Disappointing customers at the Popeyes on Winston Churchill
I was at the Popeyes at Winston Churchill & Royal Windsor this afternoon and saw something that honestly left a bad taste in my mouth.
A group of teenagers walked in, went straight to the fountain machine, and started filling their water bottles with pop. The employees politely told them they couldn't do that without paying, but instead of just stopping they started laughing, mocking the staff, and asking things like, "Do you want to drink from my bottle and see what's in it?" They kept giving the only employee behind the counter, a young woman, a hard time. One of them even went back and tried filling his bottle again after being told to stop.
When they were leaving, it looked like most of them realized they'd crossed the line. Two of them offered to pay for the drinks, but the employee declined. Most of them said "Have a good day" on the way out, and it actually sounded like they meant it. Then one kid ruined it by yelling, "Go fuck yourself," as he walked out. Luckily I got this on the video.
The comment that stuck with me the most was one kid asking an employee, "Do you own the business? If not, why do you care?" That mentality is just wild to me. Employees don't have to own the place to care about people stealing. They're just doing their job, and if they ignore it they're the ones who could get in trouble.
People keep talking about how hard it is for young people to find jobs these days, especially entry-level jobs like this. But seeing some of these kids act like they're somehow above the people working those jobs was honestly disappointing. Oakville is known to be a pretty privileged place, so I wasn't expecting surprised to see this on a Sunday afternoon, but still this is a new low amongst everything I've seen in my life in this town.
Anyway, I wanted to give some credit to the staff. They stayed calm the whole time and handled it professionally, although this shouldn't have been part of their job.
Edit: Typo. I meant to say, “I wasn’t surprised to see this.” I was so upset writing the post that I fatfingered.