I decide to randomly do it then? I'm not sure. It might be that I've just been getting fed up with myself and with the judging looks from others. It might be something else entirely. I just know that I've been too ashamed of this for too long and I'm tired of it. So there you go. One of my biggest secrets, all spelled out for you. I didn't write this blog post for pity. There are definitely worst things to have in life. I just wanted people to understand me better and I know a lot of people have noticed it.

So last but not least, I want to give a little shout out to all of my amazing friends. You might never have heard my story about all this, but you still treated me the same anyway. That's the only reason I became so loud and crazy. This definitely made me more closed off when I was younger and I never thought I'd be how I am today. It's those friends who treated me the same as everyone else that are some of the best people I have ever met. :)

Thanks for reading! And thanks for all the love over the years <3