Even though humans have the capability to be compassionate towards others when they haven’t experienced the same themselves, it has limits and you can't truly understand what another person is feeling until you are put in the same situation.
But when they do suffer through the same thing, they have a different level of appreciation of those people. When Reddit user allycakes asked Redditors “How has having a s****y job changed how you act?” most people admitted that they mostly just try to be as kind and helpful as they can to certain workers so they'll feel better that day.
Have you ever had a job that changed they way you do things or talk to people? Let us know your stories in the comments!
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Since I've run bookstores in the past, I tend to reorder the shelves at my local Barneys & Ignoble. I once spent two hours doing their history section. A manager came over, asked what I was doing, checked my work, walked away, then came back with a job application and a free drink from their cafe.
Because I worked fast food when I was younger, i'm always polite and calm when getting food. Even if they are seriously f*****g up, and i'm in a terrible mood, I make sure to stay calm and polite.
I have flashback still of the abuses I endured by management and customers. I never want to make anyone feel like that. It sticks with you for years. If I do see a mistake I'd rather help them learn than berate them. You learn by f*****g up.
I clean up my goddamned food after I'm done watching a movie.
Former Movie theater worker here--can confirm there are teenage kids who have to go through and pick up your drinks and sweep up your popcorn and whatever else you leave. If it's a busy time and they only have 5 minutes, it gets swept under the seat. Crazy to me how much people will leave behind when they're in the dark and have no accountability when they would never do that in a well lit space.
I used to work in customer service, so I'm always kind and patient with customer service personnel. Even the ones at the DMV. If you're nice to them, most of the time they'll be nice to you!
It just makes everything, even a problem, go so much more smoothly.
It wasn't a s****y job but I raised my three-year-old daughter by myself for four years. As a 70's guy, I learned to cook good foods, clean a house correctly, buy children's sizes and even braid hair.
I also can appreciate how hard it is to be a single mom...
Not that I ever did this, but after working in a grocery store, I'm always extra diligent in returning the shopping carts to the correct place.
Delivery driver. I now make sure that my house number is clearly legible from the street.
I can tell you that it doesn't always help! Delivery drivers routinely pick the wrong house on our street. I'm not sure how much more obvious my neighbours can make it, but I'm getting a bit sick of being a post office depot because the delivery driver can't tell the difference between No. 20 and No. 9 (on opposite sides of the road no less), and end up pushing it through No. 22 (my house!)
Yeah, I used to live in 62 C - more than once I had a delivery guy call me because they couldn't find it. Usually they were standing in front of 62 B and would have had to turn their head to the left to see 62 C. Too much to ask, apparently.
Load More Replies...I once ordered pizza and around 50 minutes later the place phones me to ask me if I gave them the correct address. I live in a neighborhood where a lot of 4 and 10 floor buildings are next to each other, and they have the same paintjob. After around 5 minutes of back and fort it turns out the delivery guy mistook No.33 (the apartment building next to ours) for No.31 (our apartment building) and was complaining he couldn't find the doorbell with our family name. After another 10 minutes he came back and this time he found the correct apartment building. The funny thing is the house number is painted onto the wall next to the door and the numbers are nearly a meter tall and are at eye level. So sometimes it not the visibility that's the problem.
Delivery driver here I'm pretty sure people think it is illegal to post your house # visibly. Also wtf would you put house numbers on your house that are the same color as the house. If you're putting the effort into putting numbers up why not make them visible?
Now, If I were Postmaster-General, (or whatever you call it, where you live), I'd decree that All Addresses that expect mail must have the address number posted in (some standard format), or they can expect to pick up their mail at the P.O. the next day. It's not just mail that gets delivered, but the process can be standardized.
There is a standard now in Canada. We use a civic address number system (formerly emergency 911 number) at the end of each rural driveway. Whether or not people do it, every rural mailbox is required to have your civic number on it. Community mailboxes are also numbered for the letter carrier to see. At one time however, it was names only and was known as a knowledge sort.
Load More Replies...I am not a delivery person, but I do often have to find a home or business by their address, and it just pisses me off when I can’t easily find their house or building number. FFS, people and businesses, make your numbers BIG and READABLE!!! People DO end up having to find you by those numbers, you know!
I always feel bad about this because my landlord has the faintest number on the front of our apt building. It's painted the same color as the building, too so it's really hard to see AND it's an old fire station that has been converted into apartments. So all our delivery people are so confused. I always try to put in notes about it in the delivery but with places like Doordash I feel like they never read them.
