SUPER TACO

Customer service is a strange thing. you go somewhere, see someone working there, they seem happy or at least, like a normal person, and they greet you. They assist you with problems, they try to make you comfortable and then when you leave, hopefully you think back fondly on the fact you had a pleasant experience and this employee helped make that happen. then at a later point in time you get your first job in customer service, and the truth is revealed to you.

People are freakishly weird and many times more stupid than you may have initially thought. and the smile that person gave you that one day...was a mask covering their pain.

I had my first customer service job curtesy of Taco Bell. I remember one day while I was manning the cash register. a woman in her mid 60's roughly, approached to make her order, and began with a question.

Customer: "Do you still have the Super Taco?"

Now, I had not been working there long, but to my knowledge as a past customer and my then present knowledge as an employee, I had never heard of a Super Taco. I gave her the best answer I could.

Me: "I don't think so. Are you talking about the Taco Supreme?"

C: "Well... what is that?"

M: "It's just like a regular taco only it comes with sour cream and tomatoes as well."

C: "No that's not what I want. I want the Super Taco"

M: "I've never heard of a Super Taco I'm afraid."

C: "Sure you have. its like a regular taco only its like...really big! you know, the Super Taco."

M: "I'm sorry mame, I don't believe we have that. would you like something else?"

Eventually, through her asking what each item was and what came on everything, she decided to go with Chalupa. She didn't want to stay, so she asked for it to go, and waited nearby to grab the food as soon as we called her number. As she stood there waiting, an earlier order was ready.

M: "NUMBER 25! Your order is ready!"

As this gentle man was dining in, he came to the front picked up his tray of food, with the food neatly displayed open on the wrapper. He turned, approached the counter where all the sauces and napkins were, gathered all he needed, and went back to his table. The whole time, the woman was staring at his tray of food and after seeing him return to his seat, she made a quick return to the cash register.

C: "What was that?"

M: "What was what Miss?"

C: "That. The food the other guy had. What was it?"

M: "Oh, that was the Taco Supreme."

C: "Thats what I said I wanted. You said you didn't have it."

M: "No you were looking for a Super Taco. I asked if you wanted the Taco Supreme and you said no."

C: "Pfft. Its the same thing only in Spanish!"

I felt my IQ drop momentarily by half. The strength and will it took to refrain from laughing at her was a test of endurance for the rest of the day. while dealing with that I also had to prevent myself from feeling somewhat irritated for her to talk to me as if I was the idiot. in future jobs similar situations like this would arise, usually with the customer making a complaint about me. As per the usual customer service mentality, I would be told "The customer is always right" and told to do a better job. Gradually I started to form a smile, not a sincere one, but one to hide the torment.

Hello, and welcome to our store. :)