In completing this assignment, I prepared in the steps I would take when I got to the McDonald’s restaurant. First, I wrote down the order myself on an index card in case I forgot the specific details. I had tried this once before at another McDonald’s in Staten Island on a friday night when all the high school kids roam around the mall doing absolutely nothing for hours and then invade the food court. It was ridiculously packed with people and it was also my first time going to this McDonald’s. There were only two registers open and five people working in the back. When I gave the girl at the register my order, she started punching in buttons and then told me how much was due. I thought, wait a minute--that was too quick, so I repeated my order to her to make sure she got it right and she nodded mindlessly. I still thought that was too easy. I thought this was going to take several tries and I’d have to go to at least another McDonald’s restaurant. Since it was packed, I thought I’d wait ten minutes before I approached them again to see if they had gotten my order. When I did, it turned out they had my order done all along and had completely forgotten. I complained to the employee that handed me my order, but he simply shrugged and muttered something under his breath that sounded like I don’t know. Then I asked if I could speak to the manager and he said he’d go look for him. I still don’t know if he ever found him because after waiting for fifteen more minutes, I left. It shouldn’t have taken half an hour to mess up my order and fail to give me proper customer service. That failed attempt at my special order discouraged me to get it done in time for the ten extra credit points. I was not loving it.
I tried again this afternoon at the McDonald’s on 33rd street and 3rd avenue. I brought my index card with me and thought perhaps this time I would show them the index card with the details on it, that way they’d have no excuse to mess it up (not that the previous employee had an excuse to ignore my detail order). When I got there, there weren’t too many people sitting down to eat and one person ahead of me in line to order. When my turn came, the lady behind the registered asked to take my order, which is when I took a deep breath and recited the order. She went on to punch in numbers, which is when I repeated the order twice. That’s when she finally looked up and gave me a puzzled look. I continued to explain to her that I needed these exact order details to be printed on the receipt. Her puzzled look did not disappear but she continued to keep working at it. I handed her my index card with the detailed order and asked if it could be done and if it couldn’t then I wouldn’t be placing the order. She said she could do it. She was punching in the order when suddenly she asked the girl at the register next to her for help because she couldn’t find the well-done button. The more experienced employee proceeded to help her complete the order. She turned to a worker in the back preparing the food and explained the order I was making in spanish, emphasizing the fact that that was the exact order I had described, in a tone that said “Hey! I don’t know why she wants so many pickles, but just do it, man”. After I received my receipt, I continued to wait about three minutes until I got my order. I checked that my order was correct, four disgusting pickles on the pathetic little burger, and tasted one fry to check its salt content and how fried it was. It was all in order. I don’t eat McDonald’s so I ended up giving my friend the order when I came back to the vertical campus.
I was so relieved that this attempt went well, even more glad that I did not have to ask to speak to the manager. I did not feel that there was no attitude coming from anywhere behind the register. I’m surprised she didn’t just give up on my ridiculous order and instead she asked for help from one of her employees, who was at the moment taking care of another customer. I’ve been to enough fast food restaurants to say that it doesn’t usually happen that way, even when the order is as simple as “Can I have the number value meal?”. On top of it all, the entire process of ordering my meal and getting it took an estimate of about six minutes maximum, which is considerably less than my previous effort to complete this management experiment, and how long it usually takes to get an order, even in a “fast food” restaurant. If I were brought in to McDonald’s as a consultant to help them improve their efficiency, I would stress the importance of absolute and thorough training. I understand that not all, but most people that work in fast food restaurants don’t usually work there very long therefore spending more on training turns out too costly for the company. However, adequate training can come a long way. Customer service is essential for the success and growth of a business. It increases customer loyalty, which fundamentally means a higher customer retention rate with less spending in a different cost component such as marketing and promotion, which often results to be a very expensive growth strategy.
No comments:
Post a Comment