The Subway Customer 'Freakout' That Stunned TikTok
If you've ever worked in food service before, then you know how challenging it can be to appease some customers. Even if you do everything right, customers can come in with a bad attitude and try to cause a problem by complaining about literally anything. Fast-food restaurants aren't of course exempt from the power of these complaints and experiences, and with the lack of workers within restaurants, complaints are up 229% (via Restaurant Dive).
Take the popular quick-service sandwich chain Subway for example. Even if you go to the restaurant in a good mood, the absurd number of choices and combos can be quite overwhelming and it may turn your encounter with an employee sour. This happens more times than you think at most quick-service restaurants, resulting in as much as 39% of food service employees "quitting over concerns about hostility or harassment from customers" (via Harvard Gazette).
Whether or not the customer is right though, we still pay homage to the employees that play it cool and don't let customers ruffle their feathers.
A Subway interaction gone wrong
There's never a dull day when working a shift at Subway. In the latest inception of outrageous customers coming through the sub line, TikTok shows a woman freaking out over (cough) no reason at all. One TikTok account, @publicfreakouts227, posted a two-and-a-half-minute video showing a woman undergoing a series of demands over the making of her sub. At first, everything seems relatively fine as she builds her sub, asking for "more cucumbers, some peppers, more peppers, and black olives." Then comes the confusion, as the employee asks her if she wants sauce and she states very loudly, "that's the last thing I want." "Okay," replies the employee. "I don't want sauce all over it...that's the opposite of what I said. I said I don't want sauce all over it." "Okay, so we're all good then," replied the employee. "That's the opposite of what I said, and I'd like a soup."
The remainder of the interaction continues to go South, as the employee tries to let her know that all the soups will contain salt and pepper. "I don't think it has pepper...does it have pepper in all of those soups?" Then, the employee quickly opens the paper wrapping of the woman's sub at the cash register to verify it is hers, causing her to get more upset. "Why are you opening my sub? Why did you open up my sandwich like that? Can you open up theirs instead and make sure to touch theirs?" Phew.
TikTok has mixed emotions on this incident
Since its posting, the video has garnered over 75,000 likes and over 2,600 comments. "Omg, I would have lost it if I was in line there," said one user. "Subway you did a great job of interacting with her. Some people would be less understanding and be short with her. Good for you," said another user. While she wasn't inherently rude and just overly particular and confused about ordering, some TikTok accounts suggested she might be suffering from OCD, which could explain her repetitive statements. "Great service love the gentle interaction. Wish more could recognize people with developmental disabilities and give this kind of service," said another TikTok user. "She is not crazy. She has developmental disabilities, or mental illness. Do better people," commented another account.
At the end of the day, the woman received her Subway order without leaving the employee horrified or any major catastrophe occuirng. After all, that's the least we can expect when ordering lunch, right?