Large black 3D non-shiny numbers on a white placard. Right there with ya. 8 years of pizza.
Add UBER (and taxi and other rideshare) drivers to the list who appreciate a very visible house number! And well-lit is important too so we can see them at night, too!
I moved the house number that an organization placed on each driveway entrance back on my mom's driveway gate where emergency workers could see it after one of my relatives thought it would be cute in the planter in front of the inner fence 150 ft off the road. Which reminds me, I need to clear the weeds from in front of mine tomorrow.
I bought extra large numbers for my house because it did not have any. Up until then I always got my packages. (I put the numbers up to help get emergency help efficiently, since I am disabled.) Immediately after I put the numbers up FedEx drivers started delivering my packages to the neighbor's house. I was shocked at this level of stupidity. At least emergency services have never tried to take my neighbor to the hospital while I bled to death! There is some hope for mankind.
Yup. I do doordash and I moved into a house that is set WAY back on the lot (package delivery people just set them in front of the garage) and the numbers are big/prominent AND contrast the building color ... but hidden behind a big tree. Finally got a sign with the house numbers to stake into the ground by the curb cause I would hate to find my house doordashing in the state it was in before.
I have our house number directly above our front door and a reflective painted sign in the front flower bed with our house number. Also have silver reflective numbers (not plastic or stick on kind) on the fence facing our alley. Emergency people need to be able to identify your address easily.
This. When/if I buy a house one day I vowed to get a large glowing neon sign for my house number.
THIS, a 1000% times. I do grocery delivery as a side gig, and delivering to some houses in the winter when it's dark and snowing is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to give me directions like we're in medieval England "turn right at the big rock, go half mile, we're the driveway on the right with the old tractor on the left side"
Same. House number is very prominent on my house, plus I have the number painted on the curb on both sides of my driveway so delivery drivers don't have to look up at my house to try to find it.
I used to deliver pizzas. I can't tell you how bad it sucks to deliver a pizza to a huge house to a well off family in either 100 degrees in a car with no AC or in the pouring rain (summer job) and then get a 50cent tip. So now I always try to round the bill up to the next 5 or 10 dollars when I order delivery.
I used to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant, so now I always check what time a place closes before going in to eat. If it's less then say, 30 minutes, I find another place.
I worked at a Wendy's for 3 years, now whenever I go through a drive-thru I always ask how the employee's doing. It always threw me for a loop when someone would ask how my night was going, it was so rare but it pumped me up for the rest of my shift every time.
When I'm out drinking, I always take the empty glasses and bottles on mine and surrounding tables, up to the bar. Once a bartender, always a bartender.
Yes. I do it too on the rare occasion I can't get a seat at the bar. I was a bartender too and that little bit is so helpful sometimes and always extremely appreciated; it's like an extra tip
Every time I leave a hotel, I strip the beds, fold the toilet paper into a triangle, put the used towels into a pile, and leave a tip for the maid because I used to be a maid and I know how much it sucks.
Used to wait tables. Parents would bring in kids 3 and under, and 8 out of 10 times the floor would be a mess. I totally get that kids are messy, I see no issue there, but just leaving it? For me to clean up?! After asking for 87 napkins?!
When I go to restaurants with my kids, I get on my hands and knees and clean that s**t up. Usually am asked not to, but I don't care. MY kid did that. If I ever do give in and not clean it up, server gets a greater tip.
My best friend does the same thing and we were both waitresses. I don't have kids but I make sure to keep the area clean
Well, obviously I tip since I worked jobs that depended on tips: valet, bellhop.
But I often find myself trying to be organized and punctual in ordering at a restaurant, even though I never worked waitstaff. Like, know what I'm going to order before the waiter shows up, including sides and dressing.
Note to restaurants: list the dressings for salads in the menu and we'll all order more quickly if we don't make the waitstaff names salad dressings for EVERY SINGLE patron. Ditto beers on tap.
I still do serve, and no matter how awful the food is I would never take it out on the server. I also make sure that if I need something I ask everyone at the table what they need too, so we can ask all at once so the server doesn't have to make 15 trips.
If there's a URL for a survey on my receipt, I try to make sure I catch the name of the person serving me at the counter. When I worked retail, we got $10 anytime someone mentioned us by name in an online survey.
hmm, never noticed that was a thing. kinda want to try it now, guess i’ll just look closer at the receipts whenever we go out
If I get good customer service, I ask for a manager to tell them what a good job the employee did for me. I even ask to be transferred when dealing over the phone with customer service agents to their manager.
