Most everyone has heard of road rage. It seems to be
extremely commonplace to witness drivers cutting others off on the highway or
flipping another driver off just because they can’t get to their destination
fast enough. Sometimes the rage even turns into violence and death over
something as trivial as a parking spot. But apparently the road is not the only
place where instances of violence are quite common.
Welcome to the world of fast food rage. More and more
reports are showing up in the news over the last ten years of people seemingly
going crazy and lashing out at the employees of fast food joints. My personal
favorite (shown in the video below) is one where a woman turns aggressive in a
McDonald’s drive-thru after being told that chicken nuggets were not on the
breakfast menu. She lashes at the employee and eventually smashes the
drive-thru window. This story, along with a few other ridiculous acts of
violence, is mentioned here.
What causes such outbursts at these restaurants? One theory
is that these people become frustrated after they are unable to get the outcome
they desire – aka chicken nuggets. As a result, the person endures
uncomfortable feelings that lead to lashing out in aggression. This is known as
the frustration-aggression theory. Many other stimuli can intensify this
frustration that are common in the fast food industry - such as heat, noise,
crowding, and waiting in line. It is also possible that the chicken nuggets may
not have ever been the issue at all. These fast food junkies could also just be
having a bad day and are releasing their aggression onto a substitute for the
source of their frustration, also known as displacement.
Although most people are able to exhibit executive
functioning - which is the ability to control and plan their actions - under such
simple stressors as being denied chicken nuggets, fast food rage has been on
the rise according to inside edition. What is the cause of this? There is definitely no
easy answer to this question considering aggression and human
nature are all very complex subjects, but there is one thing I know for sure: I
am never working in fast food again!
Have you ever witnessed fast food rage? Do you have any ideas
why it is happening now? Let me know in the comments.
SOURCES:
[Chicken nuggets]. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from
https://goo.gl/images/awcaHP
Food Fight: Assaults on Restaurant Workers on the Rise Across
America, Investigation Finds. (2017, September 28). Retrieved April 11, 2018,
from https://www.insideedition.com/investigative/25737-food-fight-assaults-on-restaurant-workers-on-the-rise-across-america-investigation-finds
Kassin, S. M., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2017). Social
psychology. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
M. (2010, August 10). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjtmHcgFSPk
The McNugget meltdown—and 6 more fast-food freakouts. (2010,
August 10). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from http://theweek.com/articles/498020/mcnugget-meltdownand-6-more-fastfood-freakouts
Interesting! I've definitely watched videos on YouTube of this kind of stuff before but it focused more on the crazy people of Walmart. So I've never quite heard the term "food rage" but it makes sense and I have seen it (on YouTube)! I think your thought of this behavior being displacement is the most accurate. But even so, everyone has bad days sometimes and still wouldn't take it out on strangers for making such a simple mistake. I think there's a lot more going on with their mental health that we're not aware of and they probably have anger issues in several other parts of their lives. And I'm sure they've made mistakes before too! No one is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI hate to just blame it on mental health, but yet you kind of have to wonder sometimes what else could make people so upset. I wonder if these same people do have issues like this elsewhere, like you said.
DeleteInteresting post! I have certainty felt an annoyance in the fast food drive through when a store is backed up and I'm hangry, but never to this extent. I have witnessed some mild fast food rage when people get sick of waiting in car lines and speed out of there and stormed into the restaurant. I think this is due to a serious inability to use executive functioning taking the situation of fast food to the level of violence shown in the video. This may be due to rising mental health issues or rising acceptability of aggression and violence or even rising disrespect for fast food workers.
ReplyDeleteI have felt annoyed too, but even so I never show the employees that I’m upset as long as they are friendly and doing everything they’re supposed to. I know a lot of workers are really young and it is definitely not their fault. But I guess some people aren’t able to reason that out!
DeleteI have witnessed a few instances of fast food rage! I will admit it is very interesting to witness because the reason for the arguing and violence seems so trivial. I think that this trend of fast food rage has been more prevalent recently because people are constantly in a hurry and when the food they desire is not there when they want it to be, it's upsetting. Furthermore, I think fast food restaurants have "promised" people a variety of foods at a cheap price and within a reasonable amount of time; so, when these restaurants don't have the desired food, people become upset quickly because they are so used to having the food they desire at their convenience.
