Regular hours
Jun. 24th, 2004 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiGoing food shopping during the day is a much different animal than going after work or on the weekends. For one thing, the store isn't as crowded. For another thing, the employees are more outgoing, a bit nicer, and less hurried. One guy pushing a cart by commented that I had "dropped my smile" and should stop and pick it up (of course, he got a smile out of me). I had to slow down my masswhole sprint more than a few times to let the old ladies in front of me walk at their pace.
I remember this from when I worked at Burger King. While in school I did the after school shifts, or the hellish 11-8 shifts on Saturdays and Sundays. It was busy most of the time, and you had the most unskilled workers there that didn't care too much about the job they were doing because its purpose was to fund their cigarette or shitbox car habits. One summer though, I was given a Monday-Friday 11-5 shift - that was awesome and it was the most money I had made at a job to date (I think it was the summer before I started college). I had nights and weekends off. I had a guaranteed paycheck. And I got to meet all the regulars that came in during the week. People working "regular hours" put more pride into their work. They were mostly elderly people that needed the extra income or were looking for something to do. There were others looking at food service as a career (Managers, Assistant Managers). There were also workers from immigrant families that had yet to find their luck and get out of the service industry. Some couples worked at both Burger King and McDonalds (or Ames, or a gas station, or the Little Peach) in order to provide for their kids. You've never met a more hard working bunch.
There were some customers that came in on a regular basis, where we learned each other's names and knew what was going on in each other's lives. I remember when I got rid of the Monte Carlo and ended up with the Gran Fury it only had an AM radio. One regular daytime customer - an old retired guy that came in to sit and have refillable coffee and chat with the other daytimers - he dug out an old AM/FM adapter type thing and gave it to me. It plugged into the AM radio and allowed me to tune FM stations. Eventually I put a tape deck into the beast, but will always remember that silly adapter. Another guy, John, would come in the afternoon and sit in the dining room over lunch and play chess against himself. One of the managers, Mike, would plan his lunch break accordingly so that John could have a partner that wasn't himself on some of those days. Years later I'd go into BK and see John behind the counter in a BK uniform, working pushing the orders. It made me kind of sad - the polyester didn't become him as much as his old english suits (complete with an ascot) did.
I remember this from when I worked at Burger King. While in school I did the after school shifts, or the hellish 11-8 shifts on Saturdays and Sundays. It was busy most of the time, and you had the most unskilled workers there that didn't care too much about the job they were doing because its purpose was to fund their cigarette or shitbox car habits. One summer though, I was given a Monday-Friday 11-5 shift - that was awesome and it was the most money I had made at a job to date (I think it was the summer before I started college). I had nights and weekends off. I had a guaranteed paycheck. And I got to meet all the regulars that came in during the week. People working "regular hours" put more pride into their work. They were mostly elderly people that needed the extra income or were looking for something to do. There were others looking at food service as a career (Managers, Assistant Managers). There were also workers from immigrant families that had yet to find their luck and get out of the service industry. Some couples worked at both Burger King and McDonalds (or Ames, or a gas station, or the Little Peach) in order to provide for their kids. You've never met a more hard working bunch.
There were some customers that came in on a regular basis, where we learned each other's names and knew what was going on in each other's lives. I remember when I got rid of the Monte Carlo and ended up with the Gran Fury it only had an AM radio. One regular daytime customer - an old retired guy that came in to sit and have refillable coffee and chat with the other daytimers - he dug out an old AM/FM adapter type thing and gave it to me. It plugged into the AM radio and allowed me to tune FM stations. Eventually I put a tape deck into the beast, but will always remember that silly adapter. Another guy, John, would come in the afternoon and sit in the dining room over lunch and play chess against himself. One of the managers, Mike, would plan his lunch break accordingly so that John could have a partner that wasn't himself on some of those days. Years later I'd go into BK and see John behind the counter in a BK uniform, working pushing the orders. It made me kind of sad - the polyester didn't become him as much as his old english suits (complete with an ascot) did.
