'can i help who's next?'

Disregarding the questionable grammar, where did that new question get started and why does it always seem to be asked with an eye-roll?

We stopped at McDonald's, James and I, and I don't do McDonald's very often, but we had an appointment to see another apartment so we didn't have much time.  After we ordered and were waiting for our stuff, the guy behind the counter asked the next person without looking at him, "Can I help who's next?", and that customer was the only guy anywhere nearby!  Would it take that much effort to be a little flexible and ask, "May I help you, Sir?"

I realize it's just a fast-food joint, but when I see an employee being impersonal and lazy, I think several things:  "Wow, this guy really hates his job!", "Is he so jaded after waiting on thousands of McDonald's customers, some of whom are probably jerks, that he can't look anybody in the eye?", "Did this question get started at so many businesses because there were fights about who was next?"

I personally would rather see an occasional fistfight.  And I think that a job that you hated wouldn't seem so bad if you made the best of it and maybe pretended to like it and just smiled once in a while.