Hangry Customers

Feed us or else...

Recently I met up with two friends (Rob and Matt) for lunch at a sandwich place.

While we were in line to order food, we noticed there were A LOT of people waiting for their food.

When we humans are hungry and waiting for a meal, most of us try to put on a polite face to conceal from others how desperate we are to shove food down our throats.

But with every passing minute of not receiving an order, people’s stoic behavior can start to crumble.

That’s what happened during this moment.

Head shaking started. Nervous ticks appeared. Muttering was heard.

Minutes continued to go by and the crowd’s uneasiness grew.

Customers started inching closer and closer to the counter, as if they thought it would put pressure on the workers to make the food faster and hand it over. They started looking like a pack of angry zombies.

Usually at this place, there is a steady announcing of order numbers that are ready, but the employees were eerily silent during this particular lunch rush.

There was no communication, so nobody knew what was going on. We were left to speculate. Did they run out of bread? Were there tech issues? Did a disgruntled employee sabotage all of the food?

I started wondering if the workers had simply forgotten a step in their process.

The tension continued to escalate.

Arms were emphatically crossed and uncrossed.

Anxious breathing filled the air.

Frustrated faces slurped on fountain drink straws.

People kept glancing at their watches. They were doing lunch math. How little of time will I have to actually eat my food before my lunch break is over?

Rob was hangry and stressing about his food. I tried to calm him down.

It didn’t work.

A lady in a vest finally had enough and cracked. She marched up to the cashier, got a refund, and peaced out. I couldn’t make out her words as she demonstratively waved around her receipt on her march out, but I’m guessing she wasn’t saying that she’d be back soon.

The crowd’s patience was at a breaking point. It was looking like the hangry zombies were about to hop the counter, attack the employees, and grab anything that they could find to eat.

Things were looking very bleak, but then a worker an angel arrived through the back door (it looked like she had just gotten back from making a big food delivery). I saw her quickly process the shitshow that she had just walked into and then she immediately started busting butt.

Soon, order numbers started getting called out.

People exhaled.

Fists unclenched.

Hangry bellies were fed.

Rob and Matt got their orders. They politely waited until my food was ready before eating. They started chowing down immediately.

My order was #87.

An employee was calling out order numbers that came after 87.

It had been over 30 minutes since I ordered. I was worried my order was lost (it happened there once previously). I made the slow, dreadful walk to the counter to see what might be going on when suddenly…

Eventually everybody in the big crowd got their orders and dispersed.

The dust had finally settled.

As we were eating, a few new customers walked in. They were so happy and naive… they had no clue that a horrible hanger tragedy was barely avoided just moments ago.

The angel worker walked around checking on tables/thanking customers for their patience (and for not murdering her co-workers).

To prevent any future disasters, it might be a good idea for the sandwich shop to install something like this…

Also, I was just joking about Rob and Matt eating before I got my food. I am in the camp of if your food is there, EAT!

Until next time,
Patrick

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