Subway Essay, Research Paper

Subway Challenges

Driving to work with my windows down, moon roof open and the thumping sound of Nate Dog?s music ringing in my ear, I was having a fine morning. Even though I knew Saturday mornings get busy I figured I would get through it happily. Many people are rude in their own ways and restaurant employees have to learn how to deal with them. As I got ready for work I didn?t realize that I would be getting the most awful customer in all of my years working at Subway. I tried giving superior customer care to the middle-aged women but she threw the money at me and took her sandwich and meal and stormed out of the restaurant. Little did I know that my ?fine? day would be a disastrous one. Consumers do not realize the agony and distress that Subway employees have to go through to satisfy a customer.

Knowing that my shift at work begins at nine in the morning I decided not to set my alarm. Not waking up to the abrupt pitch sound of the alarm leaves me with an ear to ear smile. I loved working Saturday mornings because every Saturday I worked from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, which leaves the rest of the day free. I usually go out for a night of fun with my cousins and friends. Knowing that customers drive crazy and that they might hit my car, I had my favorite parking space, which is usually taken but this morning it?s not. I parked in the space next to a tree where only one vehicle can park next to my car. I had full view from work of who parks next to my silver BMW. Not too much time passes before I got into work and took the cold containers full of sliced red tomatoes, white American cheese, cut green peppers, and the deli style ham and turkey out of the refrigerator and prepared it for the customers. Filled to the top of the

container all the cold?cut-meats are ready to serve. I like when everything is cleaned and filled to the top. I then bring the black mats out and put one under the soda machine so that the floor will not be sticky from the fountain drinks and I put the other mat at the entrance of the door so customers can wipe their shoes.

Standing all morning serving customers with care, my legs begin to trickle with pain. Rush hour is beginning and I can?t even think of taking my break. ?White or wheat sir?? No answer. ?Sir would you like white bread or wheat bread?? No answer again until I raise my voice just a little to get his attention. Almost every person that comes in is either talking on their cell phone or yelling at their kids, with about ten customers waiting in line to be served and I usually get a complaint about how long it took for a person to be served. I can?t stand and explain to the customer why people are talking to their family or friends while I?m taking an order. Or why it took so long for the customer before them to order, so I just take it to the heart and I apologize for the wait. After all the apologizing for other people?s mistakes, and sometimes mine for putting green sliced bell-pepper on a customer?s sandwich when they asked not to, or when they ask to put extra mustard when I didn?t. I stride to the fridge pleased that the rush hour is over and take out food setups to fill the bain (where the food is set-up for customers). Next I take out frozen dough from the freezer to prepare it for baking.

After cleaning the bain, front tables, and muggy soda machine I decided to take my break. My sandwich is always simple because I just want to sit down and relax. I took out a white soft six-inch sandwich and put cheese, three slices of turkey, lettuce and tomato with a little dash of salt and pepper. Tired but happy that its finally time for me to

take my break, I sat in the front corner by myself away from all the demanding customers.

Just as I took a big bite of my sandwich, a herd of people came into the store. Soon after sitting down I got up and helped the employees leaving my meal and soda sit as the ice in my cherry Pepsi melted in the office. I subsequently put my gloves on and a middle-aged woman with big red glasses and red bushy hair approached me. She ordered a number four six-inch on wheat bread. Briefly I took out the bread and cut it into half. ?Is the bread fresh?? She asks spitefully. ?Yes it is.? I said politely. I asked if she wanted all the vegetables in her sandwich and she said no. ?All I would like is lettuce and lots of onions.? Shortly I finished her sandwich. Afterwards she asked for the other half of the sandwich. I made the sandwich and I wrapped it up. ?How much are the cookies?? I pointed to the sign where it says three for a dollar and one for forty cents while I rang her meal up. I looked out the window to check if anyone is around my car. As soon as I did that a car pulled right next to it. I heard the customer mumble something about not wanting the cookies but at that point I didn?t care. I wanted to watch out for my car. The customer parked very closely to my BMW, but they didn?t hit it. ?That was rude.? She said very roughly. Because I wasn?t paying attention to her and I paused a while to watch out for my car, she suddenly changed to just a rude customer to a nasty hideous person. I apologized and explained that I was ringing her meal up and I wasn?t really paying attention. Her face wrinkled up, eyebrows raised, and her eyes stared grimly into mine. ?Four-ninety-eight for your meal ma?am.? She pulled out a five-dollar bill out of her craggy huge red purse, crumbled it plus threw it at me and marched very quickly out the

door. I can not believe she did that, all I did was look out for my car a moment. I didn?t give her a bad attitude, I even apologized. I felt so awful that I didn?t take my break or finish my sandwich because I have never been treated like that. I felt like I was a peasant just making sandwiches for the ?Kings and Queens.? She or anyone else is not any better than I am and I should not have been treated that way. I wanted my shift to be over soon. She ruined my day.

Finally my shift is over and I?m glad my day at work is done. Although there are good customers that come in and I enjoy serving, there are always the bad ones that devastate my day. Not only do I have to watch my manners because I have to show

courtesy to the customers I have to be careful of my car because I don?t want any wild customer hitting it. I feel that I have to live and learn from this and other situations. I then met my friends at Denny?s and we ate there. Realizing what kind of a day the

waitress is probably going through, I treated the waitress with utmost respect and I gave her a big tip.