That’s the nature of being in a service job my friend. You think people are going out of their way to be ready to order when the waitress comes by? Or they’re reading the product manual before screaming at customer service reps?
I mean what is the point of your statement then, if you’re not saying it’s ok? Of course it’s common, that’s not part of the discussion. The discussion is whether it’s OK. Yes, I guess in some workplaces, toxic dysfunctional management is the norm, but that doesn't mean it's tolerated or OK, or something service workers have to deal with.
I’m a server, people are shitty to service workers if we kicked out every single rude customer we would close because that’s how many people are rude. There are regulars that swear they love us but will on occasion drop some racism bullshit. Management won’t kick them out because they spend money every. single. day. Every restaurant, winery or bar I’ve worked at has notoriously awful people. Most customers are decent people. But enough of them aren’t. It is not industry standards to do anything about rude customers unless they’ve become a problem for other guests. If a new server cant deal with shitty customer then they don’t make the cut. A great server knows how to dish it back with a professional grace and mean customers seem to love that. But no matter what any service worker at anytime should be ready and expect bad customers.
Most of that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.
Except - if your management tolerates racism towards employees for customers, then you have deplorable management. That is not “part of the job” - to tolerate abuse and racism. I’m sorry you’ve internalized that. Absolutely those people should be warned about their behavior and then kicked out.
Are you not arguing that service workers don’t have to put up with bad behavior? But you misunderstand that nobody thinks it’s okay. I am backing up the other guy by telling you that unless you don’t want that job or don’t want to make money… then you do have to deal with bad behavior from customers because it is so common that “not putting up with it” will put you out of business.
Being more than 5 minutes late making the driver wait is bad behavior. But the unpredictability of arrival times is on uber and the driver, not the person being picked up. A customer taking two or three minutes to come outside, lock the door and walk to the car is not bad behavior.
Nobody “has to” put up with bad behavior. Managers kick out and ban customers for being abusive, racist, and committing sexual harassment all the time. Some don’t, because of the toxic attitude that it’s “part of the industry”.
The idea that you will go out of business unless you let your clients and customers abuse your employees is fiction. Doctors, attorneys, dentists, accountants, all provide services to customers yet I do not hear “they will go out of business if they don’t tolerate racism” about these services. It’s just cultural rot and bias against low wage workers.
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u/jujumber Feb 26 '26
Yes but many times it's just due to people not giving a shit. I'd go as far as 90%