Fast Food Workers Describe The Most Irritating Parts Of Their Job

Every job is going to have its annoying aspects, some so much so, it's entertaining to think about quitting.

But one workforce that's undeniably irritating for anyone who's worked there is the fast food industry.

From fast-paced environments, disgruntled customers, to hot grease and broken down ice cream makers, there's no shortage of complaints that a fast food employee might have.

Curious, Redditor Vixen_Starfire asked:

"Fast Food Workers of Reddit, what's the most irritating part about your job?"

The Almighty Disconnect

"The disconnect between decisions made by upper management or corporate and what really happens on the floor."

"For example, 'You MUST clock out within an hour of close! But everything BETTER be done. And also you aren’t allowed to lift a finger once you’ve clocked out because we’ll get in trouble for wage theft. But also everything BETTER be done and you CANNOT clock out any later than such-and-such time."

"And, 'Oh you got slammed in the last 30 minutes and weren’t able to do any of your pre-closing tasks? Well, sorry, but the customers always take priority so I don't know, figure it out.'"

"Just to give one example of many."

- stephanonymous

"They want you to clock out and continue working, but they know they can't say that."

- Bianell

The Whole Point of Quiet Quitting

"As a worker, just don't play this game. Never forget that if you are hired, you are making benefit to your boss."

"Everything else is an attempt to make YOU do more benefit to your boss, but not to yourself. For you, it's the opposite : it's taking your energy to make more money for something else, you could have used this energy for making money for yourself or for something you like to do."

"As long as more effort is not equal to more remuneration, just don't put more effort. It's as simple as that."

- Tendu_Detendu

Two Words: Look Busy

"Former fast food, now a professional."

"The worst part in retrospect is that you were expected to be constantly busy when you were on the clock, for eight hours straight, without so much as glancing at your phone."

"This isn't a realistic workflow, and in the professional world, you're not treated like that."

- Ebonyks

"I was always told to "look busy" even when there were no clients. If I stood there, I was reprimanded. So I took a washer with me and would wash a window over and over again. So stupid."

- TraditionalCherry

No Respect to Other Engagements

"When I was younger, the thing that irritated me most about working in fast food was that the managers would always 'forget' that I was in high school and could not work weekdays."

"Evenings? Yes. Weekends? Of course. Then I'd get in trouble for no-showing."

"And it wasn't once or twice per year; it was every other month. This was not limited to one single store either. Nor one single country."

- Tangurena

"I HATED when the managers would make this mistake and then act like it was your problem to solve and put it on you to find coverage, and you just know half the time they were doing this because young staff didn't know better how to stand up for themselves and would let them get away with it."

- Korrin

No Haggling

"When customers would fight me, the window worker, on prices. Cheese being an extra $0.75 at my Jimmy John's is outrageous, I agree. I had nothing to do with it, and I don't have the power to override it."

- fullybookedtx

Treated Like Machines

"I do taxes for about eight hours of the day and once I watched a McDonald’s line prep 60 min YouTube and their job is five times harder than mine."

"I still think of it when I’m doing too much and working too hard how I wouldn’t even make it at McDonald’s."

"When I overwork myself I get insomnia and my mental health spirals. I can’t imagine working like a machine like I saw on that YouTube. I wouldn’t make it a few weeks."

- idiotsincarspart20

Closing Time

"100% when customers come in 10 minutes before close. If they're nice, I'll let it slide. But showing up right before close, AND you're an a**hole? Grinds my gears, man."

- SnooCakes8519

Not So Easy After All

"Employees who take the job thinking this is easy work and customers who belittle employees because they think it’s easy work."

"Guess what, standing over a 500° grill while trying to get your order out in 3:30 is not actually easy."

"Especially when I’ve got one line person outside smoking, the person who needs to take my spot to deal with something else puts their earbuds in the second they think I’m not looking, and there’s a different Karen on the phone complaining that their food is wrong."

- jayellkay84

The Customer Is Always Right. Right?

"I haven't worked fast food since 1995 (Chick-fil-A), but I imagine the answer is the same now as it was then: The customers."

- jeanneeebeanneee

On Fast-Forward Into Eternity

"the speed at which you are to complete your tasks, and to keep that speed up for the entire eight-hour shift."

- Closet-Spirit

What a Rollercoaster

"Like 20 years ago when I worked there at 16, it was the predatory older woman who wanted to hang out outside of work. She ended up running out and quitting after stuffing 100 dollars in her pocket. The funny thing is, that became a felony charge as she forgot to take off her headset valued at 500."

"Couldn’t imagine these days. That was even before Drive through soda bombing was a thing."

- _manicpixie

So Disrespectful

"Being treated like a subhuman being. Some people go out of their way to be a bunch of cruel f**king a**holes because their day is bad or their life sucks."

"I never tampered with someone's food, but I did go out of my way to pick the stalest coffee/baked goods for them."

- rikaateabug

Not in the Job Description

"That we were told, 'That’s not in my job description,' isn’t an excuse. I was a delivery driver for Pizza Hut. Prepping dough, doing dishes, and delivering were in my job description."

"What wasn’t in my job description, but in other people’s descriptions, was answering phones, making orders, getting everything ready as it came out of the oven, running the fryer, and taking over a till up front, so I was one of two people in the store who could cash people out. But OH WELL."

- Feature_Agitated

Scammy McScammerson

"When I worked at McDonald's it was the scams people pulled. 3 stand out to me that I can remember."

"One woman ordered several Number Threes. Then she came back to complain that she ordered Number Fours. Number Threes were cheaper and she just wanted to pay less and have extra free food by falsely complaining and having her order 'corrected.' Management doesn't make her pay the difference and she did this several times."

"Another woman came up with her burger and showed me a long black wavy hair neatly curled up in a spiral right in the middle. None of the staff had that kind of hair, but she sure did."

"And then there are the people trying to bring receipts from other places to get replacement meals. Dumba**es brought Burger King and Wendy's receipts. I have no idea why they thought that would work."

- 6-2Noob

What a Waste

"People ordering stuff on the app and never coming to get it."

- CriticalInspection22

"Just so much wasted work. And food. If you're in a rush with a ton of orders and get a couple of bogus ones that don't pick up, it can be so frustrating."

- ahorribledrummer

There's no doubt in our minds why these would be frustrating instances to deal with, especially in such a fast-paced and stressful environment.

People always seem to forget that they're not having to go home and cook a warm meal, because they've ordered takeout. If no one completed these jobs, there'd be no takeout. Maybe a little more respect is in order, with a heaping side of hot fries.