Sometimes I feel a bit awkward because people think I’m perfect, but I’ve never been shy for sharing that I’m so not.  I guess we all are perfect in a way … we’re all exactly who we’re meant to be.  Although it’s nice that people write to me and tell me how wonderful they think I am ;), I seem to find great purpose in sharing that I’m just like everyone else.

I am definitely not an angel at all times.  I do try my best, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way.  I’ve always been a sponge for the emotions of others, but lately it seems to be getting worse.  Actually, grocery shopping at Meijer’s always leaves me feeling physically ill.  Yes, I do know how to shield and cleanse my energy, but some people need a bit more than that, and I’m one of those people.

Lastnight we went to our local Subway for dinner.  I’ve been begging my husband to stop there on his way home from work to pick up dinner because we have these coupons we bought from the baseball team at school.  He’s been avoiding going because he says the people there are really rude, but I want to use these coupons we spent money on.  Sure, it’s great to support the school, but isn’t it also great to save a few bucks on dinner?

So we went to Subway, and my husband was right.  The staff could rival the mean soup guy from Seinfeld.  Seriously, if that’s the way they treat customers, I can’t imagine why they have any.  Probably because it’s the only healthy fast food place, but I’m thinking emotional health should count for something.  The Little Ceasar’s Pizza next door might not be great for my body, but they are always really nice in there.

At one point, all three people behind the counter were asking me questions at the same time and getting upset that I wasn’t answering all of them at the same time.  I left my husband to deal with the last of the subs, not realizing I’d left him with the actual mean lady.  I was trying to answer the other two people, telling the one what to put on one sub and telling the cashier we had a coupon.  Then my husband was asking me the question the mean lady was yelling at him while my son was behind me asking if he could have chips.

I stopped and glared at my husband while holding out my “Stop Now” hand to my son, and said, “I seriously cannot answer five people at the same time.”  So I told my husband to go tell the cashier we had coupons because I didn’t think he could hear me, and I answered the other two people.  Then as the mean lady got down to the register with me, she started complaining that we hadn’t told her we had coupons and rudely told her trainee, “This we why they should have told us they had coupons first.”

But, I did tell her that.  She was the first one to meet me at the other end of the line.  I told her we would need two foot long subs and two six inch subs because we had coupons for buy one get one free.  Her answer was, “Well that’s not how we ring them up.”  I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but I now realize she wasn’t exactly paying attention to what I’d said.  They are like mean one track mind robots in there.  They don’t smile.  They don’t care about anything you have to say outside of the question they are currently asking you.  We had actually told them three different times that we had coupons, but this woman treated us like we were the worst customers she’d ever had.

So, as she was griping at me that now she had to delete my entire order, I said, “I’m sorry, but we’re not trying to be difficult.  We tried to tell you several times we had coupons.”  I tend to always take garbage like this from people, although it generally doesn’t happen this badly with a stranger because people don’t generally act like that.  But when people yell at me, I just take it and complain about it later.  However, my son was there, and I’ve been trying to teach him to stand up for himself.

I told her the customer services was terrible, and I would be contacting the company.  There’s no excuse to treat a customer the way she was treating us.  Her response was, “Oh, it’s not you.  You’re fine.”  But she was certainly taking it out on me.  I was furious with her, and it ruined dinner.  We had to eat there because we were going somewhere else, and sitting there in such a negative space was making it so much worse.  All I really wanted to do was throw my sub in the trash and walk out.  Pizza sounded so much better at that point.

Maybe it’s because I used to work in customer service that bad service bothers me so much, but I’m still frustrated about this today.  It was so frustrating and embarrassing … I can’t seem to let it go.  Why couldn’t she see how she was acting?  I understand that working in the service industry can have its bad days, but taking it out on someone else just ruins their day.  If she were my employee, I’d be really tempted to fire her for that behavior.

