Patience should be a courtesy

I stopped in at a local restaurant earlier this week on the one afternoon of the week when it seemed like it must have been the most popular place in town.

There were long lines and long wait times, which was clearly frustrating to the patrons.

It’s a place I frequent, so I know this is abnormal. Normally, service is pretty quick, even when they’re busy.

While I was patiently waiting for my own order — and wishing I had picked a less busy place on this particular day — I saw several customers approach the staff members and these customers were not on their best behavior.

I totally understand the frustration, I felt it myself. However, raising your voice or getting rude with a server or cashier serves no purpose. It certainly isn’t going to make your order appear more quickly while they stop to bear the brunt of your frustrations and then get flustered or upset by the interaction.

I’ve waited tables at a busy family restaurant and worked third shift as a grocery store cashier. I know, and I’m guessing most of us in this area know, what it’s like to get slammed and just not be able to keep up with the number of customers coming in.

We really need to try to remember that when we’re on the other side of the counter.

I made a point of thanking the server who brought my order, telling her I thought the staff was doing a great job and asking her to pass that along to the manager, who had very politely listened while being yelled at for a situation beyond his control.

While I can’t say I appreciated the wait or interruption to my day, I can say I appreciate the hard work it takes to do the jobs those staff members were doing to the best of their ability at that moment.

I hope I’m not the only one who took a few moments to say thank you in their day.

Donna Farley is editor of the Daily American Republic and can be reached at dfarley@darnews.com.