commentr/StutterApril 3, 2017

Content

I have had a stutter for the past 13 plus years and I am a server at Speedys (not real name) drive in. I was scared af my first week or two and after a bit my hours were cut to convince me to start taking speaker and carhop. It was a bit of TLC but it worked. The people I worked with were great and helped me out quite a bit. Particularly one person who got hired on as a manager a week after I started. Read some of my posts of you like. I have had all kinds of customers from people who don't notice there is something wrong with you to people who get to know you and could care less about the stutter to people who know someone or are a stutterer themselves to just outright asshats of people who laugh and make cruel jokes. The last one I don't serve often because most people are super nice or didn't care one way or the other as long as they get everything made to order. No matter how bad you're stutter is or what kind of a stutter you have don't let it control you. For me, as time as gone on and I have been serving now for nearly 11 mos. I have quite a few good memories of customers that keep me going. One I fall back on when the going gets though is of a father with his young son that I posted here a little while ago. The kid had a severe stutter that left him nearly unable to say a word fluently. He had lost all hope in having a good life and ever finding a job when they met me. I was having a rough night and my stutter was more noticeable than I'd like. I stuttered through repeating back their order as I handed them everything. It was pretty busy so I really was trying to be quick and courteous. I get a lot of looks from people who are taken aback by my speech but I stopped letting it bother me. This man gave me that look and I finished he either the order and went back inside. I was relieved and told to take a break. Few minutes later I am sitting in my car with some good half priced food in my lap when the manager comes running out. The customer I just served wanted to see me. She told him I was on break but he insisted. I went back to see him running the whole thing through my head. I was scared I had down something wrong or somehow offended him. He wanted to talk to me about his son. How just that afternoon he ha stood him he didn't have any hope of enjoying life and so ok. He had a debilitating stutter and didn't like to talk. Just by listening to me and watching me doing my job have that little bit hope. I was talking on speaker, talking to customer while serving them their shakes and what it. I gave that little boy hope. I was taken aback by all this and even more so when the man put a $20 in my hand and insisted I deserved it all. This is what keeps me going through even the roughest days of stuttering. I hope it helps you too. Go and apply at a Speedys near you or any restaurant and become a server. I love most of my customers and many of them make my day so much brighter even when things are all going to sh*t. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Sorry for the super long post I'm on mobile.

Themes

School & WorkEmotional ExperienceCommunity & SupportIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Employment & CareerShame & EmbarrassmentPersonal StoriesStigma & Bullying

Codes (1)

ordering_service_encounter