My short term goal of posting more often has definitely not been
met. There is a valid reason for it, though - and it’s not just laziness
or forgetfulness! Between Groupon, my
assistant manager being out of town and being sick, the past couple of weeks have
really not been a positive time for me, and I have done a pretty bad job of
trying to turn it around.
The start of Groupon was rough. As I promised myself in my last post, I went
into Groupon with positive, hopeful feelings.
It lasted two days. It took two
days to start to get the mean & rude people, but man, they came out in
droves that first weekend! People who yelled
at us, called us incompetent, told us we were terrible at our jobs. People who were so incredibly inconvenienced
or upset by the rules of the Groupon that they didn’t read, which was OBVIOUSLY
our fault. The first weekend we almost
had to call the police on one couple because they were verbally harassing an
employee.
My resolve to keep positive, to try to be more understanding
with people, and to not let the frustrations of work follow me home just
crumbled. My unhappiness at work
followed me into my personal life, and made me less patient and forgiving of
all the random people who caused me any frustration, irritation or annoyance.
My assistant manager went home to visit family for 10 days,
and it just happened to coincide with the second week of Groupon. She had put her request in before we had any
information about the Groupon, but it was really rough. I had to pick up extra shifts, including
closing FOH which is especially rough when my shifts generally start at
6am. During that week I got sick, so I had
just no energy to deal with anything.
I will say that there was one particularly bright spot in
that darkness. I had one gentleman come
in on a Friday and introduce himself with a handshake. He said his daughter was having a birthday
party and he wanted to get cupcakes. He
had two Groupons. Just as I started to
say that we could only do one per person per day (as is written on the Groupon)
he cuts me off, saying he actually read the instructions! It may not sound like a big deal, but at
least 40% of people do not read them, and it leads to unhappiness. He became the best Groupie we’ve had by
asking if he could grab someone off the street to help him out. I said absolutely. He then astutely asked
that we must get a lot of angry people in here based on my cautious tone of
voice. We chatted for a bit about our
families before a woman came into the shop.
He asked the woman to help him out, and for her troubles he bought her
two cupcakes. He then tipped us $10 and
very sincerely wished us a good day.
In my worst dark moments with Groupon, I’ll hold on to that
man – and the further proof how much a positive, personable encounter can
brighten someone’s day up. Now I just
have to implement that in my life.
