She Was Almost Trafficked At The Burger Joint Where She Works
Yesterday, this 18-year-old woman, who lives in Maryland, was working at a well-known burger joint. Unfortunately, she had an encounter with a super creepy customer.
She works at the drive-thru payment window, and she has to stand at the window for her entire shift.
“I’m very friendly. I know sometimes a smile and a compliment can make someone’s day a little better. Just this same night, before the creeper came, I had a customer tell me I was ‘So happy,’ and she loved me for it. That gave me the courage and energy to survive this next interaction. I’m used to the awkward comments and stares from old men. I’m sure it’s my friendliness that attracts them. Our uniforms aren’t revealing. They think I’m naive,” she said.
While she wondered if maybe she was a bit blissfully unaware of how dangerous people can be, she still knew that something bad could happen to anyone, anywhere.
At almost 6 p.m., an older man drove up to her window. Apparently, a lot of older men who come through the drive-thru at her job will often feign that they didn’t hear her tell them their total, and this man was no different. He chuckled as if it was a joke between the two of them, and she repeated his total.
This man then jokingly waved his money around out his car window, forcing her to awkwardly reach for and “chase” the money. Unfortunately, this behavior also isn’t uncommon for her to experience with older male customers. Finally, she was able to grab the money from his hand.
As part of her work uniform, she has to wear a shirt with the restaurant’s name on the front. She also doesn’t wear a name tag because of the uncomfortable situations she’s been subjected to from customers like this man.
“He stared at the company name on my shirt and asked if that was my name. I joked that I was going to change my name permanently to that. He perked up. At this point, I should state that he was white, mid-60s to 70s, and driving a small, white SUV with a kayak on top. He had some scruff on his face and was holding a phone to his ear this entire time. When I finally began to engage with him, he moved his phone in my direction. Looking back, I believe he was recording me. At no point did he speak into the phone or acknowledge it in any way,” she explained.
Then, the man started asking her more personal questions, including trying to find out what her name actually was.
creativefamily – stock.adobe.com- illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Coincidentally, she has the same last name as a historic American figure, so whenever she’s told her customers this, they seem to get a kick out of it. However, when she told this man her last name, he didn’t give much of a reaction before moving on to ask her more about herself. At this point, she started to feel uneasy about his behavior.
Even though she was uncomfortable, she couldn’t end the interaction with the man because he hadn’t given her enough change yet. She informed him of this, and he got another dollar to hand to her. When she tried to take it from him, he didn’t let go of the bill.
As he held onto the bill, he asked her what her first name was, and she avoided answering. When he continued badgering her, still hanging onto the money, she gave him a different name than her actual first name. After that, he smiled at her and let go of the money.
At last, she was able to give him his change, tell him to have a good day, and send him on his way. Once the transaction was over, she walked away from the payment window to tell a coworker what happened.
Much to her dismay, this wasn’t the last time she would see this man. Two hours later, he came back. Work had slowed down a bit, so while she was standing at the window, she was texting with her father, debating the hot topic of “whether or not a chicken sandwich was a burger.”
When she recognized the man, her heart sank, and she felt sick. Normally, she enjoys interacting with regular customers. She hoped that this man, however, would not become a regular. If he did, she felt like she’d be tempted to call the cops.
The man smiled at her and joked, “‘Hey! The one with the last name!'” She gave a feeble smile in return and yearned for when she had to wear a mask at work.
Just like last time, he waved the money out of her reach after she’d told him his total. Once again, he had his phone to his ear, but he seemed to be positioning his phone with the camera pointed at her. She also wondered if maybe he really was on the phone with someone, but the person on the other end was listening in and was a part of some dangerous plot.
The man also continued his questioning to find out more information about her. She still tried her best to give him as little detail as possible, avoiding answering most of his questions. Her hope was that she could breeze through the transaction so that he’d go away.
“Some of the questions he asked me: ‘How often do you work? What time do you leave? How old are you?’ For that one, I knew he wouldn’t leave without a number, and I had a nasty feeling that the younger wouldn’t be the better. So, I said, ‘Probably 20s.’ He joked about me being ‘legal.’ I made a face and tried to get his change even faster. He asked if I had a boyfriend. I was getting more and more nervous. So, my answers started getting more sarcastic. I told him boys were trouble. He specifically talked about himself and said he’d treat me right,” she shared.
Finishing up the transaction, ready for the interaction with this man to be over, she gave him his receipt and told him to have a good night.
Apparently, he wasn’t done talking to her, and he became frustrated that she was trying to hurry him away from her payment window. In annoyance, “he threw his hands in the air and was saying, ‘Don’t be like that; I’ll treat you right.'” As she closed the window, understandably at her limit, she said, “BYE,” and watched him throw a bit of a fit before he finally drove to the next window.
Since he’d asked her when she got done with work, she had a sneaking suspicion that he had been keeping an eye on the restaurant, waiting to see her leave.
Now shaken up, she called her mother, who came to her work right away. She doesn’t have a car and normally bikes to work, so, understandably, she didn’t feel comfortable biking home late at night after dealing with this creepy customer.
When the man had been prying her for information, she made sure not to tell him she biked to work because she didn’t want him to potentially be looking for her as she was on her way to and from her job.
She informed her manager of the situation, and as she was giving him a description of the creepy man, she wasn’t sure what color his car had been, so her manager pulled up the security camera footage so that she could look through it and spot the man and his vehicle.
After this, she returned to working the payment window, and, luckily, the man didn’t drive through again. She ended her shift an hour early and suggested to her manager that he shouldn’t let any female employees work the window for the time being, just to be safe, and he agreed with the idea. After that, her mom drove her home.
She pointed out that these types of situations, sadly all too common, are one of the reasons customer service workers become unhappy. After the ordeal, she might take a couple of days off from work, but she’s glad that she will be starting a new job soon.
What would you have done if you’d been in her shoes?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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