Yahoo Finance Fast food workers reveal customer horror stories
“A customer threatened to kill my family and myself if I didn’t remake his cheeseburger because the first one was apparently too cold.”
“He threatened to break my kneecaps with a bat.”
“He threw 4 large soft drinks at me and demanded his money back so I was soaking wet, he also told me to go die.”
These are all real stories from Australia’s fast food workers, and they’re horrifying
It’s considered a rite of passage for Australia’s teenagers, but working in the fast food industry can be a terrifying and harmful experience, a new survey from the retail, fast food and warehousing union has found.
More than one in four (28 per cent) respondents to an SDA survey have experienced physical abuse like punching or hitting, or death or harm threats from a customer.
A shocking 87 per cent of fast food workers have experienced verbal abuse or aggressive behaviour.
Unsurprisingly, 44 per cent of respondents said this has had an impact on their physical or mental health.
“This behaviour has got to stop. Copping abuse is not part of the job. No one deserves a serve,” SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer said.
“This behaviour would never be tolerated in schools, why is it okay for young Australian workers to be abused at work?”
The SDA found that 41 per cent of respondents to the survey were younger than 17, with 71 per cent female.
“When we talk about the abuse of fast food workers, we’re actually talking about the abuse of teenage girls,” Dwyer said.
Customers, employers told to step up
Christmas can be a stressful time, but that’s no excuse for rude, disrespectful and offensive behaviour.
The same goes for employers who should step up to mitigate and protect against this behaviour, Dwyer said.
The SDA is launching a new fast food ‘No One Deserves a Serve’ national campaign to change customer behaviour towards workers this Christmas.
The campaign will include ads across radio, TV, online and across buses and billboards.
“The behaviour they have reported is absolutely unacceptable and it’s time for it to stop,” Dwyer said.
‘Pinhead’ customers act out over plastic bag ban
Earlier this year the SDA launched a campaign asking customers to act rationally when confronted with plastic bag bans.
One Woolworths staff member was assaulted after a customer became frustrated over the ban, Yahoo News reported.
“We received a report that a guy at a self-serve checkout at Woolworths became unhappy about there being no single-use plastic bags,” SDA WA assistant secretary Ben Harris told Yahoo News.
“A female staff member handed him a free reusable bag.”
The staff member left the man to use the checkout but he then accidentally scanned an item twice.
“The man then walked up behind the woman and put his hands around her throat,” Mr Harris said, warning that staff were at a heightened risk of ‘pinhead’ customers.
“We’re just urging customers to think about their behaviour.”
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