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DeleteI honestly never thought of that. I suppose these fast food places do put a little on themselves by some of the claims they make about fast service. But they probably didn’t think about this as a possible outcome to their claims! I suppose I would find myself more upset if it was taking long for my food at a place that said they are super fast than if the same place made so such claim. Interesting.
DeleteWhen I was working in fast food, I witnessed fast food rage. Once a woman threw a drink through an open drive thru window because she didn't get enough ketchup packets. People can become belligerent and I would agree that this behavior is displacement. There is something that customers do not understand about fast food and it typically involves the wait time. It can be exhausting dealing with people who are obnoxious and have no idea.
ReplyDeleteI worked in fast food also for only a very short time (I quickly quit!) and there were times when the drive thru lane wrapped around the building and when people got to the window they would scream at me about the wait... when clearly it was because of the huge amount of people that you could obviously see... but they blame it on the employees all the same.
DeleteHaving been the drunk person in McDonald's at 2am I have to say that drugs and alcohol probably play a role. Not in every case or maybe not even half. Some could be a display of dominance when things are not going as wanted, or many are the various other reasons offered. However, when you're drunk or on drugs you may be likely to do anything.
ReplyDeleteI have read that some people believe this issue began to rise once these food places began to keep their doors open all night because of the higher amount of drunk people around and other nightly shenanigans. I don’t think they are wrong.
DeleteI've never heard the term "fast food rage", but I've heard the term "hangry" and the two seem fairly synonymous. I have witnessed people at restaurants get angry over ridiculous things that seem very trivial, but I've never seen anyone get physically violent. However, this 2am video does not surprise me in the slightest. Having worked in customer service, even though it wasn't the food industry, I noticed that people were always more upset after 4pm. This could be due to a bad day at work, or just a bad day in general, and they take it out on the employees at the fast food restaurant/store they are shopping at. I'd say the main cause of this "fast food rage" is displacement, but then again there are some people that really, really love them some chicken nuggets. Great post!
ReplyDeletePeople always seem grumpy at food and retail employees. I understand people have bad days but it’s almost like no one has any manners either.
DeleteI've seen videos of fast food rage on different social media outlets, but I never considered why they were doing this. I know that when I get hangry I am not in a good mood; however, I can't see myself getting so physical over something as trivial as chicken nuggets. Personally, I think they had some other stressor and not getting the food they wanted was the last straw. Do you think someone can really be so angry at a fast food worker that has no control over what time the food is served?
ReplyDeleteMaybe there should be a PSA for all people who have never worked fast food that explains how there are protocols and how long food takes to cook and stuff so they understand it’s not an employees fault. Lol.
DeleteYouTube is a powerful tool to get ridiculous videos such as this one to media outlets! It would be interesting if there was a graph that showed peak hours of this activity. Is it after a business work day, between 4-6 p.m. or after bar close, between 1:30-3:30 a.m.? This could be proving that other factors have a strong impact on this outlandish behavior. I think this would be primarily caused by other factors, I do not think anyone could get to the point of committing a felony for nuggets. But, in the end, some people are crazy when they do not get what they want.
ReplyDeleteI really do wonder about the timing! Maybe this is something that should be looked into further for places like this.
DeleteIn my experience working in food service, I found that there are certain people that exhibit these behaviors consistently over time, much like the people we learned about that have a stable tendency towards altruism. I would imagine the people with these tendencies in food service locations may also aggress in other situations, such as driving or at other stores. I would also argue that our culture plays a role in rewarding these behaviors with policies such as "the customer is always right" and expectations that customer service workers disregard their own happiness in the service of customers.
ReplyDeleteSeeing this kind of action towards fast food workers, reminds me of people in retail. I do not know if there have been such overt violent acts such as this, but I know I have seen many times where workers are verbally abused by customers because they did not have something they wanted in stock/in their size. This probably also comes back to the Frustration-aggression hypothesis because the customers are not able to achieve their desired outcome. It is quite amazing how people can turn some of the smallest irritations into full blown confrontations like seen in the video above.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned the conditions of working in a fast food restaurant I imagine could easily lead to aggression. Though it is not acceptable I could totally see employees getting frustrated with customers because they are having a bad day, but it always surprises me when people just getting food lash out like in that video. Even when fast food takes a little longer than usual it is still very fast when comparing it to normal means of food. This shows the lack of patience in society. Since fast food restaurants often are efficient, they always expect the best results and don't leave room for error.
