Shape Up or Ship Out

I went to the Subway on the south side of Bend for lunch (5 dollar footlongs!), and it was an interesting experience. They had three employees, a guy making your sandwich, which would then get passed to a girl adding condiments, then a lady with a “trainee” sticker was at the register to ring you up. The two sandwich artists were doing a decent enough job of trying to say “Welcome to Subway” to everyone who walked in, though they missed a few people (myself included). I’ll cut them a break due to it being lunch hour and the line being a good size. The first thing that stuck out in my head was how unhappy the trainee looked. She frowned the entire time, and moped around the back area in between orders. It looked like this was the last place she wanted to be, and if this were my store she would be getting the “shape up or ship out” conversation immediately. How big of a turn off is it for the customers to see an employee who looks like they absolutely hate their job? There was a very uncomfortable feeling in the restaurant and I think her attitude was the main cause.

There was this really weird moment that occurred while I was waiting for the transfer between the condiment lady and the register. The line held up a bit because a guy asked the trainee for 2 cookies. She walked over to the oven, then mumbled something to the male employee. The male employee then told the customer that they were just done cooking and would still be very hot. The customer said he didn’t mind. The male employee then mentioned that they will probably just fall apart. The customer told the trainee that he didn’t mind, so she then stared and the male employee while everyone in the lobby watched to see what would happen. The male employee then said “just give it to him I guess” and that was that. The customer felt so awkward that he explained how they were for later and would be fine sitting in his car for now. Just wow. Give this guy his cookies! The whole thing was ridiculous, and now the customer feels like a jackass.

When it was my turn to pay, the trainee got called in to the back by a voice from a 4th, unseen employee. She went back, the re-emerged and grabbed a towel and went into the dining area and started wiping down tables. I stood there, with no employee acknowledgement, for a full minute (I was counting), before the 4th employee finally came out of the back and walked up to the register. She didn’t say hi or hello or hows it going, instead she went straight into asking what kind of sandwich I ordered. Her shirt was maroon and not green like the rest, so maybe that meant she was in charge. And that explains the lack of good customer service that all of us customers were experiencing- this person in charge didn’t display any friendliness or try to treat us as anything but numbers, and her employees certainly weren’t going to do anything but follow her example. She took my money, said “here you go” and handed me back my receipt, and that was the end of our interaction.

Experience: Bad. I would rather not go back.