Does wanting to walk off after a rude customer mean I'm not suited for customer service?

[Joe917]

I started working at McDonald's a little over a week ago. Yes I post about my job a lot. Anyways, They usually have me run orders out to the parking lot. I'll be honest, some customers have to wait a while, because we are understaffed, and get overwhelmed. I took an order out to this older man, and his wife. I knew they had been waiting a while, so I apologized for the wait. The man snatched the bag out of my hands, and said "whatever". It took a lot for me not to say anything, but i just walked away. anyways, it ruined my night, and I almost walked off the job, because of it. I didn't because I'd be letting my co workers down.

[Rangers]

Don't take it too personal, I was rude the other day to a McDonald's manager.

I was having relationship problems with a girl I'm talking to, and I was delivering someones order and I was mean to the manager because she hardly knew English and appeared intoxated.

Then she locked me out of the store and made me wait in the drive through, and when I called, I saw her shut off the phone.

Granted, her behavior was unacceptable, so was mine when I said "oh, what a great help you are, you're so worth your salary". I can't believe i was that horribly rude to someone.

Sometimes, you just have to brush it off and understand it's not you they're mad at, most likely, cause you did nothing wrong here.

Walking away is the only correct thing for you to have done, that couple is probably fighting eachother and having to wait, they just aimed their anger at whoever else was closest.

Don't let this trouble you, and as for running orders out, how lazy are people that they can't just come in and get it themselves?

Seems the burden on you would be less if customers stopped wasting your time by making you run orders out to them

[Anonymous]

Maybe. You should try working in the medical field. You can’t change everyone around you, you can only change yourself. Nothing has meaning unless you give it meaning. I’m not excusing his behavior but most of us never know what someone has been going through in their life at that moment. Which ironically if he was going through things that brought him to that current state of emotion, he shouldn’t have reacted that way toward you knowing how it feels. I used to work at the prison for about 5 years. You’d have inmates saying all kinds of things, most were fine but you’d that handful. I ever I responded to or inmate because of something he said. A friend of mine who worked there longer than me told me to always ever that things their house, don’t make it yours. Make sure you go home each day. So I always kept that w me even working in mental health. Maybe you should start reading books as far as how people are, how to respond, how to communicate better. Things like that have helped me out a lot.

[jazzy34]

No it doesn’t. You’re human and that’s a normal reaction. We can only tolerate so much rudeness and disrespect from others. This is coming from someone who has of customer service experience. I still have to sometimes walk away for a minute to compose myself after dealing with a rude customer. Just a tip. Remember, no one is worth you losing your job.

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

If you don’t have thick skin, this job will give it to you. Just vent about it to your coworkers after they’re gone, they can relate, the release is cathartic, the validation feels good, and you’ll see the support around you more easily.

[AI Opinion]

Advisor Smith here.

Your reaction is normal, not a sign you’re “not suited” for customer service.

A few things I’ve learned:

- Everyone has a breaking point; the key skill is not whether you feel anger, but what you *do* with it. You walked away. That’s professionalism.
- Early in customer-facing jobs, rude encounters hit hard. Over time, you build emotional “calluses.”
- Understaffing and long waits would test anyone. That’s a management issue, not your failure.

If you consistently dread every shift, explore other roles. But this one incident alone doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong field.

[madhatters4]

try not to take it personally and chalk it up to the sh*tty personality of an ungrateful person

I don't think it means you are not fit for the role. I think it means you have normal human emotions. In the food service and customer service industry you are going to encounter a lot of crummy people. a lot of rude, ungrateful, selfish, etc, etc, etc, people. in my experiences i try to remind myself that the issue is them. They are the ones with the problem and i'm not going to let some jerk make me feel about stuff

[Anonymous]

Hard to say. When I was younger I put up with a lot of 💩. Now I think to myself, why? I don't need the money that bad. And you can be a model worker and just because you draw the short straw with an a**hole for a customer could end up getting canned anyhow. So I say, do what ya gotta do. I'm not going to live forever and I'm not going to spend whatever years I have left groveling to some a**hole who thinks he can treat someone however he wants.

What do you think Mr. Wrinkles would have done if you'd dragged him him out of his vehicle and beat his ass in front of his wife.😆

[cranberrycattoystory]

Thanks for the question...:) I think practicing a bit of general optimism works wonder for your mental health after a shift of at your workplace. You need to be able to speak well, say the right things, and be patient with clients. And the biggest goal of all: *Make sure the customers are satisfied with the particular service and keeps coming back to use it whenever they would need it, they won't tell you these things at training for any customer facing work, you need to understand that intuitively. I have BEEN a customer most of my life at most places, and I am more than patient with any and all service workers, these people work really for hard, for very less pay as well. Even if they say or do things I may not like to hear, I can just disagree with them and say no and I don't want it...

[In_Trance]

You've been working at this job for a week and you've posted about it a dozen times now and every time it's negative.
Do you want to work or not?

[fish5505_87]

Yes! It's your job don't take it personally, If they want to be miserable, let them. Smile and say have good day as they leave.

[Staximus]

If that's all it takes to ruin your night then you need to learn to not be so sensitive.

[Greatful]

It means your human hang in there it gets easier with time

[Jeff51]

No. Hopefully you only get a few here and there

[Desserter4]

Don't do it if it's gonna make you stressed at all times