Pizza Problems

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Most people associate burnout with office jobs - sitting in a cubicle all day, crunching numbers, driving a desk for twenty years until you just break from all the pressures of the corporate world.

The truth is though, burnout can happen in any employment position. Sure, there are some career paths that are more prone to it than others, but the truth is, even if you're just making pizza or flipping burgers for a living, it can happen.

Two psychologists, Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North, have theorized that burnout can be divided into twelve different phases. Keep in mind that these phases don't necessarily have to be sequential - any stage can happen at any time. Here are the twelve phases. Do any of my food service brothers and sisters recognize any of these phases/symptoms in yourselves?

The Compulsion to Prove Oneself Often found at the beginning is excessive ambition. This is one's desire to prove themselves while at the workplace. This desire turns into determination and compulsion.

Working Harder Because they have to prove themselves to others or try to fit in an organization that does not suit them, people establish high personal expectations. In order to meet these expectations, they tend to focus only on work while they take on more work than they usually would. It may happen that they become obsessed with doing everything themselves. This will show that they are irreplaceable since they are able to do so much work without enlisting in the help of others.

Neglecting Their Needs Since they have devoted everything to work, they now have no time and energy for anything else. Friends and family, eating, and sleeping start to become seen as unnecessary or unimportant, as they reduce the time and energy that can be spent on work.

Displacement of Conflicts Now, the person has become aware that what they are doing is not right, but they are unable to see the source of the problem. This could lead to a crisis in themselves and become threatening. This is when the first physical symptoms are expressed.

Revision of Values In this stage, people isolate themselves from others, they avoid conflicts, and fall into a state of denial towards their basic physical needs while their perceptions change. They also change their value systems. The work consumes all energy they have left, leaving no energy and time for friends and hobbies. Their new value system is their job and they start to be emotionally blunt.

Denial of Emerging Problems The person begins to become intolerant. They do not like being social, and if they were to have social contact, it would be merely unbearable for them. Outsiders tend to see more aggression and sarcasm. It is not uncommon for them to blame their increasing problems on time pressure and all the work that they have to do, instead of on the ways that they have changed, themselves.

Withdrawal Their social contact is now at a minimum, soon turning into isolation, a wall. Alcohol or drugs may be sought out for a release since they are obsessively working "by the book". They often have feelings of being without hope or direction.

Obvious Behavioral Changes Coworkers, family, friends, and other people that are in their immediate social circles cannot overlook the behavioral changes of this person.

Depersonalization Losing contact with themselves, it's possible that they no longer see themselves or others as valuable. The person also loses track of their personal needs. Their view of life narrows to only seeing in the present time, while their life turns to a series of mechanical functions.

Inner Emptiness They feel empty inside and to overcome this, they might look for activity such as overeating, sex, alcohol, or drugs. These activities are often exaggerated.

Depression Burnout may include depression. In that case, the person is exhausted, hopeless, indifferent, and believes that there is nothing for them in the future. To them, there is no meaning of life. Typical depression symptoms arise.

Burnout Syndrome They collapse physically and emotionally and should seek immediate medical attention. In extreme cases, usually only when depression is involved, suicidal ideation may occur, with it being viewed as an escape from their situation. Only a few people will actually commit suicide.

(From Wikipedia)

Your work should fulfill you, not consume you. If you feel that you identify with any of the things listed above, you could be headed for burnout, if you're not already there. There are lots of resources on the web, and most importantly, make sure you have a good support system and that you take care of yourself. Take time to yourself, do things you enjoy, and don't be afraid to say no when you need to. Hell, call out sick if you really need an extra day to relax. Taking one day every once in a great while won't hurt your wallet as much as missing multiple days or even weeks due to extreme burnout/exhaustion will.

We had a decent snow the other day. The backroads were covered and unfortunately, that meant no deliveries out of town because the driver on duty wasn't comfortable going out of town on unclear roads. He did take one out into the boonies, but when he returned he said "No more out of town deliveries. Those roads are pretty bad."

So this guy calls and wants a delivery out that same road. I apologized and told him that we weren't taking out of town deliveries today. He hung up. A second later, he calls back and says, "We can I get a discount since I have to come all the way into town from Bumfuckedegyptville* to get it?" I thought about it for a split second and had half a nerve to say "No. We don't comp for acts of God." But instead, I said, "Yeah, I can give you ten percent off." (Which was a whole two bucks, woo.) He wasn't being a huge asshole although I could hear the consternation in his voice, and we had just gone through a rough lunch rush, so I wasn't in the mood to argue with anyone. I added, "We wouldn't normally do that, but I'll throw it on there for you." (Just in case he ever tries it again and is told no.) When he came to pick it up at our pick-up window, he was staring me and my other insider down hard, probably trying to figure out which of us he talked to.

I hate people sometimes. They want discounts for every little fucking thing. I hope that guy doesn't expect that every time he orders when it's too bad to go out of town this winter, because he'll be told no - and when he says "But they did it before!" the argument can be shot down with, "It was a one-time courtesy, not something we do regularly." Because, you know, I did tell him that we don't normally do things like that. Because we don't.

Me humoring them: "Haha, yeah, I guess I do!"

True story. If you deliver pizza, deliver the fuck out of that pizza. If you mix lattes, mix the fuck out of those lattes. If you flip burgers, flip the fuck out of those burgers. If you sell auto parts, sell the fuck out of those auto parts. If you stock shelves, stock the fuck out of those shelves. If you ring up retail purchases, ring the fuck out of those retail purchases. What ever you do, do the fuck out of it.

....Don't expect us to answer when you try to call back five minutes later.

We stop taking deliveries at fifteen till close, so the drivers aren't stuck staying over by a huge amount of time to get their side work done. Pick-up is still an option.

This guy call last night. The first time he calls, when I answered, no one responded to me. I greeted them a couple more times then hung up when it became apparent that no one was going to answer. The guy calls back and my coworker answers the phone. He told him "Sorry, we stop taking deliveries at fifteen till. You can place a pick-up order, though."

The guy's response?

"Whatever - fuckin' idiot." And he hangs up.

Five minutes later, the phone is ringing again - same guy. I walked up to the computer, thought about answering, then turned around on one foot and said to my coworker, "You know, he called you a fuckin' idiot, so fuck him. He's not getting any food tonight."

The kicker? The guy lives literally right across the street from the shop, and is not handicapped. If he really wanted the food, he was more than capable of coming across the street and picking it up.

I'm tending the oven and I work with idiots. They aren't putting shit in the oven in the right order and I'm getting pretty frustrated trying to put together orders that are separated and not being put in all together, plus every time I turn around I'm missing something like breadsticks with cheese or something. The look on my face must be screaming "FUUUUCK!" because the manager stops in to check on things. He comes up to the oven and is just like, "What's going on? Talk to me." I just look at him and know that if I open my mouth at all, a spewing river of obscene word vomit is just going to come pouring out, so instead, I'm just standing there like....