I had one person do that for me when I helped them when I worked in a call center. While it didn't give me a raise, it gave me a name in the faceless floor of 200 or so that I was working on.
Made me feel like I actual helped someone instead of just being a punching bag for them.
Compliments are nice But tldr: talk is cheap so put it in writing. I suggest not asking to talk to the manager. Instead, ask for their email and send the compliment via email. An email compliment can be added to an employee file and be used as evidence when pushing upper management to give that employee a raise. Also, front line managers are usually very busy and having to drop everything to go talk to a customer who wants to see the manager (even for a compliment) is annoying. It is better to email.
At restaurants, I always help stack the dishes with all the food on the top plate. Washing dishes is not fun.
My mom just taught me to place my plate near the edge with my utensils placed neatly next to each other and that's supposed to signify you're finished. I'm not sure that message gets across at a casual, family restaurant.
I used to be a server. Now I look them in the eyes, say thank you, and tip well.
And, as with all workers who deal with you in public, if they have a name tag or tell you their name refer to them by it.
After working 3 years in a grocery store, I bag my own groceries.
I used to work movie theater concessions.
I no longer buy food from the movie theaters.
I now always have my money ready for my cashier before the cashier announces my total. They (at least where I work) try to go fast and it's an odd pace to maintain.
I do this, too. I had an old boyfriend who would wait for the announced total then verrrrrryyyyyy slowwwlllllyyy would take out his wallet, thumb through his cash and lay his money down. That behavior was so self-absorbed and rude to the cashier and those behind us in line, so I changed my behavior to have my payment ready to go.
Drama teacher, kids aged 4-16.
I'm considering tying my pipes and am determined never to have my own, because of the kids I've encountered, but mostly due to the parents, who will often offload onto me while I'm waiting for them to get their coats.
Turns out one of the boys doesn't know his *real* Dad works at his mums office. Oh, and the mother of triplets still cries because she never wanted more than one, now she has four (including their brother). Can't. Deal.
Maybe they see you as a trusted source to confide in. I've gone through a lot as a teacher, but I'm also a parent. I've been told WAY tmi at times, but I see it as a sign of trust.
I work in retail, stockin' shelves and helping customers. I have learned that just because they have a badge they do not know *everything* about every product in the store, especially stuff outside of their normal section (for example, half of the K-Mart where I work is apparel; I have *no idea* where any specific type of clothing is, and if you ask me I'll point in the general direction and say "that way"). Also, unless the store is brilliantly organized with its extra stock, checking 'out the back' for something is really annoying and time consuming and the marjority of the time if it's not on the shelf there's none out the back (at least where I work; we're pretty good with keepin' our shelves stocked). So now I'm always super polite (which I was beforehand anyway), if I ask someone where something is and they're not sure because they don't work in that section I'll just thank them anyway and keep lookin', and I don't bother asking for them to check out back unless I urgently need it.
TL;DR: Floor-workers in retail stores *do not* have omniscient knowledge of all stock in their store.
In big supermarkets there is no customer service. Big supermarkets are in fact warehouses with self-service, therefore can they be cheaper. People working there, are just filling up the shelves, sometimes they are not even the supermarket's employees, but of the companies whose products they are filling up. If you want customer service, go to your local small grocery store at the corner.
I used to cook chicken wings in a bar. I never send back food unless it's inedible.
Quite a lot of things any decent human being should normally do to begin with...
Yes, it’s sad that this isn’t considered normal yet
Load More Replies...I know call centre has already been mentioned, one thing I do now is praise any agent, any rep who has done their job really well and tell them they are a great person. It's likely there were 10-40 people before me who were verbally abusive or just being yahoo d***s. Sometimes it's those few really nice people that can shine some sunlight on a dark, depreciating, depressing shift. My only exception is telemarketers, usually scammers. I have to draw the line right there.
I over-explain my absences because I worked at a high stress hourly job that micromanaged our time and schedules. I’ve had bosses since tell me “you don’t have to let me know why you’re leaving your desk. Just do it.” I still am paranoid that they’ll think I’m faking it.
I was the receptionist at an animal clinic. After having to answer phones all day, usually a sad/ worried/upset owner on the other end, I stopped answering my phone at home. Texts only. Just totally traumatized by the nonstop "bad news" on the other end. But also, now, any time I go to a medical appointment I get there at least 15 minutes early to help make the receptionist's job easier, and their day go smoother and on time. Now days I don't really see anyone using paper charts like we did but there's still stuff for them to do.
