I will create a note going into more depth, but I wanted to start with something that bugs the hell out of me. It's not something I get overly irate about unless it's under certain circumstances, but anyone who works in food service, retail, or just about any in-person customer service position, will understand. Those customers who come into the store that cut it way too close to when you close. Every store deals with this issue, and no one working there is happy that you've come in that close to closing time. In fact, you're more likely to get worse service doing so because the workers just want to go home. And it's typically people who have never worked in that specific industry before that do it and wonder why the mood is so drab and why the workers are so grumpy.

For those of you who have never worked in the customer service industry before, and also don't know anyone who has in order to have a basic understanding, I'm happy to explain!

In any store you work in, there is a check-list of things to do during the day. Now, my experience lies more with food service, so that's where I can provide my knowledge from. The last place I worked was fast food. I won't clarify which one because I had kind of a bad experience and don't like thinking about that specific restaurant. But in my time there, they had checklists for each shift, and for each position that there was; front counter, drive-thru and kitchen. The front counter and drive-thru positions had 1 checklist each. The kitchen had 3 to account for the prep-table, the fryers and food waste.

I was never trained in the kitchen because I didn't have any level of comfort for it and my employers did respect that, which I'm very appreciative for. However, I can tell you that there were the same number of tasks for each shift's checklist. Opening shift had certain tasks, mid-day shift had certain tasks, and for the late-night crew, they had both pre-closing and closing tasks to do. Because of the number of them and the poor turnover rate at that location, it was often just 1 or 2 people working on each checklist. And even if one person was handling customers while the other did the cleaning, we would still often be there for at least an hour after we closed because customers would come in last minute and mess up things we'd already done, so we'd have to do that task over again. It would be worse if there was only 1 person trying to do everything in one position for closing tasks; you'd have to stop your cleaning tasks whenever someone walked in and it would put you behind.

And honestly, this frustration is about the same in restaurants you take the family out to an expensive dinner for, too. I've worked in a couple of restaurants that weren't fast food, Famous Dave's being my favorite out of all of them. I had a good time there, but I started to struggle with my mental health at some point and quit on the spot. It's something I regret, but I would happily work for them again. Back to the main point, however, I think it's honestly more annoying to have last-minute customers in this setting as opposed to fast-food, because with fast food, you don't necessarily feel like you need to sit inside the store to eat what you ordered. At more upscale restaurants, you want to have that experience of sitting down and chatting with whoever you invited with you. But last-minute dining just isn't it, honestly. The food takes much longer to make than with fast food, so you're sitting there longer. So if you come in 10 minutes to closing, you could be there well after the restaurant has closed down for the night and you'll be sitting in the negative energy of the employees who now despise you for making their night take longer. Food service workers are not robots, they're people just like the rest of us who deserve a smooth cleanup so that they can go home and rest and finally have some time to themselves.

I just ask that people getting food be more considerate of the workers because I've worked behind the scenes enough to know how petty people are, and while last-minute customers are annoying, sure, no one deserves that one petty person who got angry enough to spit in someone's food because they're fed up. I just want more kindness and consideration in the world, and it's so hard to come by.