You know the type, probably a good father or worker, but serious faced all the time, never smiles, often in a bad mood, very cynical. It’s just I feel like I’m on the path to this, I’m 28, just escaped 12 years of food service so I’m already super cynical and if someone comes up to me, I’m super ready to shut down whatever’s about to happen. I feel like working with customers for years I’ve learned to have giant walls up and I can’t seem to remove them. I see the other guys in the factory I’m working at laughing and joking all the time, I think of myself as funny but it’s always deadpan humor and I wish I could genuinely smile and laugh and make friends with the other guys. Any old timers or well travelers out there have any advice?
You sound like you are a bit traumatized from your years in food service.
That’s an understatement, I’ve worked every type of environment in that industry that’s customer facing, I’ve been screamed at, had food thrown at me, packs of kids rob the store, and I can tell before a customer even says a word what their vibe will be. It’s like an invisible force, if you walk into a store with a problem I clock you immediately, every. Single. Time.
I am sorry for what you had to suffer through. Just know it was not your fault. You were abused by a broken and exploitative economic system and you bear no blame in any of it.