My sixteen-year-old son has been working at Chick-Fil-A for several months now. He has learned a lot of valuable lessons during his time there. Some of these lessons have to do with responsibility, managing a schedule, and such. But one lesson that has made a long-lasting impact is the importance of treating people who are serving you with kindness and respect.
I personally know several teens who are currently working at drive-through restaurants. I’ve known eight of these kids and their families for a long time, and they are very dear to me. All of them have shared stories with their parents or with me about how rude customers can be sometimes. You wouldn’t believe the things that make some people lose it when they drive through a restaurant, or the tone they use to talk to these teens.
My friends and I knew our kids would have to deal with difficult people at times, it’s part of having a job in customer service. However, why would anyone willingly become the vessel through which teens learn how to deal with difficult people at their jobs? The optimist in me would like to believe they’re just not aware of how they come across. I also know that rude people are typically hurt, stressed out, and unhappy, so I try to remind my son to not take it personally when someone acts that way.
I should mention that most costumers are neutral/nice. It’s not like everyone is rude. But unfortunately the difficult customers are the most memorable ones. What if we switched that around?Allow me to share an example of what that would look like.
My son’s name is Caleb, and a few weeks ago a kind gentlemen looked at his name tag and asked him if he knew the story of Caleb from the Bible. We named my son after this biblical figure, so he knows the story of Caleb and Joshua really well. After a short conversation about the Bible story, he told my son he could be like the Caleb from the Bible too, and have faith in God’s promises even when those around him don’t. He encouraged him to live up to his name by being a good leader, and by being faithful to God. You should have seen the look on Caleb’s face when he was sharing that story with us later that day. I will be forever grateful to that man for intentionally speaking life to my son during their brief interaction.
Most teens who have jobs are pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, and doing their best to perform well. Imagine what could happen if we became a little bit more mindful and intentional in the way we interact with teens at work?
What if teens could share with their families or friends something really nice that happened at work, so nice it overshadows bad?
What if when they make a mistake we politely ask them to fix our order, reassure them that it’s okay to make mistakes, and remind them that they will get better with time?
What if we can be the ones to speak life and destiny over these kids?
What if we can be the ones to encourage them to keep going instead of making them want to quit their job?
You get the point. Let’s go make a teen’s workday great!
Your turn!
- I would like to challenge all of us to encourage at least one working teen this week.
- I’d love to hear about their response in the comments. And if you have a teen with a job, give them a shoutout in the comments too!
- Share the challenge with your friends and let’s spread some love to the teens around us, they desperately need it!