I didn’t handle it well I know.  When we had gotten to a table, my son started complaining because something wasn’t right on his sub.  I kinda yelled at him and told him there was nothing I could do about it, and he just needed to eat it and stop complaining.  What a grouch!  I took my frustration out on my son when he was simply pointing out that even after answering all their questions, his sub was still wrong.  I was no better that Mrs. Subway Grouchy Pants herself.  I’m still not sure who the Subway Monster is … me or Grouchy Pants.

Needless to say, we won’t be going back there anytime soon.  I go to one of the Subways in Okemos (one town over) all the time, and I’ve never had bad service there. I did also notice my receipt had a survey on it, and I think I might just let them know about my experience.  Maybe I’ll also let them know that thousands of people all over the world are reading about my experience on my blog.  See, I told you I’m not always the angel.  I’m a Scorpio, and sometimes I can’t hold back that little stinger!

Thanks for reading!  If nothing else, I hope my story will help you realize everyone can be a little monster from time to time.  For myself, I think it’s time to call upon Archangel Jophiel and ask her to help me to beautify and uplift my thoughts.   😉

~ Sheri

 

5 replies
  1. Rev. Sheri
    Rev. Sheri says:

    That’s a good point, Christina. Being that I used to work in customer service, I tend to be overly kind to those in the service industry. When people act like that, though, the part of me that would never treat someone else that way simply cannot understand why I’m being treated that way. I probably shouldn’t have said anything to her and just walked out, but that line I try not to cross simply snapped, and there it was … 😉

    Reply
  2. Christina
    Christina says:

    What an awful experience! I have been there myself, that is responding in a way that I am not entirely proud of today. I have found that the part of me that believes everyone should be treated with kindness doesn’t respond kindly to those who are being rude.

    Reply
  3. Rev. Sheri ~ Spiritual Intuitive, Teacher & Founder of Angel Messenger
    Rev. Sheri ~ Spiritual Intuitive, Teacher & Founder of Angel Messenger says:

    Oh Margo! That’s so terrible! It’s good you noticed that … you could have gotten sick. 🙁 That’s the good thing about Subway, I was watching her make my sandwich, so she couldn’t do anything to it … thankfully!

    R.B., I actually just sent a note to the company. I wasn’t going to, but then I thought about it and realized that I would definitely want to know if it were my business. It’s understandable to have a bad day now and then, but it’s starting to look like that might be every day for this place. My neighbor was telling be about some of her experiences at that location, and two other locals read my blog and wrote me emails about their terrible experiences at this location. It’s sad, really. Maybe the management isn’t very nice there or something, but I tend to think the woman who is the worst one is actually one of the managers since she is there so often. I guess there is another woman who’s really mean there as well, but I haven’t met her and probably never will now that I’ve decided I’d rather buy Little Caesar’s Pizza next door instead. 😉

    Oh well … we can’t control the behavior of others – only ourselves, though I don’t exactly always do that either. 😉

    ~ Sheri

    Reply
  4. R.B.
    R.B. says:

    Sorry that happened – how awful! I think absolutely you ought to report this – call the owner, the company, survey, all of it. This will help not only their business, but it will help other customers, and it will help these people who were mean. I sort of think it is your duty if you are so inclined. If you are not inclined then it is not.

    What’s wrong with telling them they were awful? That they are avoided because of it and would likely have a lot more business if they were different. I don’t think anything at all. I don’t think it is mean.

    I don’t always speak up either. Sometimes I think it has to do if I think it would make a difference, and I don’t if it seems like it isn’t helpful for some reason or is a lost cause.

    Also, of course it is bugging you!! It is fun to hear about your life and hear that you go through the same stuff other people do.

    Thank you very,very much for all you do.

    Reply
  5. margo
    margo says:

    Sorry to hear your Subway trip was a bust. There is surely no shortage of grumpy and mean people in this world, but thankfully there are nice people too. I hope the next time is better 🙂 People can sure be rude sometimes. I try to be kind to everyone, but I’m not perfect all time either. But I have surely been treated badly by some people- many years ago my husband was rude to a drive thru attendant and she poured perfume into my soda (I think she thought it was his) Fortunately I could taste it so I dumped it out. I should have said something, but never did. Now I would stand up for myself though.

    Reply

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