Everyone should work food service and retail at least once in their lives. It would give perspective to, and teach respect for, what those workers have to endure.
The worst part of retail/food service is the inescapable feeling of dread when you stare down the endless abyss of being stuck in that job day in and day out, forever, until you die. Only by resigning yourself to that fate does one gain the perspective needed to truly sympathize with the working class.
Fucking SAME. I bartended and served through college (my degree doesn’t pay well due to YouTube tutorials that have flourished in my industry, lol ouch) and after, and then finally at 30 I started temping in manufacturing, which led to me permanently hired at a huge company with ridiculous benefits, and am now a supervisor in engine assembly that will make 6 figures in 3 years.
I desperately wish I had gone into trade school when I was 18.
Hell yeah! I became an electrician and now I work for myself. Which, so far, absolutely rocks. It turns out I didn’t hate working, I hated having bosses lol
It’s a great path if you’re up for it, to anyone reading
From the bottom up. No skipping washing dishes, cleaning out the walk-in cooler, scraping grills, cleaning fryers… Yeah, front of house has its own difficulties, but it’s a lot easier than the grunt work in the back.
I don’t think we need to compare. Both suck, and both teach valuable life skills. Back of house how terrible you can be treated by corporate overlords and management with some of the worst jobs. Front of house teaches you how terrible you can be treated by the general public. I have both scars on my hands from molten grease and I’ve been screamed at by old ladies because corporate raised the senior coffee price from 49 to 53 cents. Both show you how awful different things can be.
Agreed. I wasn’t trying to suggest otherwise, just that the suggestion was customer-facing was the only difficult side of the service industry and we need to see all of it.
This is very true. I was at my retail job and a customer walked up to me while I happened to be leaning on my workstation because my back hurt. The first thing he says to me is, “when I had a fast food job, if there was time to lean, there was time to clean!“ I looked at him, and then I turned around and walked away. He had this stunned look on his face. I walked into the back room To cool off a bit before I walked back onto the floor. It was probably five or eight minutes. When I walked back out, he was still standing there, at my workstation, waiting for me.
Having worked both retail and call center, no, they’re not in the same league. People can be assholes over the phone, absolutely, but it’s quite different from face-to-face. Someone threatens to kill me over the phone, I can say “I’d like to see you try” and hang up, and the worst that happens is I get fired. In person, they can carry out the threat.
Everyone should work food service and retail at least once in their lives. It would give perspective to, and teach respect for, what those workers have to endure.
The worst part of retail/food service is the inescapable feeling of dread when you stare down the endless abyss of being stuck in that job day in and day out, forever, until you die. Only by resigning yourself to that fate does one gain the perspective needed to truly sympathize with the working class.
And that’s why I went to trade school at age 30. “I gotta get out of these fuckin places.”
It was a good move
Fucking SAME. I bartended and served through college (my degree doesn’t pay well due to YouTube tutorials that have flourished in my industry, lol ouch) and after, and then finally at 30 I started temping in manufacturing, which led to me permanently hired at a huge company with ridiculous benefits, and am now a supervisor in engine assembly that will make 6 figures in 3 years.
I desperately wish I had gone into trade school when I was 18.
Hell yeah! I became an electrician and now I work for myself. Which, so far, absolutely rocks. It turns out I didn’t hate working, I hated having bosses lol
It’s a great path if you’re up for it, to anyone reading
fuck the draft, make everyone spend a year or two in the service industry after high school
From the bottom up. No skipping washing dishes, cleaning out the walk-in cooler, scraping grills, cleaning fryers… Yeah, front of house has its own difficulties, but it’s a lot easier than the grunt work in the back.
I don’t think we need to compare. Both suck, and both teach valuable life skills. Back of house how terrible you can be treated by corporate overlords and management with some of the worst jobs. Front of house teaches you how terrible you can be treated by the general public. I have both scars on my hands from molten grease and I’ve been screamed at by old ladies because corporate raised the senior coffee price from 49 to 53 cents. Both show you how awful different things can be.
Agreed. I wasn’t trying to suggest otherwise, just that the suggestion was customer-facing was the only difficult side of the service industry and we need to see all of it.
I don’t know. Some people who experience abuse and escape it become far worse abusers when they’re in position to do so.
This is very true. I was at my retail job and a customer walked up to me while I happened to be leaning on my workstation because my back hurt. The first thing he says to me is, “when I had a fast food job, if there was time to lean, there was time to clean!“ I looked at him, and then I turned around and walked away. He had this stunned look on his face. I walked into the back room To cool off a bit before I walked back onto the floor. It was probably five or eight minutes. When I walked back out, he was still standing there, at my workstation, waiting for me.
I went to lunch.
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Add call-centers to that list.
Food service and retail needs to exist, (
commercialsales) call centers should be banned and their owners shunned from polite society.Sales call centers I would agree with you. Costumer service ones are necessary.
To a point. Beyond that point, they exist so that businesses can make anti-customer decisions while underpaying people to be abused for it.
Having worked both retail and call center, no, they’re not in the same league. People can be assholes over the phone, absolutely, but it’s quite different from face-to-face. Someone threatens to kill me over the phone, I can say “I’d like to see you try” and hang up, and the worst that happens is I get fired. In person, they can carry out the threat.
And hospitality.