Bad job/good boss
Most people have had to work at a lousy job at some point in their life. But even the worst job can be made tolerable by good coworkers, sickness especially a decent boss.
Take for instance, McDonalds, where I worked over the summer between high school and college. There are not many jobs worse than working fast food. The pay is lousy. People treat you like a retarded leper. And you leave work every day smelling like you had been molested by a french fry. But the worst part was Happy Meal toys.
Did you know that there are people that obsessively collect each and every Happy Meal toy that comes out? And did you know that many of these people will become raving sociopaths upon the news that the new toy has sold out?
“Hey! You didn’t give my son the new plastic dinosaur! Go get us one!”
“I’m sorry sir, we’ve sold out”
“How can you be sold out?! I hate you! You’ve ruined my son’s day! I hope you get cancer! Give me the plastic dinosaur or I will leap through this drive through window and Mcbeat you to Mcdeath with my collectable summer blockbuster cup! This is the worst thing to happen to any person ever!”
“Worse than ethnic cleansing?”
“Shut up you retarded leper!”
Well at one point they were giving the customers a choice between a matchbox car or a miniature Barbie doll. This was a promotion they run nearly every summer, and they usually have a whole series of different cars and dolls. Every time they do this they always have one minority doll.
One afternoon while I was on break, this woman came running into the restaurant. She had on skimpy daisy dukes with a confederate flag on the butt, and a NASCAR tank top. She was big enough that there was enough bare skin for three normal naked people.
The lady had clearly crawled forth from a very prestigious trailer park, and she was ticked off.
She stormed up to Keisha, the only black person working on the counter at the time.
“You bastards gave my baby girl a no good, god danged ninja Barbie doll! I need a new one!”
Except that she of course, she didn’t say ninja. She said the special n-word that I am not allowed to use.
And I’ll say it again, because I can’t stress this enough: she walked up to the only black person at the front of the store to say it. The entire restaurant goes completely silent. And everyone just kind of stared at her in disbelief.
Somewhere in the back a little girl said, “Mommy what’s a ninja?”.
It was like a starter pistol. Keisha dropped the burger she was carrying, and started to go over the counter at the trailer lady. The trailer lady stated screaming about how McDonalds needs to not have *those* kind of Barbie dolls. All manner of customers start yelling at the trailer lady. And the manager leaps out from the back and grabs Keisha, preventing her from jumping over the counter.
Ignoring the chaos erupting around her, this woman starts to demand that the manager, who is visibly restraining a very ticked off cashier, give her another Barbie.
“Ma’am get out. You’re not welcome here any more.”
“You gave me a ninja doll! What are you gonna do about it?”
“If you are not gone in five seconds I am going to let Keisha go. GET OUT!”
And the woman left. Keisha got put on break, and wasn’t punished for flipping out, and the manager actually apologized to her for having had to listen to the racist nutjob. Furthermore we were told if the woman ever came back to call the police and report her as trespassing.
I have always thought that more fast food managers should threaten rude customers with a beating.
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September 16th, 2007 at 4:37 am
I can’t express in civilized words how that kind of human trash makes me feel about the future of the human race. I am proud of your manager, and pray that there are more people who recognize that these horribly disabled people need to be protected from themselves, lest they incur the wrath of the civilized world. Sooner or later humans will recognize one another for what they are, respecting each other for the same reasons, regardless of race, religion, or beliefs.
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September 16th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I once managed a TCBY frozen yogurt store, and one of the employees had immigrated to America from China. A customer came in and got into a ruckus with her. When I came up front to see what the noise was about, the customer spoke with a southern drawl so thick even I had to mentally packet check to make sure I understood what he had said. The switch flipped when he told me we should hire people who speak English. I informed him her English was better than his, and bade him ‘Have a good day and get out’. I feel for Henry Higgins’ lament – why can’t the English [speakers] speak English?
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:29 am:
United States citizens have no right to complain about anyone’s inability (perceived or real) to speak English, as we have just about every last human ethnicity living here; many signs, instructions and whatnot in this country nowadays are at least trilingual anyway; our official language(s) is/are foreign language(s) by geographic definition; and we share our continent at the land borders with at least two nations with different official languages.
