Żabka - Prosto Z Pieca in Szczecin

I did not want to believe the reviews. After all the positive memories I have made visiting Żabka stores all over Szczecin, I was sure that the shocking remarks and shiver-inducing anecdotes I stumbled upon in the reviews of this branch had to be false claims aiming at the defamation of this wonderful company. Unfortunately, I have been disappointed and wish to speak clearly about the experience I had in this establishment. I entered the Żabka on a windy, but pleasantly warm Monday afternoon. I was looking to use a voucher I had obtained in the Żappka application – a cup of ice and a lemonade for a fair price of around 7 złoty. Excitedly, I planned to pick out my cup of ice and the flavour of lemonade that spoke to me most. However, I struggled to find the lemonade at first because, as I later found out, it was not stored next to the other beverages of its kind but instead in the very first fridge you find upon entry. This decision confused me a little and cost me some valuable time, but I was still optimistic to soon leave this store with a nice, fresh drink in hand and a smile on my face. But the moment I decided to seek the cash register to transfer my złoty to the Żabka company, horror struck me. I was met with a queue that only got longer with every peek I took around yet another corner of the store, as the centipede-esque line of people took up almost half of the space in the entire room. Even through my shock, I was still willing to give the Żabka another chance – this decision later turned into a painful reminder of regret. After claiming my spot at the end of the seemingly never-ending queue, I took a deep breath and prepared to wait, thinking I would later be rewarded for my patience with a nice cold drink. However, after waiting for one or two minutes, the first people ahead of me started to stray from the queue, leaving the store with disappointment written all over their faces. This made me quite nervous given that these people had been waiting longer than me and it still seemed to them like the time they already invested was not worth prolonging. Questioning my choice of taking up this challenge, I took a peek towards the cash register and felt my jaw metaphorically drop. There was only one employee behind the counter, even though there were two registers. Said employee reminded me vividly of the sloth character from the 2016 hit film Zootopia. Basically ignoring the further lengthening line of humans in front of him, he calmly grilled a hot dog for one customer, not even thinking about starting the payment process of the next person in line while the elongated processed meat slurry is being heated. Now, I do not wish to blame minimum wage workers for all of my problems, and I certainly stray from accusing them of committing these mildly infuriating acts on purpose. However, I do believe that there could have been a bit more situational awareness here. Feeling the ice slowly heating in the cup in my hands and realising I was still s...