Why Should I Be a Magical Girl? I'm Overworked As It Is! — Chapter 3: Welcome to Customer Service
The burger joint was already in full, normalized chaos.
The timers that haunted Carmen’s nightmares beeped from behind the kitchen line. Fryer baskets sizzled, sending up greasy smoke.
“Yo! I need more hash browns!”
“We don’t have any more!”
“Then go get some from the freezer!”
The cashier assigned to the dining room was fighting with the receipt printer, trying to get it opened so they could change out the roll.
Carmen waited by one of the computer screens, watching the clock. She wasn’t allowed to clock in until the exact time her shift started.
Her schedule here was irregular and unpredictable, and this week’s was particularly brutal. Thankfully, the sushi restaurant was willing to work around the constant changes. It helped that they made their schedules after the burger place posted theirs.
Carmen checked the time again.
She just had to survive the morning shift. Then she’d head to the sushi restaurant nearby. Between jobs, she had approximately one hour and thirty minutes to sleep.
Her pillow was already in the car.
She’d be home by eleven tonight, and then she had the next two days off from waitressing.
Maya sped past carrying two full take-out drink trays.
“Hi, Carmen!”
“Hi, Maya.”
Carmen clocked in, tied her apron, washed her hands, and headed toward drive-thru.
The morning shift employee, who had relieved graveyard shift, practically ripped off their headset.
“Thank God. I’m on my half. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.”
That was never a good sign. Considering the long stalled line of cars outside, Carmen wasn’t surprised.
Carmen put on a recently cleaned headset and tapped the speaker button when she heard a ding.
“Hello! Welcome to Max’s Burgers, how can I help you today?”
At the same time, a car rolled up to the window.
Carmen summoned her famous Customer Service Face.
“Hi there! You ordered an eight piece chicken nugget box?”
The customer on the headset responded.
“IS YOUR ICE CREAM MACHINE FINALLY WORKING?”
The customer at the window loudly explained, with real conviction, that eleven minutes was an unacceptable amount of time to wait for eight chicken nuggets.
Carmen glanced at Maya, who shook her head no, mouthing “still broken.”
She tapped her headset.
“No, I’m sorry, our ice-cream machine is still down. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“THAT SUCKS. GIVE ME A FEW MINUTES.”
To the nugget lady, Carmen agreed, apologized, and handed the customer her order after she charged the credit card.
The woman didn’t leave. She opened the bag, reached in, pulled out the box, took one nugget out, bit it, and frowned.
“These are lukewarm. I want fresh ones.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll get that for you. Why don’t you pull up there and I’ll have someone bring you your fresh nuggets after they fry.”
“No, I want to wait here. You lot are going to forget me if I go over there.”
Carmen smiled and said, “Ok. No problem. It’ll take a few more minutes.”
The lady handed the bag back. Carmen shut the window and threw the bag away.
“Can I get another eight piece nugget box?”
“What? Why! They were sitting out for just a few minutes.”
“I know. The customer wants it fresher.”
The fryer worker groaned.
“Okay.”
They’d actually been on top of the orders, timing everything so the food would be ready when it was needed. The problem was the cook, who was getting bombarded with huge orders from the dining room. Even with the team lead helping, the wait times were climbing.
As the nuggets fried, Carmen bagged the other orders, lined them up, and got the drinks ready, while listening to the customer on the drive-thru speaker discuss with whoever else was in his car what he was thinking about getting.
The timer for the new nuggets went off. Carmen speed-walked to the warming station. She picked them up and gave them to the customer, who opened the bag again to try one.
She looked Carmen straight in the eye and asked, “Was that so hard?”
She sped away before Carmen could respond.
Carmen turned to the new person at the window.
“Hi there!”
The man behind the wheel immediately frowned.
“I’ve been sitting in this line for fourteen minutes.”
The customer at the speaker barked through Carmen’s headset.
“HELLO?”
Carmen’s smile tightened.
“I’m sorry about the wait, sir.”
“HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I DECIDED WHAT I’M GOING TO GET.”
Carmen tapped her headset.
“Yes, I’m sorry, I’ll be with you in just one moment.”
The man at the window leaned closer.
“This is ridiculous.”
“CAN I GET TWO SAUSAGE BISCUITS, THREE HASH BROWNS—”
Carmen tried to listen to both conversations simultaneously while selecting the order on the screen.
“Absolutely, sir, I apologize—”
“—AND A LARGE MOCHA ICED COFFEE.”
“I’m already late for work.”
Carmen continued smiling and handed him his order. Apologizing again. As he drove away, she asked on the headset, “Do I have your order correct on the screen?”
“Hey, babe, you want an iced coffee?”
“I think so.”
“Yeah? Ok, ok I’ll get you one. ACTUALLY MAKE IT TWO LARGE ICED COFFEES.”
“I don’t want mocha, I want Caramel.”
“What? You want Caramel? ACTUALLY ONE MOCHA AND ONE CARAMEL BOTH LARGE. EASY ON THE ICE. GIVE ME EXTRA KETCHUP PACKETS.”
“Alrighty, do I have your order correct on the screen now?”
The sound of screeching tires echoed on the headset.
Ding.
“HELLO?”
A new customer was at the drive-thru speaker. The iced coffee guy had moved forward without confirming the order.
Carmen… breathed in slowly.
“Hi! Welcome to Max’s Burgers. What can I get started for you?”
She smiled at the next customer who drove up to the window. She apologized for the wait, repeated their order and took their card.
“YEAH, HI. I’M GOING TO HAVE A LARGE ORDER. CAN I GET TWELVE OF YOUR BREAKFAST SANDWICHES. ALL COMBOS WITH HASH BROWNS AND ORANGE JUICE.”
Her first ten-minute break came two hours later.