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September 16th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I spent many years in security in the worst parts of St. Louis Missouri. One day I was filling in on a post in a drug store, I won’t name the store, but it starts with w and ends with ns. This was back when these stores still had liquor departments. A very distinguished looking black gentlemen came, and I actually knoew him he was a friend of my father, and like my father was an attorney, he was also a judge whose name was being dropped as a new member of the appeals court and possibly up for the state supreme court. He came into the dept and was getting some wine , and this older, much older white woman with a very thick accent which has to do with a certain small Middle east country and also with certain areas of brooklyn new york, grabbed my arm and told me that I needed to watch those “Darkies” they were nothing but thieves. I just nodded at the woman and said yes’m, and disengaged my arm and walked over and struck up a conversation with the judge, who as I said is a friend of my father, and had eaten at my fathers house on a few occasions. In an undertone I let him in on the conversation the woman and I had had. His response, he chuckled and said “Watch this” he walked very purposely over to the woman and gave her his business card, and struck up a conversation with her. I’m watching this woman go from frightened to obviously embarassed, as her color went from sheet white to red to mottled purple. I really like Judge W.
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September 17th, 2007 at 1:44 am
A few decades ago (I won’t say how many!) when I was an eight-year-old Navy brat, I’m sorta glad to be able to say it came as a total surprise the day I realized that my godfather, my father’s best friend and fellow submarine CPO, was black. I was equally surprised a year or so later when I finally realized his kids, kids I had played with daily for most of our short lives, were also black.(Heaven alone knows when I the kids’ mom was also black: to me, she was simply another mom, just like all the rest of my own mother’s friends.)
I hadn’t even known that I knew any black people; the way my parents raised us, there were two kinds of people: the lucky ones who were Navy (especially submariners!), and everybody else. Nothing else was worth mentioning.
I congratulate your manager for his response: he is obviously an intelligent and sensitive person; and I’m sorry Keisha had to even attempt to deal with a troglodyte like that.
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:34 am:
Troglodytes are those eyeless creatures from Heroes Of Might And Magic, right? (My friend and I used to–and very occasionally still do–play that game.)
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September 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
It’s not just fast food, Skippy. While running a fine dining restaurant, we had a couple that would come in, spend a few hundred, and leave without tipping their server (who makes $4.00/hr + tips). One night, they had the audacity to write “Yo Mama” on the credit card receipt’s tip line. The next time they attempted to dine with us, I let them order drinks at the bar, then told the big, burly bartender to make sure they know they’re not welcome here. I don’t know what he said, but they paid for their unfinished drinks and hurriedly left the restaurant.
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September 17th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
It’s amazing that there are still people out there that hate and stereotype based solely on skin color. It’s embarrassing not only as an American but as a person. It’s a shame that medals cannot be awarded to people like your manager who stand up to biggots like that.
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September 17th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I have always been amazed about how ignorant some people can be, especailly about dealing with other races and cultures.
When I was growing up, we went from living in one area that had several black families living there and several of their children in our school system that I knew as friends, to another area that there was 1 black family in the entire school district, and Pete was more “white” acting then I was! The local “hicks” (I use this term loosely, as I am also something of a hick, just not the barbaric kind, I hope) didn’t know what to make of it when a family (father was in the Army and got assigned to the ROTC program at the local university) that had 2 daughters moved to town. I was pretty ashamed of how people treated them for a long time, when I had actually become pretty good friends with both LaKeisha and LaTasha, so I heard or was witness to many instances of similar situations (and many fights, because it isn’t right to let people say some of those things about your friends, or anyone really).
I ended up in the Army for 6 years afterwards, and even after 14 years, I still don’t see black, white, or whatever skin color the person is, I see good people or bad people, and take them at individual merit.
Your old Boss deserves a commendation for his actions, and Keisha should have been given 5 minutes alone with the “Trailer Park Queen” and a baseball bat!
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:37 am:
She probably would have needed only thirty seconds at most.
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September 17th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Not the least disheartening fact in this anecdote is that this woman has reproduced.
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:39 am:
Unless a Darwin Award or Honorable Mention is on the way, we may be in trouble.
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September 18th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Your manager did a awesome job. But me, I would of, in my sadistic way, let Keisha go ever so slightly and then grab her back at the last second just to watch the trailer trash lady jump.
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September 19th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I’m not sure what’s worse, full on racism or what I like to call Anti-Racism. Now don’t confuse this with someone who is merely not racist. Anti-Racism is the full on emulation of cultural stereotypes that one does not belong to.
Now a long time ago in a nightamre far away I was a lowly gas station clerk who’s sole desire was to go home when I very well dressed black man came into my store and proceded to buy two suckers. While they were sitting on the counter and teh gentleman was counting the money a white guy wearing baggy wind breakers with a pant leg rolled up and his hat cocked to the side walekd up the counter and put his 12-pack on the counter on top of the gentleman’s cady.
“You need to be more watchful with your things, young man.”
“Ah chill ninja, it’s cool yo. I’m from the hood to fo’.”
