First it was breast reduction advice, now it’s weight management tips, this time from a rude Panera Bread employee who didn’t like being confronted by an angry customer. Here’s what happened to Jeff’s wife when she tried to buy some chicken noodle soup the other day:
Here is the comment I just sent through Panera Bread’s automated website. It explains the situation. In all honesty, it’s all I can do not to go down there, and kick some major ass.
My wife went into the store, as she wasn’t feeling well, and I suggested soup. She waited 25 minutes on line, and ordered her chicken noodle soup. After paying, and waiting 5 minutes, she was then told that they were out of Chicken Noodle, and had, in fact been out of it all day! When she complained that a sign should have been posted, she was told “You could stand to skip a meal or twenty anyway” It’s bad enough that you can’t keep your menus up to date, but to abuse someone when they call you out on it is unconscionable.
(Photo: protohiro)
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I worked at Panera for nearly 2 years, and it was the wost job I ever had. The management was horrible and incompetent (I once had a manager tell me to sweep under the refrigerator during lunch rush) and the customers are worse. I was a pretty good employee, always friendly and helpful, but some customers would scream at me to get free food. People treat panera employees horribly, they act like they’re at some upscale restaurant instead of at a yuppie fast food place. The turnover rate was huge and it was due to corporate being stupid, incompetent managers, being paid minimum wage, and extremely rude customers. This turnover rate led to no one being trained properly because we didn’t have enough experienced employees to actually run the restaurant. There is also very little communication between the cashiers and everyone else. The sign should have been taken down as soon as they ran out. The soups are the one item they can do tis with, why give the cashier yet another thing to remember we’re out of. While what this guy said was very rude, and I do not condone his actions, I almost want to cheer for him after my experiences there.
@SaraAB87: Actually only the paninis are made beforehand. They’re made in the morning before they open or after the lunch rush. They do this because they sit in a heater to warm them up so when they are grilled when you order them the cheese melts properly. All the other sandwiches are made when you order them. Also, everything is baked the night before, so they shouldn’t be stale. At least this is how it was at my Panera, and I assume that’s corporate policy.
@Rectilinear Propagation: no, the customers are rude because they didn’t get what they want. So his statement makes some sense. I don’t think I buy people just blurting out insults for no reason, not to customers anyway. My friends and I insult each other frequently, but I cant imagine just insulting a stranger with no provocation.
@BStu: I’m speaking as someone who used to be fat myself. I quit moaning about how hard it was, hit the gym, hit the books to educate myself on dieting, and lost 50 lbs.
It isn’t “too hard” and people who whine and moan yet never do anything about it irritate me. I didn’t get thin without work, and neither will you.
I’m getting out my telescope. Not to watch last night’s lunar eclipse, but to search for the originally posted topic.
Jeezum crow, few things hijack a thread as quickly as mentioning weight.
@Daniel-Bham: Will you be my new best friend?! Favorite comment of the post FTW.
@Daniel-Bham: Actually, you can’t blame just the obese (or just the smokers) for rising health insurance. They’re finding now that while the overweight and smokers do have health issues (and associated health costs), they tend to die before the skinny/non-smoker/otherwise healthy people start racking up the *really* big bills that are associated with aging in the modern medical world.
Having worked in retail, all I can say is she probably deserved it.
@apotheosis: Sometimes I wish more blogs had Digg/Reddit-style comment voting. If Consumerist did, I would totally vote-up your comment…
I think this is pretty funny. The person who said it had to have been prevoked and if this woman has worked a day in fast food, she’d know to shut her fat face. Things happen and people make mistakes. I have told customers off because they have been rude to me. You think I am going to let someone treat me like I am a complete moron? I don’t think so. Get over it.