The Mycenaean

The service industry, despite all its flaws, takes inexperienced teenagers and turns them into contributing members of the workforce. 

The service industry is any business that does work for a customer. Examples are restaurants and retail. 

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2021, 36.2% of teens worked in accommodation and food services, and another 21.3% worked in retail trade. 

Working in service requires dealing with many different customers, some of whom are quite difficult. These interactions provide teens with new experiences that teach them social and problem-solving skills.

Adult Customers and Teenage Workers

Young people are used to taking orders from adults, either from their teachers or their parents. Having an adult manager is not much of a learning curve. 

However, in service, teens cater to adult customers as well. This type of interaction with adults is an adjustment, because the teenage worker knows more about the job, but is still in a place where they have to listen to the adult.

Food service workers have to make their customers’ orders properly. Teenagers learn how to follow recipes and adjust to customers’ requests, but sometimes customers get upset at the workers if their order is not satisfactory. 

Ethan Woodard, senior, works at Goodberry’s Frozen Custard. “Usually, they treat me the same as an adult, but sometimes they think they know more about everything and get a little mad if it’s not going right,” said Woodard.

Retail workers have to deal with a variety of customer issues. Teenagers learn how to actively listen to customers’ complaints and solve their problems, but workers cannot always mollify customers.

Sophia O’neill, senior, works at Harris Teeter, a grocery store. “You will occasionally get a customer that thinks that they can be a little bit rude because you’re younger,” said O’Neill.

Problems with customers are uncommon. Most customers are cordial and have respect for teenage workers.

“On average it’s pretty good. A lot of people are nice,” said O’Neill.

Customer Anecdotes

A job where workers come in contact with so many people generates different types of situations. Leesville students have many stories about customer interactions, both negative and positive.

Some situations are unsanitary, requiring workers to deal with excrement or bodily fluid.

Brody Crafts, senior, works at Publix, a grocery store. “A dog pooped on the floor at Publix. I didn’t really know what to do. The customer was very apologetic,” said Crafts. 

Crafts also works at Pump It Up, which hosts children’s birthday parties. “At Pump It Up, a kid got a bloody nose because he fell,” said Crafts.

Liam Bryant, junior, works at Harris Teeter. “My most memorable customer interaction was when a customer walked through the front covered in brown, and we had to spray the front down with Febreze,” texted Bryant, via Instagram.

Customers also put workers in uncomfortable positions. Some adults speak unfiltered to teenage workers because the workers are younger and are there to serve. 

Simin Mostafa, senior, worked at Walmart. “My most memorable customer interaction was when some lady started to yell at me and made me cry [on my second day],” texted Mostafa, via iMessage. 

“One of the worst customer experiences I had was when I was checking ID for this guy, and he said I had to pat him down, and I said I’m not doing that,” said O’neill.

“There was this guy that had an assault charge, and he would get really mad if someone put too many strawberries in his [ice cream]. He would ask us to keep remaking it, and he eventually got so mad that he started flinging ice cream at a worker, and we had to ban him,” said Woodard.

The negative interactions are often the most memorable. Nevertheless, there are more positive interactions than negative ones.

“I don’t say I get a lot of rude adults. I have had them, but you can’t really do much. You just have to live with it. Try to remember it, move on, and don’t allow mistakes to happen because that’s usually where it comes from,” said Crafts.

Many stores have regulars, or customers that come frequently, and workers cultivate relationships with them.

“Overall it’s pretty good, customers are nice. There’s a lot of constant customers that come daily, so you get to know them through that,” said Woodard.

Coworkers

Each job has a unique work environment, but all have one thing in common: coworkers. The people you work with can make the hours go faster and have your back when dealing with problematic customers.

“I enjoy making friendships and connections with the people I work with. I think it’s good to have people you like that you work with, and it overall makes the job easier and more fun,” said O’Neill.

Coworkers all share a similar enjoyment of the work, which makes it easy to make connections.

“[I like] talking to coworkers. We all have common goals. We’re all there to get paid, but we work there because… we have a common draw to each other, so we have a couple of common interests to build off of,” said Crafts.

Lessons

While working in customer service, teenagers learn valuable social skills and patience. 

“[I learned] how to deal with people better and not just give them weird glances when they say something rude. It’s a lot easier to keep my composure dealing with that more often,” said O’Neill.

“I’ve learned not to care too much and gain more patience,” said Mostafa.

Service jobs also allow teens to meet all kinds of people, which expands their perspective on the world.

“I’ve learned there’s a lot of different people that you can meet in the real world and there’s a ton of opportunities out there too. Getting to interact and meet people is a great way to find opportunities for school and jobs,” said Woodard.

Customer service is challenging, but also eye-opening.Getting introduced to new situations and new people is a valuable experience for all young people.

“What I’ve learned in the service industry is that it is what you make it. There will be bad bosses and mean customers, but if you don’t take it in stride then you shouldn’t work in the service industry at all,” said Bryant.

A teenager’s first job is also often their first peek into the world outside of school and home. The lessons teens learn working in service prepare them for real world interactions and give them important life experience.