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:42 am:
You say “anti-racism”, I say “queer” (AND I DO MEAN WEIRD).
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Signalist reply on July 11th, 2012 6:01 pm:
I think the more suitable name would be “wigga”, some of my friends here in Finland call the type “Euro-ninja”
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September 19th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I agree!!! The manager needs to be awarded a medal for his behavior and the TT lady needs a serious beating. As a friend of mine once said, give everyone a gun, make it legal to shoot someone for being stupid (racist, ignorant….etc.) and I GUARANTEE after the first wave, folks will be a whole lot nicer to one another.
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September 20th, 2007 at 3:12 am
If acts of stupidity were punishable by death, the what a happy world this would be. Rather empty, but happy none the less
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September 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I like the comment about the Black judge. That’s good.
One of the best decisions I ever made in my life was learning to speak Spanish – not just because I like the culture, learning the history, or even the people. I do. But as an extremely white person I get to freak out both Latinos and White people. Specifically, Latinos who speak Spanish in front of me, assuming I can’t understand them (and when they find out, they always laugh, and I’ve made new friends), and specifically White people who don’t know me, but assume since I’m White, I want to hear them complain when we overhear two “Meshkins” talking Spanish to each other. I’ve developed a good way of responding back in Spanish/broken English that lets them know that I’m supposedly from Argentina (where a lot of people are whiter than I am) and didn’t understand what they said. Oh, the looks of embarrassment I get. They’re yummy like candy.
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:45 am:
I made friends with a Puerto Rican on the bus route I take to get to college. He speaks English too but we do occasionally say some things in Spanish, which I studied for both years of Junior High School and all four years of High School.
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September 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Okay. I know I’m a bad person, but now I want to see a *REAL* Ninja Barbie doll. Not ninja-as-replacement-n-word, but an honest to God Pink-Shirken wielding Barbie doll…
But I digress…
I remember working as a Asst. Manager in a C-Store that took food stamps. USDA regs stated that you can only give someone 99 cents in cash-change PER HOUSEHOLD, PER DAY. I held my clerks to this rule, as there were some people who used us for their primary food source – Including the son of alcholic parents who would come in and buy food for his school lunches – and I didn’t want our licence revoked.
So, an African-American came in, in a decent off-the-rack suit, came in and got a 5 cent candy with a food stamp. I gave him his 95 cents in change. He then went back to the candy aisle, got another 5 cent candy, and came back with another food stamp.
When I told him that I couldn’t do that, my cracker ass was then pelted with insults, threats, and everything regarding my horrible racism. Finally, I told him that he could talk to my manager, and the time the manager was available the next day.
Strangely enough, he came in the next day, went right up to the gal who was running the register, and demanded to talk to the manager immediatly.
Seems in his righteous race jihad, he failed to notice that the woman was wearing a large, metallic gold nametag that pronounced her to be the manager of the store.
Oh. She was also African-American.
Manager went off on him with every feminist diatribe she could think of. And Justice was served.
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Snyarhedir reply on January 25th, 2011 12:52 am:
I agree; an actual Barbie Ninja would be sweet.
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October 1st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Two Quickies
1. Where I live they rag on minorities a lot (mostly white city escapee county). i take no end in reminding they, they live in what was originally teh territory of “Cuidad de San Carlos de Bartolomeo”.
Company I worked for used to by most of their parts from a local supplier. On day the guy (wearing an asst-manager name tag) at the register struck up a conversation while running up the tally on a couple of thousand dollars in parts. It went racist real fast and the more he spoke the more he offended me and just about every minority know to human kind. He went on how he made sure none ever got hired there and he personnally never would wait on one unless he had to. “The company can hire them as long as the keep them all in their place, down in the city ghettos.”
After he finished I said, “Oh yeah, my boss said I should speak to the manager, Jeff.” He told me Jeff had moved up to regional manager, but just happened to be there. When Jeff walked up, I told him I needed a refund, because as a company we were not allowed to do business with non-EO or segregated companies. Jeff tried to work it out, but at the minute I was pretty pissed, so I got the refund. By the time I got back Jeff had called my boss and after a brief explaination, we had a ne company policy.
Funny part is we all liked Jeff and the company he worked for. So when he started up his own parts compan, the first thing he did was call us to assure us that they had a zero tolerance EO policy for employees and customers. I’m sure it always helps to start-up your company with a at least one client who buys a $100,000.00 or so a year from you.
Oh and the guy who started it all, he was supposed to replace Jeff as the new manager. not sure where he went except to the unemployement line.
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October 17th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
He should have let Keisha get her.
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October 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am
Now, personally, I find racism to be hilarious. Read on before you start ragging on me.
