The good, the bad, the ugly.
Working – especially in customer service – lets us see all of what humanity has to offer.
It can teach us things, too, if we’re willing to pay attention, and these 15 people are passing along that knowledge to you.
#15. Jobs well done.
“I’ve learned that most people are so wrapped up in their own desire to be praised that they forget to praise the others around them for jobs well done.
Which leads to everyone complaining about how their good work is never recognized.”
#14. Power hungry people.
“Power hungry people will find a way to make themselves appear important, no matter what role they have in the company.”
#13. They really need hugs.
“I am a stripper.
I have learned that men are taught not to be emotionally vulnerable to anybody they are not s*xually involved with so they go to strip clubs and pretend to be there for the bewbs when all they really need is a hug and for someone to ask how they are doing.
Don’t get me wrong there are lots of men that are there to see naked women as well but the men coming in to see me every week to get $100 worth of lap dances are there for emotional support and to talk to me about their divorce or wife that passed away or their grandchild that has been in and out of the hospital since birth.
After being a stripper I will always be grateful that I am a woman and was taught that it is okay to turn to friends for emotional support and to talk about my feelings.”
#12. Rinse, repeat.
“Software engineer here. People don’t realize how much complexity they’re asking for when specifying software
A bunch of smart people sit around a conference table and come up with great ideas, lots of them, almost like they are competing against each other to see who can be the most clever
I remind them that they are creating complexity, and that complexity is poison. I’ve seen the same scene many times over my career (I started programming in 1972). They say, build it anyway
It gets built, but it takes longer, since all the complexity results in very tricky bugs
It gets out into the field. Users complain that it’s incomprehensibly complex and hard to learn. Most of the “clever” features never get used
Next project .. rinse, repeat.”
#11. People are f*cking disgusting.
“Having worked at a hotel, I learned people are f**king disgusting.
They don’t care at all who cleans up the mess.”
#10. Just because.
“Just because you’re called a manager doesn’t mean you’re good at managing people.”
#9. Ignorant people.
“It’s not that I hate people.
I can deal with stupid people if they learn
I can deal with mean people if they still show some respect
I can deal with slow people if they try to accommodate their actions by taking some kind of shortcut or are aware and apologize.
I hate ignorant people. Which is unfortunately most of everyone’s customer base.”
#8. You don’t need to lose your s**t.
“Human beings are f**king mental. No sorry, that 2.99 bag of chips is not 1 dollar. You don’t need to lose your s**t over it. I also didn’t realise just how many people in my city are f**king using. I get tweakers all freaking day coming through my lane, or trying to steal backpacks full of stuff. Then the amount of fake 20’s, and 100’s I get on a monthly basis drives me crazy. I had one lady lose her f**king mind because I wouldn’t accept a fake 100 dollar bill, after the f**king security strip fell off…
On a lighter side, I’ve also observed that there are a great many people who pay for others goods when the customer can’t afford them. Buy non-perishables for the many homeless in my area, etc. There’s a lot of good people out there, but just as many bad ones.”
#7. Most people lose their brain cells.
“I work as a waitress.
I learned that most people lose their brain cells when they step inside a restaurant.
“Does the seafood pasta have seafood in it?”
“Can I have a medium-rare steak no pink?””
#6. How little respect people have for the animals.
“I work at a zoo and it always amazes me how little respect people have for the animals.
For me, the zoo is an amazing place to go to see wildlife up close and be able to marvel at its beauty, but I guess for most of the people who come to the zoo, it’s just cheap entertainment, like a circus.
They expect the animals to do tricks or come up to them. If they aren’t active or facing the exact perfect way, that’s MY problem and I’m supposed to be able to control these wild animals to please these guests. It’s crazy some of the stuff I’ve seen people do to try and get the animals attention.
Zoos are about enjoying animals doing animal things, not trying to get animals to do whatever it is you want them to do.”
#5. Everyone’s in a rush.
“Everyone is in a rush because they can’t properly plan things out on time.”
#4. No matter how bad.
“No matter how bad your service may be customers will come back if they like the food.
No matter how good the food may be customers will complain about something
No matter how bad your coworkers may be they will not be fired if your upper management is f**king their boss.”
#3. People will ask for free booze.
“Worked in an Irish Pub for a while.
What I learned about people is that you just need to mess up a tiny little bit, the smallest of things, and people will ask for free booze.
Every. Single. Time.”
#2. Parents really have a lot of influence.
“I’m a teacher and teach young children.
Parents really have a lot of influence on their kids. Kids will repeat everything parents say at home about topics like politics, beliefs and views on other people. Children sometimes copy this behavior or will tell the teacher what the parents say at home.
So if you have young children, their teacher will probably know more about you than you’d like.”
#1. A lot of broken people.
“I work in a grocery store, and yes I’ll give the cliche answer that I have to deal with some customers who are assholes. However, I’ve seen a lot of good things customers have done for each other. For example, I’ve seen a customer help another customer to there car when the other customer couldn’t physically load their groceries in the car.
I’ve also seen a lot of broken people as well. A lot of times when I’m stocking a random stranger will come up and start talking to me. They’ll tell me what’s bothering them. They’ll give me their life story. This past Christmas season an elderly woman came up to me and told me that her husband loved Christmas, but he died over the Summer, and this would be the first Christmas she would spend alone. A lot of people just want someone to listen.”
Humans, am I right? We’re ver complicated creatures and when it comes to interfacing with them while working… well, it’s not always pretty.
Have a story about a time when they let you down at work? Or you learned something about humanity you’d rather not have?
Let us know in the comments!
