2 days, 2 different locations, 3 Separate orders, and 2,70 calories later, the assignment is finally complete. I rarely ever eat McDonald’s, but this weekend I have had more McDonald’s than I have had for the last two years collectively to finally get this order right. The first McDonald’s that I went to, the young lady who barely spoke English did not put well-done on my receipt order. After I noticed the order was incorrect on the receipt, I had the manager sign off that the I had well-done french fries as I ordered reflected on my receipt. I then e-mailed the professor and he said it was fine, that I just needed to get the manager’s business card who signed off on the receipt. I figured since that McDonald’s location wasn’t that close to my house, that it would just be easier if I went to the one right next to my house, so I went. But of course, with no one else’s fault other than my own, I realize that the order of big mac sauce was supposed to be on the side and not on the actual burger. I never actually read the assignment sheet and went off the assumption of what I needed based on what I heard by ear from the other classmates. So I once again, after coming to the realization that the big mac sauce was supposed to be on the side, went back to McDonald’s for the third and final time to get the order right.
The process was pretty much the same in all of the McDonald’s attempts. Placing the order, the employee looking at me like I was crazy, them asking for help from a superior who also looked at me like I was crazy, then me finally getting my way. I never had a women say “Adios Mios” so many times while speaking to me, which is “Oh my God” in Spanish. It was pretty funny to see how even though they were different McDonald’s locations, the process was very similar in attaining the meal. At first when I walked in, I tried to act nonchalant about the process to try and make it as easy-going as possible so it would look like I have placed the order before, that was easier said than done. The first time I placed the order the woman making the burger in the back took it sarcastically and said, “Don’t worry, I’’ll give you six pickles!” Of course, she wasn’t doing me a favor because I needed exactly five to complete the assignment, or else I would have to go back and have the burger prepared properly the way that I asked. The people not only serving me, but the ones that overheard me, looked at me with a look on their face that had the expression that I was either crazy or really annoying. Either way, it was most definitely uncomfortable.
The other fun part began when the receipt did not reflect exactly what I had said. Everything was correct except for the part about the french fries being well done. I now had to ask the manager to go back and change the order on the receipt for me to reflect exactly what I had ordered. She then told me that she was unable to do so without making a new order since she was changing it and simply not printing another copy, she would then have to have someone pay the difference. I asked her then to sign the receipt in which she then looked at me even more like I was out of my mind. I heard them going back and forth in Spanish saying the word “secratario” and caught little bits and pieces to put together that they thought I was someone’s assistant and had to get my bosses order correct or else I would get in trouble, it was rather hysterical. At this point I really didn’t care what anybody thought of me and just wanted to complete the assignment considering the fact that I have never stood at the ordering desk of a McDonald’s for about ten minutes. I finally got the manager to sign after the person was reluctant and hesitant to do so as if she was going to get in trouble from “my boss” since it wasn’t printed correctly. After I e-mailed the professor about what had happened, he said I needed to have the managers business card that signed off on my receipt or else it would not count.
So the next day I had intentions of going back to the same exact McDonald’s to get the managers business card, but the only problem was that my mother was with me and she didn’t see why we needed to go to a further McDonald’s to eat instead of the one that was right next to our house. Therefore, round two began and I was off to make myself look like a fool at yet another McDonald’s, how delightful. This time I was lucky enough to have a rookie try to take my order which was a blessing in and of itself, sarcastically speaking. I initially placed the order with her and she was looking at me like I was either speaking another language or why I had to be doing this to her so early in her McDonald’s career. Almost immediately, one of the other McDonald’s employees stepped right in like a professional and placed the order for me like he had done it a million times over without a sweat. Forget about the new girl, even I was impressed at this point and felt like giving him the employee of the month award. Everything was perfect, even the five pickles on the burger was perfect. There was only one problem, my ordering skills!
I only heard people talking about the project and never really looked at the assignment myself till I got home. I heard people saying that we had to order, “A sandwich with five pickles, big mac sauce, and well-done french fries.” So I ordered that except my big mac sauce was on my filet-o-fish sandwich instead of the side as the assignment requested! So I was back off to the same McDonald’s not even ten minutes later determined to get the order right. As soon as I walked in the rookie immediately looked at me as if “why are you doing this to me” look on her face. I told her, “I wanted the same exact order except the mac sauce on the side.” I guess she gained some confidence and attempted to complete the order herself after watching her co-worker complete it not even 15 minutes ago. She did it and to my surprise, did it correctly. That was the second order of a double filet-o-fish value meal I ate in about a half-an-hour, not bad.
From my honest opinion, I think that the organizational process at McDonald’s was superb. They nailed everything, regardless if it was on the receipt or not, to exactly the way that I asked for. The first location did have employees that were a bit more sarcastic than the second one, but that added to the experience and I had fun with it. Growing up, we used to order big mac sauce with everything that we had at McDonald’s, regardless of what it was so it wasn’t that out of the ordinary to place that part of the order. I don’t think I would actually change anything organizationally about the process, but do think that every McDonald’s employee that operates the register should take a crash course on orders with special requests so that there is never any type of confusion, if they do not already have that instilled in their employee policy. I also have to give them credit in the communication aspect of the job. After I placed the order at the register, they almost immediately reiterated the order to the person preparing the meal to make sure that they fully understood the order that was placed. The customer interaction between myself and the first McDonald’s was not as effective as the second one because it was in a latin neighborhood, therefore the employees were better prepared to speak to customers in Spanish which made it a little bit more difficult. The only recommendation that I would make is that some people take sarcasm negatively, I seem to laugh at everything so it didn’t bother me, but some customers might have gotten offended to some of the comments if they were seriously placing the order. Like I said earlier, the only thing that I would have is a crash course on special orders for new employees so there is never any issues with placing orders to slow down the process. Some training in dealing with customers that are difficult to handle would also help so no one would ever get offended at some of the remarks, comments, or stares from the employees working there. True leadership was displayed by the employee in the second location who jumped in immediately when they saw that the rookie was having trouble. Handled it like a true professional without any hesitation, comments, remarks, or stares to make me feel uncomfortable. I think leadership is a necessary skill to have anywhere, regardless if it is McDonald’s or any other place of business. Everyone needs that one person they can look up to or go to if there is ever an issue. It makes for a better work environment, which makes for better service. When there is better service, there is happier customers which means more business. Where there is leaders there has to be followers. Not everyone can be a leader but some people can display better “leadership qualities” for sure. Just little things like handling yourself more professionally while at work and refraining from using certain words or actions.
All in all I thought this was the coolest extra credit assignment I ever had to do. Mostly because I felt like I was in some type of prank show where I was pulling the prank and because I got to eat the actual assignment which is always a plus. It was a good learning experience in seeing how exactly employees deal under pressure and how others help out their fellow employees when necessary. I also got to understand exactly why McDonald’s has been around for as long as it has and still growing. It allows the customer to feel empowered in the decision making process of ordering their meal. They did there best to accommodate to their customers need and did it most efficiently to the bet of their ability. I haven’t had McDonald’s in such a long time till this assignment, but after this weekend I think I will hit it up at least once a week.
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