ReplyDeleteDang! That's some insane violence! It really makes you wonder how someone could behave like that.
ReplyDeleteI think the foundation of fast food rage is a result of displacement. If the customer is having a crappy day for whatever reason, then any uncomfortable feelings experienced like waiting in line, heat, hunger, or unfortunate news about a desired food will significantly escalate aggressive tendencies.
I also think the lack of empathy plays a key role. If the aggressor could see themselves from the employee's perspective, I reckon the outcome would very be different and less aggressive. This is why I think everyone should work at least one customer service job in their life!
Wow! I had no idea something as crazy as what was shown in the video you provided. The fact that people become so frustrated they can't get chicken nuggets is also sad. They could have gone to Walmart and bought nuggets they could make at home. I myself have never witnessed fast food rage and hope I never have to, although I have seen people get upset over not getting a sale at a store which can sometimes escalate pretty far. Overall, I can see how someone would be frustrated and angry, but I don't see how that is the employees fault. Maybe some people are just to hung for their own good.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a unique and excellent example of aggression, as this is a fairly typical scenario that many Americans experience frequently, and do not have problems containing any frustration. That being said, I believe that the food industry, whether it is fast food or actually sitting down at a restaurant, people find themselves getting frustrated at people working even when it is often not their fault. The underlying idea of frustration being directed at others, even when most of the time we are aware it is not the server or host's fault, is strong evidence for the frustration-aggression hypothesis, or at least, frustration can make it people less capable of suppressing aggressive thoughts or behaviors. Frustration can have this effect to such a degree, that it clearly suppresses rational thought, such as the true cause of their frustration, and can lead to a release of aggressive acts towards innocent individuals. As someone who has worked in the for industry, I know all too well how frustration has caused customers to lash out angrily at me, even though it was seldom my fault, causing me to also become frustrated, and have aggressive thoughts in return. I think this is a great example of the frustration-aggression hypothesis because the food industry is an area that experiences this so frequently. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI believe this to be a interesting example of aggression. That video of the woman at McDonald's is a very extreme reaction to something seemingly so small. But it displays this aggression very well. To me it comes across as a lesson that can be learned about how frustration can be channeled. This woman chose to channel it into her aggression but this situation would have had a much different outcome had she dealt with her frustration in a different manner.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I have seen or heard of people doing this. I am surprised, but at the same time not. Because many people view fast food workers as less important because of the money they make, it comes as no surprise that people think they can take their anger out on them.
ReplyDeleteI’ve seen tons of drive thru pranking videos but never ‘fast food rage’, so this was really interesting. Dr. Steelman mentioned to my group during the debate that the frustration-aggression hypothesis sometimes doesn’t take, other physiological and socioeconomic factors into account such as how much money someone has, hunger, etc. Maybe some of these people were just extremely hungry and upon hearing they were out of chicken nuggets became ‘hangry’. I wonder if the rage at fast food restaurants has anything to do with the nutritional value of the food. Maybe high sodium or fat contents have an effect on aggression or anger emotions.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a McDonald's so I have definitely seen a few cases similar to this. I have not seen anyone get mad enough to break through the glass like that, but I have seen plenty of people have a breakdown because they got the wrong order, or something similar to that. I think this is happening more because people are getting too used to having it their way all the time and not being taught to be patient or have respect.
ReplyDeleteI've worked in a restaurant before (although not a fast food place) and you definitely meet a lot of different kinds of people. Fortunately, I've never encountered someone who gets upset enough about the food or the service to assault an employee. There must be some sort of underlying aggression or bad mood that they are in before they even enter the store, and whatever slightly annoying event happens inside might just be the trigger. I too would like to see if the food has some impact on people's level of executive functioning.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of videos of instances like this happening however I never looked at it in terms of something like the frustration-aggression theory which makes it very interesting. I've never witnessed anything violent or very aggressive nor have I worked in fast food. Although, it would be interesting to know if fast food chains are aware of their restaurant environment (heat, noise, waiting in line etc) sort of instigating these outbursts. And, how can restaurants better avoid these types of problems?
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, when I first saw the title of the article I was really confused on how this would relate to the chapter of aggression and if it was a joke or not. But after fully reading your article on different situations and how it happens, it makes a lot of sense! I definitely never would have thought to link this type of situation with the frustration-aggression theory before reading this. Its funny that until someone brings up a link between different theories and situations that others would never see the connection. Great article as well, it was a great read.
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