Working Fast Food Can Be Miserable, But . . .

. . . employees should never throw hot grease on a customer.

PHILADELPHIA -- A fast-food worker in Philadelphia has lost her job and faces criminal charges for allegedly throwing hot grease on a customer.

According to a police report, a relative of the burned customer had spit on the worker. The 17-year-old has been charged with aggravated assault.

I spent seven summers as a fast-food employee, and I know just how demanding, annoying, smug, abrasive, condescending, frustrating, and cold fast-food customers can be. But hot grease definitely crosses the line.

Reading this story made me ask myself, What was my worst reaction to a customer complaint? Off hand, I remember a customer—who had already complained about me joking with a co-worker instead of taking her order—coming to the counter to complain that the French fries in her son's Kid's Meal were cold. I reached in the bag, took out a fry, ate it, and said, "They taste fine to me." I was written up for that.