Always tip in cash. It's up to the waiter/waitress if they want to report it. Waiting tables sucks!
When you're calling a customer service center, the rep generally identifies himself by name before saying, "How can I help you?" I always begin by saying, "Hi, ____, how are you today?" A couple minutes of normal human interaction, of recognizing that the rep is a fellow human being and has his own problems, will result in much better service. Customer service reps aren't faceless punching bags, and they're likely underpaid and forced to deal with verbal abuse. Be nice. Be human.
Yes! They have people screaming at them all day (I used to work customer service/telemarketing in my younger days) and somehow people think it's normal to let all their anger they carry out on them. Don't be one of those people. They have very little say in what they can do anyway and are paid almost nothing.
Load More Replies...I go by this motto: if I work ledthere/owned that would i want it happening to me? I'm not religious at all, but I have to admit Catholicism had at least one right thing: treat others like you would want others to treat you. If everyone applied this to their life, things would be much easier, I think.
As someone who writes surveys, I always answer surveys because I know there is some "me" behind a desk somewhere who it really matters to that I took the time to answer the questions. And if the company is any good, they really do care what you put in those surveys.
Ever since I worked at a coffee/donut chain I always make sure I leave the table clean and throw out my trash, and if I need a table wiped down I ask nicely and be patient. They're #1 priority is serving the drive thru, then the customers in line and if they get a break in customers that's when someone can get the time to clean the tables. When people leave them trashed with drinks and food spilt all over it leaves nowhere for the customers to sit. It's not like at a mall where cleaners are assigned to bus the tables.
I always, ALWAYS hand the tip directly to the waitstaff. I've personally seen way to many customers steal the tip.
Quite a lot of things any decent human being should normally do to begin with...
Yes, it’s sad that this isn’t considered normal yet
Load More Replies...I know call centre has already been mentioned, one thing I do now is praise any agent, any rep who has done their job really well and tell them they are a great person. It's likely there were 10-40 people before me who were verbally abusive or just being yahoo d***s. Sometimes it's those few really nice people that can shine some sunlight on a dark, depreciating, depressing shift. My only exception is telemarketers, usually scammers. I have to draw the line right there.
I over-explain my absences because I worked at a high stress hourly job that micromanaged our time and schedules. I’ve had bosses since tell me “you don’t have to let me know why you’re leaving your desk. Just do it.” I still am paranoid that they’ll think I’m faking it.
I was the receptionist at an animal clinic. After having to answer phones all day, usually a sad/ worried/upset owner on the other end, I stopped answering my phone at home. Texts only. Just totally traumatized by the nonstop "bad news" on the other end. But also, now, any time I go to a medical appointment I get there at least 15 minutes early to help make the receptionist's job easier, and their day go smoother and on time. Now days I don't really see anyone using paper charts like we did but there's still stuff for them to do.
Always tip in cash. It's up to the waiter/waitress if they want to report it. Waiting tables sucks!
When you're calling a customer service center, the rep generally identifies himself by name before saying, "How can I help you?" I always begin by saying, "Hi, ____, how are you today?" A couple minutes of normal human interaction, of recognizing that the rep is a fellow human being and has his own problems, will result in much better service. Customer service reps aren't faceless punching bags, and they're likely underpaid and forced to deal with verbal abuse. Be nice. Be human.
Yes! They have people screaming at them all day (I used to work customer service/telemarketing in my younger days) and somehow people think it's normal to let all their anger they carry out on them. Don't be one of those people. They have very little say in what they can do anyway and are paid almost nothing.
Load More Replies...I go by this motto: if I work ledthere/owned that would i want it happening to me? I'm not religious at all, but I have to admit Catholicism had at least one right thing: treat others like you would want others to treat you. If everyone applied this to their life, things would be much easier, I think.
As someone who writes surveys, I always answer surveys because I know there is some "me" behind a desk somewhere who it really matters to that I took the time to answer the questions. And if the company is any good, they really do care what you put in those surveys.
Ever since I worked at a coffee/donut chain I always make sure I leave the table clean and throw out my trash, and if I need a table wiped down I ask nicely and be patient. They're #1 priority is serving the drive thru, then the customers in line and if they get a break in customers that's when someone can get the time to clean the tables. When people leave them trashed with drinks and food spilt all over it leaves nowhere for the customers to sit. It's not like at a mall where cleaners are assigned to bus the tables.
I always, ALWAYS hand the tip directly to the waitstaff. I've personally seen way to many customers steal the tip.