Last night, I drove from Lake Wallenpaupack to Philly to get our son Jared and his kittens for Christmas. On the way, I stopped in at Arby’s in Wind Gap – I needed the restroom (I also wanted a Jamocha shake and some jalapeno poppers for the ride.) As soon as I went inside, I realized it was a big mistake.
There were only two people working. One was taking orders for the counter…AND the drive-thru…AND also managed the fry area. The other one was putting together the sandwiches.
It ended up taking much longer than I anticipated, but once I was there a while, I figured I might as well wait. The guys were frantic. The one doing the drive-thru had a slight speech problem, but he was doing his best to take everyone’s orders and get their food to them as quickly as he could. He apologized to every person, explaining that there were only two of them working.
Apparently, that was not enough for some people. Some of the drive-thru customers were nice and understanding (I heard a couple suggest he get a raise), but a couple got REALLY nasty and called him names – including the R-word. (I didn’t hear that part, but one of the guys told me about it during a slight lull.)
All because the rest of the crew called out sick, and these two guys were working their butts off to keep the place open for a never-ending stream of people.
The encouraging thing is this: those of us inside, watching the whole thing, were amazed and impressed with these two. Everyone was pleasant and patient. We all told them what a great job they were doing. The cook guy said they were hanging on until 6 PM when more help was coming on. It was about 5:00 or so at the time. Oy!
As a busy Realtor, I always feel like I’m behind schedule. Running late. Someone is waiting for something. I need to “get back” to wherever to write an offer, reply to a request, or show a house. I need to “get there” to meet someone, pick them up, take them somewhere, give them something.
But really, is that unique? Aren’t we all under deadlines and timeframes? Don’t we all have demands? My life is no more or less busy than anyone else’s.
It’s easy to get mad when you’re in a hurry, when you have places to go, people to see, things to do, and it seems like other people are slowing you down. But stop and take a breath. Yes, it’s annoying when something takes longer than you expect. The world won’t end, I promise…you’ll get there. (And if you’re late for the airport or train station, you shouldn’t waste precious time in a drive-thru anyway…)
It’s so easy to crush someone’s spirit with cruel words. It hurts my heart to think that young man is going to remember being called the R-word when he was going above and beyond for his job, doing the absolute best he could.
I hope he remembers ALL the people who thanked him and said, “Great job!”
