We're People, Not Punching Bags

By Hayden Murry

Student Life Editor

January 2022

Customer service, a career many of us students have or are still experiencing, is always full of interesting experiences to say the least. You come in contact with various types of people and situations that can easily make or break your day, most commonly the latter. Throughout the pandemic, while nearly every company has faced shortages of staff and merchandise has only made customer service jobs even more intolerable.

Within my short time as a barista at an unnamed major coffee corporation, the experiences have been anything but peaceful. A majority of customers that come in are pleasant, normal human beings who come in to pick up their morning cup of joe, stop by for a pick-me up, or drop in to get their caffeine fix before a long night of homework.

Unfortunately, the various other customers who make up the minority have the power to destroy any glimpse of joy a worker might have left inside their empty soul. These customers order various customized, labor intensive beverages.

Although this is part of the job description, and get paid to do exactly such a task, it eventually does become too much. Many times they’re groups of teens that were enticed by the bright colors of a sugary beverage they saw on social media, and will buy these drinks for every member of their friend group.

On the other hand, grouchy customers find the need to complain about the slightest of things. The lighter shade of brown their latte is today compared to yesterday, or the fact that we’ve been out of the coveted sugar plum cheese danish due to supply shortages.

Even though complaints are typically addressed with a myriad of apologies, these customers deliver their complaints in immature or degrading ways. They’ll scream through the window, demand free items, or threaten the security of your job, all due to a seemingly ‘life threatening” situation of handing them the wrong flavored cake pop.

Whether it be worker or customer, good or bad, rude or polite, everyone has rough days and makes mistakes. However, these mistakes are not reasons to justify the harassment of workers some might deem lower in society.

Many might suggest that these encounters are part of the job description, and that’s true in today’s society. Nonetheless, we as a society need to change this social norm of nasty attitudes towards those in customer service. They are people, not robots who were programmed to serve your every need, and definitely not punching bags you can unleash your unmannerly behaviors onto.