Would you rather work in fast food or customer service?

@maezee (41997)
United States
March 30, 2009 1:28am CST
One condition: If the pay was the same! So, if you were paid the same amount per hour, which would rather work as? A customer service representative or a fast food worker? I'd totally pick the fast food worker. I'm totally fed up with being in customer service & I'd enjoy actually physically working for a change of pace. What about you? Which would you pick, if you had the choice, and why? Is there an obvious answer? Thanks in advance!
1 person likes this
7 responses
• Philippines
30 Mar 09
Hi! I would also pick working in a fast food restaurant. I have already experienced working in a fast food. and now that I am working in an office, I miss working there. have fun
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@maezee (41997)
• United States
30 Mar 09
Totally! I've never worked in fast food and it seems like it might be interesting, although I would certainly get sick of it after a while. I would just rather do it than negotiate with angry customers.
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• Philippines
30 Mar 09
Handling customer complaints is easier in a fast food. just give them what they want and its finished. unlike in a customer service wherein only your talking can convince them
31 Mar 09
From an academic point of view there is one big difference here and quite an important one. That is job satisfaction. If you do a job where you can see an immediate result for your efforts it is psychologically very satisfying. With serving a customer direct you can see if they are pleased with your efforts. In customer service particularly if it is by telephone a lot of the time you do not know if your effort has been successful so in most cases there is no immediate feeling of satisfaction. For this reason a customer service job should have higher pay than serving fast food apart that is from the point that a customer service job may need higher qualifications
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@maezee (41997)
• United States
1 Apr 09
Thanks for your response.
• Philippines
30 Mar 09
Well in my case, I will choose fast food worker also than costumer service. I also like physical work phase like you, but my condition doesn't fit in this kind of work. I can't work these kind of phase. In fact i have just resigned from my previous job which is a Printshop staff a costumer service related job. My doctor advised me that i should only accept or apply a job that only lets me sit. Not like the previous one that makes me stand the whole day if we have a lot of costumers or a lot of job to do. That's why I just enjoy My Lot these days...
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@maezee (41997)
• United States
30 Mar 09
Aww that's too bad. You could still work in customer service, though (such as over-the-phone/answering phones in an office) type job, though, couldn't you? It would definitely be less physically strenuous than working in fast food. Anyway, thanks for answering!
@ivan2000bd (1009)
• Sweden
30 Mar 09
if the paid is same i wont like to do work like this. this kind of works are directly related with the customer services. and always required to stay patience, which i dont posses.
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@maezee (41997)
• United States
30 Mar 09
I don't have very much patience either. Thanks!
• United States
30 Mar 09
I rather work in fast food. I couldn't care less on what the customer has to say.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41997)
• United States
30 Mar 09
Lol, well there's still a degree of keeping the customer happy in fast food, wouldn't you say? But you're less likely to get screamed at for something you didn't do wrong. Thanks for your response.
• United States
30 Mar 09
Well, I've worked both. Since I'm now facing going back to fast food, I can tell ya, I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I thknk I would choose customer service simply because in the long run, it looks better on a resume than flipping burgers. There are pros and cons to both. Customer service is an aggrivating job. It wears on your nerves and it's a very boring job physically. On the up side, the hours are more steady and it does look better as a job reference. Fast food, it kind of depends on what you do. The majority of my time was in the kitchen. It's really not too fun when you have people screaming at you to hurry and make food. Working cash registers isn't bad, you just have to be quick. The worst downside of it is the hours. They're never the same and you rarely will get 40 every week. The last time I was working fast food, I would average between 25 and 32 hours a week over 5 or 6 days. The up side is that it's not always busy, you just have rushes. You can have fun with the people you work with and you can get the physical aspect of it in some situations. I guess it's your personal preference, but I'd stick wtih customer service. Let fast food be a last resort.
@maezee (41997)
• United States
30 Mar 09
It was more of a hypothetical question. I'm not looking for a job right now, nor do I plan on it for a while - but I've heard such horror stories about customer service that I've always wondered WHY people even choose that kind of job to begin with. Thanks for sharing your experiences, though. I couldn't imagine working under all of the pressure that fast food people do. yikes.
• Singapore
30 Apr 09
i will pick fast food worker, the main reason is i feel more freedom, as a customer service representive, more strict