I wasn’t accustomed to the culture. I could barely speak the language.
I remember one day a pair of ladies ordered noodle soups for breakfast.
I take their order and put in the ticket.
Minutes later, they come back up to the counter and request to change the type of noodle on their order.
I tell them it’s a little too late to make changes because the food is already cooking.
In retaliation, they said I never asked what kind of noodles they wanted. They said it was my fault their order was wrong and they’re not going to eat it because it wasn’t the one they wanted.
Raised voices. An ask for the manager (aka my mom). A big commotion over noodles.
In that moment it felt like I did something terribly wrong. I wondered, how could someone treat somebody else this way over a noodle preference?
Long story short, they said some not very nice words to a sensitive person.
I cried that morning.
Moral of the story?
Learn to be a part of the community. Hear what your customers care about. Speak their language (and not just literally).
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