Maybe if the employee didn't mumble and face away from me when giving instructions, I would…read moreactually be able to understand what they were telling me to do.
I ordered my food with a soda (in the process of ordering, had to ask the employee to repeat themself several times). They turned away after the transaction, and they were mumbling something from across the restaurant that sounded like "get the soda yourself" or something along those lines.
So. When I was handed the food and not handed a soda along with it, I assumed they did, in fact, mean I should get it myself. Plus, I had paid for the soda and it wasn't given to me. Sooo.
I went to the fountain drink station and started getting it myself, as I thought they'd said. Just as what I'd ordered and paid for, a large diet soda.
The employee flew out of the kitchen with their voice raised a bit (not yelling, but alarming nonetheless), going "Ma'am, no! Ma'am!" I stopped in my tracks and they took the filled soda cup from my hand and said, "I gave you the soda already!"
Uh. What? Then why don't I have it? It's not on the counter anywhere, either.
So I'm confused and frustrated out of my mind, panicking a bit. What in the fresh hell was going on?
They said something about how they'd told me to get the bottled soda from the fridge...
Uhh when did you say that? And you never even asked me if I'd wanted bottle or fountain, 'cause I wouldn't have went for bottled, yuck.
I was really upset because I was pretty shocked and confused. And over such a stupid thing...?
I'm Autistic and have CPTSD, I admit my emotions are hard to control. So I went to my car to calm down for a while.
I didn't touch the food, I'd lost my appetite. And I felt mistreated and like I'd been treated rudely. So I went back in with my receipt to ask for a refund.
Same employee comes up to the counter. I present my receipt and original payment card, and I say, (admittedly with tears and makeup streaming down my cry-swollen face lol) "Can I please get a refund?"
Employee: "What?"
Me: "Can I please just get a refund."
Employee: "Where's the food?"
Huh. Why would a restaurant want the food back if they're just going to have to toss it anyway? I didn't have a problem with the food, I had a problem with the service. I almost felt like this person was acting like they didn't recognize me or remember, despite my distinctive appearance and the fact I'd just been in there, on an extremely slow day, no less. Plus, I had my receipt, proof of purchase, right on the counter.
I honestly felt I was possibly being mocked or even gaslit. I had said before during the drink mishap that "I got confused," and after I had asked for a refund to no avail, they said, "Where's the food? I'm so confused."
It also felt like discrimination due to me being Autistic. I come off as odd to people and they assume I'm stupid and make fun of me, I get it all the time. And I do indeed get confused. This experience felt like I was being made fun of and taken advantage of because my autism made me seem "stupid" to them.
But clearly I also wasn't worth being spoken to audibly and without a mumble, nor spoken to in my direction so I could actually hear the employee and their instructions. I wasn't worth asking what kind of flipping soda I wanted lol.
Anyway. After the employee seemed to act like they didn't know what was going on when I asked twice for a refund, I said "nevermind" and walked out. No maturity, no accountability, no apology.
I get things are really nightmarishly tough in the world right now, and it can be awful to work in customer service. But that's why we need just basic respect more than ever. Even if it's just getting someone a burger or a soda. I know it sounds like such a small thing -- at the end of the day, I don't give a damn about some soda, I just want basic respect and to not be someone's doormat or punching bag to vent their frustrations on in the form of rudeness and cruelty.
It just really messed up my day, honestly. I hadn't cried that hard in a while; I was just so confused and alarmed by all this.