It’s hilarious when you’re good friends with the target/perpetrator, and you’re comfortable enough to spit shit like that around.
For example, I’m both the youngest and only Muslim person in my ROTC battalion, so I get no end of crap, ranging from the SFC calling me Seventeen, to laughing and saying “You’re goin’ to hell!” when he found out I was Muslim. The two Jewish cadets and I on on great terms- I’m about to rush the MS4’s frat, and he’s helping me out, and I’m on the honor guard team of the MS3. From listening to us bullshitting, you’d think we were either best friends or about to kill each other. The sheer amount of friendly bigotry you find in groups like that is amazing.
Plus, the ethnicities are now so mixed, you really can’t say anyone is pure anything.
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November 3rd, 2007 at 6:14 am
Man, one of the major reasons I don’t own a firearm is the many times daily around here in DC I’d be tempted to use it or at least brandish it. What I’d really like is a roof-mounted paintball gun with a coaxial video and still camera to take shots of the nitwit driver’s stunts pulled daily around here while simultaneously marking their cars for approbation with one of those look-see HUD aiming devices; boy, that would be something. Today it was a woman knitting behind the wheel while the car she was ostensibly driving was moving along a major commuter route during rush hour. Normally it’s cellphone chatting while being similarly engaged. But what I’d really like is to get the Hell out of this particular urban/suburban Hell; too many entitled people driving around in pimped pickups, SUVs and Jags pretending the roads are their personal NASCAR tracks.
But I digress. I congratulate your former manager and Keisha on their remarkable display of civility and self-control. I’m quite sure God created tornadoes to thin out the herd of trailer trash Neanderthals like Daisy Mae there. Pity we may all pay the price of their NASCAR carbon dioxide emissions before too long.
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December 1st, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I hate racists. I was working in a nice family restaurant last year and these teens I knew from my first high school came in, knowing of my father’s Middle Eastern heritage, they started commenting very loudly about how all non-English should be sent back home to their countries, especially “pakis”. Unfortunately my numerous bosses didn’t seem to care as much as yours, they pretended it wasn’t happening and sent me to serve them even though I told them I didn’t want too (and this was a huge restaurant with six girls working out front at the time) =[
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January 11th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
what is racism?? but someone’s insecurity with your heritage!! be secure in your past, I’ve been called the n-word more times then I can count, now admittedly my nickname at work is “Powder”, so I can obviously give Casper a run for his money on WHITE. Everything has to do with how you were brought up, I’m a Navy-brat. I’ve also spent 23 years in the U.S. Army Infantry, I see the color of your soul not the color of your skin, so you have a better tan, I like the cold big deal move on
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January 13th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Ok, first i want to say that i just discovered this site and love it!*also wish i could give that former Mgr. of yours a great big hug! Now on with the topic here. I recently started working somplace and was just in a meting yesterday with one of the head people and another new person. Purpose of the meeting was to learn more about what he did there. Well somehow we got off topic and finding out that the other woman that i was with used to be in real estateand that her bf is still in real estate he asked her if she would be able to help him find a place nearby. Fine and dandy! As it turns out he had seen ads for several different places in the area but when he talked to the reciponist as soon as she found out the area she told him *You don’t even want to look there. Your not the right color!* To this i sat there stunned! The woman sitting next to me said she understood his delima. I looked at them both and told them both that i didn’t understand their problem. Please understand, I am from Philly. I was also the only white/chinese feamale in any of my classes, therefore i was rasied not to see color but to see PEOPLE! I told these people this and asked them what they think the big deal is. Neither one had an answer, they just looked at me with that funny *How do you not see the problem* look and continued on with the pervious discussion.
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February 14th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I would’ve let Keisha go. After handing her a wrench. And similar to Paula’s comment above, I started watching Star Trek when I was seven and didn’t realize that Geordi or Worf were black ’till I was about twelve. Also, we had this family in my school, the Ekwaboos (I think that was the spelling). Everyone knew them, everyone liked them, and when trying to explain to someone else who they were nobody ever thought to mention they were the only black family in the highschool.
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March 31st, 2008 at 1:11 am
I’m patently surprised that ” .. and the entire clientele gave the manager a standing ovation” was not the ending to that superb story.
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August 18th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
I commend your manager’s compassionate nature on this issue. The world would be a much better place if there were more people like him. I wouldn’t have let Keisha go in this situation because that trash will never be worth losing your freedom to.
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August 30th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I so wish I could have a manager like that. This was my second summer working in the hell beneath the golden arches.
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January 11th, 2015 at 6:33 pm
What’s sad is the fact that people like this breed like rabbits.
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