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  • #1

    New? Or... stupid?

    You be the judge.

    There's a certain Subway I go to whenever I'm heading in to work, and I'm used to the employees who work there. A little over a week ago there was a new guy I'd never seen before, working alongside a guy who's been there ever since I started going there.

    I asked for a salad. The new guy, a teenager, grabbed a salad bowl, looked at the wall where there used to be posters detailing how to build a sandwich, and seeing that they were gone now... he froze. He looked at the vegetables, the meat, the cheese. It was overwhelming. You could see the gears seize inside his head and squeak to a halt.

    This was when he looked over at the other guy and asked plaintively, "Hey, what goes in a salad? It's not listed over here."

    The other guy told him, and after some confusion with the chicken, the other guy shooed him away and made the salad himself.

    Yesterday I went in again and saw that same guy. I asked for Subway's new sandwich, the Tuscan chicken melt. You put the chicken in, sprinkle some special spices on it, and then go to town. So to speak.

    The new guy looked at the vegetables, the meat, the cheese. A bewildering array. And once gain, the gears squeaked and ground to a stop.

    He looked over at the other guy and asked, "Hey, what does in the Tuscan chicken?"

    The other guy blinked a couple of times and said, "...Chicken?"

    The new guy grabbed the wrong chicken. The other guy shooed him away and made it himself.

    Now, the question here is, is the new guy just new, or is he stupid? I ask because, especially with the salad... Well, making a salad is sort of a common sense activity, or at least I'd think so. I can understand more of the confusion about the new sandwich but even so, does it not go without saying that a chicken sandwich would have chicken in it? And not the chicken that's already been basted for the sweet onion teriyaki?

    Am I being too harsh here, or is the new guy kind of... dumb?
    Drive it like it's a county car.
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  • #2
    Too soon to tell, IMO. It's within that time window where--although it'd be a statistical anomaly--that may have actually been his first time having to make a Tuscan Chicken. And the way I figure jobs work, you get one chance for everything: one shot to not know something, find out from a senior employee, then remember it from then on. Go back next week and get another Tuscan Chicken, if you're in the mood for it. If he has to ask again, then you'll have your answer about his vocational fortitude.

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    • #3
      I'm going to say the same.

      What I didn't like was the senior guy shooing the other guy away. Was the new guy still looking over his shoulder etc to see how the salad/sub got made? Otherwise he will never learn. If I see a new person working I understand that my sub may not be as good as what I would normally expect, but there is a learning curve. Gotta have someone teach you, preferably with you doing the making, before you know what you're doing
      Began work Aug as casual '08
      Ex-coworkers from current place of work: 26ish
      Current co-workers at current place of work: 15ish - yes he just hired 3 more casuals
      Why do I still work there again?

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      • #4
        I suspect the shooing indicates the answer to the question "was this his first exposure to this request?"

        No. It's not. He's asked before. He's been shown. He's asked again. He's been shown again. They are sick of showing him now and simply find it easier to shoo him away and do it themselves.

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        • #5
          Quoth One-Fang View Post
          I suspect the shooing indicates the answer to the question "was this his first exposure to this request?"

          No. It's not. He's asked before. He's been shown. He's asked again. He's been shown again. They are sick of showing him now and simply find it easier to shoo him away and do it themselves.
          That was the impression I got.
          Drive it like it's a county car.

          Comment

          • #6
            That is probably true, but I have seen people with extremely low tolerance for questions. If the other workers always shoo him away, he will never learn. I would assume you are familiar with what is on the sandwiches you order? Maybe next time, when they shoo him, speak up! Let the other worker know you can help the new guy learn how to make your sandwich, and make it clear you don't mind. This, of course, only if you have time and/or inclination to do so. That will help the new guy learn, and it will also make you his favorite customer. I am sure he is frustrated by nobody wanting to show him, just because he may be a little slower to learn.
            "You mean you don’t have the one piece of information you actually need? Well, stick your grubby paws in the crayon box, yank one out and colour me Fucking Shocked Fuchsia." - Gravekeeper

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            • #7
              Quoth Megg View Post
              That is probably true, but I have seen people with extremely low tolerance for questions. If the other workers always shoo him away, he will never learn. I would assume you are familiar with what is on the sandwiches you order? Maybe next time, when they shoo him, speak up! Let the other worker know you can help the new guy learn how to make your sandwich, and make it clear you don't mind. This, of course, only if you have time and/or inclination to do so. That will help the new guy learn, and it will also make you his favorite customer. I am sure he is frustrated by nobody wanting to show him, just because he may be a little slower to learn.
              I did try to walk him through the salad. I told him that typically you ask what kind of meat, if any, they want in it, and that I wanted chicken, so he dutifully got a chicken breast and put it in the bottom of the bowl. The other employee saw that and told him to cut it up first, so he cut it up, still in the bottom of the bowl. Then I told him I wanted lettuce and spinach, which the new guy guy got and put on top of the chicken. When the other employee saw him doing that, that's when he shooed him away and told him to watch as he made the salad.
              Drive it like it's a county car.

              Comment

              • #8
                I'm guessing a bit of both.
                Two points though,
                1-most of these franchised places have cheat sheets (and training) so that the food/drink should come out the same no matter where you go. Unfortunately due to being franchised these standards tend to go out the window(notice the amount of times you see "under new management" at these places.
                2-having hired/trained (and then had to fire) a lot of youngsters (and some not so young) I've come to the realisation that some folk are just not cut out for this kind of work. They've never made their own food/drinks, for whatever reason, and what looks like simple common sense to most everyone else just does not compute for them, no matter how many times they are shown.
                That said, try the same order again another time & you'll know for sure.
                Common sense is not that common.

                Comment

                • #9
                  Yikes. He really put the whole chicken breast at the bottom of the bowl? Really? No wonder his co-workers are tired of him! Some people should just not work in food, I guess.
                  "You mean you don’t have the one piece of information you actually need? Well, stick your grubby paws in the crayon box, yank one out and colour me Fucking Shocked Fuchsia." - Gravekeeper

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    the tuscan i could see being confused about if you've never made it before... but you said he'd been trained and kept forgetting...

                    but a salad?
                    um... fill the box with lettuce, and then add in whatever meats and veggies the customer wants. try to make it look nice.

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