First of all let me start out by saying that I used to work for McDonalds. Al thou it has been few years ago, some things just never change. On the day that I decided to perform the extra credit assignment, I ran into McDonald s on my lunch break located on 33rd street and 3rd avenue. For a Saturday it was pretty empty, since there was one cashier and one manager on duty at 4pm I was next in line to order and stood there for about 5 minutes while cashier and manager had a conversation bout the difference between sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide
(I am not kidding!).
After she finally called me over, I was the one to greet her! And I’m not even the one that worked there! Anyways, she asked me what I would like I responded “ a small fries with no salt from the dollar menu and a hamburger with 4 pickles” she responded” we don’t have any of those items on the dollar menu” so I said ok I still want them thou. After that she stressed that the price is going to be more then two dollars without even tax being incorporated. I once again replied that it was fine and that I will take it,) she asked me three time if I wanted to proceed with the order).
This is where things got interesting. From my own experience working in McDonalds I know that costumers such as myself are very annoying and will be made fun of while the costumer is waiting to pick up their order. So after seeing no reaction to four pickles I had requested. I nicely reminded her one more time about the pickles. This time I think it hit her how unusual my order actually was. She walked back to the kitchen and said, “ Make sure that damn hamburger has four pickles” the kitchen responded “ huh? Four? What else does she want on it?” and they began to crack up as if I was deaf.
After I ordered my fries, I stressed no salt part several times; I have received the most annoyed look I have ever seen. I mean no salt really doesn’t require much work. All they have to do is make another batch and pack it in before putting salt on it. It is really not that difficult, the only thing that’s annoying is that the other fries goes to waste if its slow, which it certainly was. Cashier asked me if I would rather have a large fry for the price of the small fries but with salt, she also stresses the fact that my order would be completed much faster if I would just have the salt.
I replied that I am allergic and that I would wait for the small fries. She rolled her eyes and walked over to put the new batch of fries in. She passed me my order I noticed that there were not napkins, so I kindly asked for couple I received ONE I repeat ONE napkin! As I was walking away the expected occurred, they all laughed!
The entire order process took about 5 minutes. The staff was defiantly un professional. I have never witnessed so much attitude and eye rolling in my life, I defiantly think McDonalds should raise their wages from minimum wage to something more decent, they say smiles are free at McDonalds, well that’s simply not true, because the only smiles I received was derogatory.
As a consultant I would make many recommendations to McDonalds Corp First of all I would start with wages. The only reason why people are so miserable and mean is because they are being paid minimum wage by one of the richest corporation in the world. Besides the fact that they are getting paid less then 250$ a week to full time employees McDonalds does not offer any type of benefits or paid vacations. Second of all they need to take care of their employees in order for employees to reciprocate and return their happiness unto the costumers.
Next McDonalds Corp. Needs to train their managers better. Most of their managers are also completely underpaid and not educated. If you think you need no intelligence to work in McDonalds you are wrong, you actually need to know more then 5th grade algebra. Employees also should not be weirded out by challenging or unusual orders, because they need to keep in mind that not everyone likes their food prepared the same way. Corporation needs to communicate that fact to employees thought employee’s handbooks, trainee videos and manuals.
Lastly, McDonalds is a fast food restaurant so their biggest concern is to serve the foods fast as humanly possible, while leaving behind costumer the quality of food. Also they tend to shove the words into your mouth when you trying to place an order to save time. When you place in order they automatically assume that you would want coke with you order. Corporation actually in forces that. When I began to work there, my manager told me that when I am taking an order to always assume that the costumer wants coke and to save time, and also because in most cases that would be costumers choice. Also the fact that if costumer is confused about what they want to order McDonalds is missing out on next potential costumer and ordering clock is still ticking and if we mention coke there is a high probability that they will stick with that choice.
In order to change this, McDonalds Corp. Needs to take a deep breath and relax. They need to start with focusing on the quality of their food as well as giving employees a little more time then 20 seconds to take the order, process it, and have the costumers on their way. It might slow down the process, but if the costumer is already there to place the order there is a high chance that they will wait and be happier in the end, which will cause them to return. So in the long run McDonalds will benefit if they take time taking their orders and completing them to costumers request instead of trying give them something else in order to process the order at the speed of light.
2 comments:
I have not do the extra credit assignment yet. I am just browsing the blogs and just read your post. I think it is funny how the staffs who work at McDonald reacted. I think I am going to try out this assignment when I have time.
I am just curious, would you think the time of day, location of the restaurant, the customer's identity or appearance, as well as customer's attitude would make a difference in how the staff would react? What I mean by that is, let say if you have done this "unusual order" early in the morning or late at night, or on a holiday, weekday, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving's day, or April Fool's day, would you think that would make any difference on how the staff would react? Also, what if instead of going to the McDonald you went to, you went to a McDonald that is on or near midtown Fifth Avenue/Madison Avenue (on Friday or weekend) or Wall St./Financial District (on weekday), dressed in a suit and act purposely extra polite, would you think that would make any difference? What I am wondering is what if you are someone famous, like a celebrity, a well known politician, some business big shot or something, would that make any difference? Another thing I also wonder, what if you were not by yourself when you take that order but was with a big group of people (friends, colleagues, etc.), how the staffs the McDonald restaurant you went to might have react?
"I want, therefor I spend, therefor I exists" or "I spend, therefor I exists."
When consumer is not treated by business entity as an individual but merely as another business, another revenue number, consumer can get annoyed because he or she might felt the business entity did not respect the existence of the consumer. Thus, even though the consumer spent and consumed on the spot, he or she did not have a good experience or have a good time, so the consumer might not be willing to go back to consume at the same business entity again. Some self-conscious consumer might not even willing to spend any money or time at a business entity as soon as he or she feels his or her ego is not being respected by that business entity. So business like the McDonald's restaurant you went to might have to pay more attention to consumer's ego in the future if it want to keep having business, staying in business, and receive consumer's monetary reward in the future. It is not the $2.00 that is important, it is the consumer's ego and experience that is important. McDonald's should be careful not to gain $2.00 only to lose business in the future, especially when the McDonald's restaurant is a franchise, whose food is easily substitutable for consumer by going to another McDonald's franchise or another totally different fast food restaurant, e.g. Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, White Castle, Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts, Crispy Cream, Taco Bell, Subway, Blimpie, Quiznos, Dominos, etc. Of course, the competitors of McDonald's is not limited to fast food restaurants.
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