Special Snowflake alert!
My oldest son worked with a few of these delicate creatures when he worked at a pizza hut. They just couldn’t handle the stress of being there on time, working their entire shift and God forbid customer complain, why it was workman’s comp time, counseling, grief therapy for some.
When he started I told him: if you need off a certain day you tell your boss a week in advance, you don’t call in unless you are living on the toilet or have the flu, you show up 5-10 mins. before you are supposed to be there, you show up ready to work, you keep your cell phone turned off and you do what your boss tells you too correct the first time so you don’t have to redo the job and if you get yelled at, suck it up and deal with it.
Because he showed up and worked he got lots and lots of hours to the point of where the old expression working a good horse to death became an issue. He wanted to leave in anger after one of the precious snow flakes called in at age 20 claiming to be having a “heart attack” and then disappearing for two days before the manager let him return to work for two days only to have yet another lame excuse from this delicate flower give him more time off.
When he left he gave them notice and worked a couple of days after the notice training yet another replacement worker. He worked there a couple of years and finally moved on to LEO work at a local university.
I'm grateful to have worked at McDonald's: It taught me how better to handle my anxiety and how to put myself last in the name of efficiency and a common goal. McDonald's strengthened my character, my work ethic, and expanded my capacity for resilience, valuable lessons which could not be learned in the "safe spaces" of Haverford's campus. We must remember that putting oneself first is the essence of privilege, and that, in order to grow, we must leave this selfish mindset behind.