Rude Mother Duckers!

Having worked in The Dirty Duck for the last three years, I’d say I was well versed in pretty much all the goings on at the old watering hole. However, this is not going to be a gushing review of our pub. Instead, I am going to use my limited inches in this paper to moan profusely about the worst kind of customers in the Duck.

From the customers who don’t understand that a queue is indeed a queue, to those who think that waving at me is going to make their food arrive any quicker, union outlets are not short of people who think that being rude to the establishment staff is going to make anything happen other than make us wish you hadn’t walked in the door.

Union staff are unanimous that working in the union is, overall, a great thing to do and a pleasant experience. However, it is the tiny minority of rude customers who can make your six hour shift feel like one of the seven circles of hell. Something as simple as barking your order at a member of staff without even a hint of a ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ is just bad-mannered. I’d like to hazard a guess that if some students’ mothers saw how they treated some union staff that they’d be dragged home by the ear to wash their mouths out with soap.

“well she’s probably not even a student, with no GCSEs, working here.”

As a cautionary tale, I am going to share my worst experience with you all. Picture this: busy shift, food being taken to tables left, right and centre. One table of students had been waiting for their food, but rather than sit quietly decided that rattling their table number at me was going to magically make their order next. When called over to their table, I told them that because we were so busy food was taking longer than anticipated and then apologised profusely. I’m sure we’d all agree, a situation handled rather well. However, when I turned to walk away and heard one of them say “well she’s probably not even a student, with no GCSEs, working here.” Actually, I have GCSEs, A-Levels and a degree from the university whose pub he was currently sitting in. However, rather than say anything, I just had to walk away with a smile and take it.

As staff we are just doing our jobs and most people probably don’t realise how much impact their actions or words can have. I understand that ‘the customer is always right’, but that doesn’t give a customer the right to act out – courtesy costs nothing.

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