Golden Arches

I stopped by McDonalds on a Monday afternoon. The store was busy, packed with high school students who just got out of the school for the day. As I stand on the long line, I anticipate the annoyed looking cashier to balk at my bizarre order of fries, no salt and a cheeseburger of exactly four pickles. After all, I had worked at Burger King while in high school and requests such as these always annoyed me and my co-workers. To get an order of fries without salt, a whole new batch of fries has to be made and separated from the already salted batch. This would require quite some time, especially when there is a rush of people. The cooking time on these new fries, from my prior working experience, was about two and a half minutes. Knowing these facts, I was prepared for a long and uncomfortable wait at the counter while the employees worked on my order.
However, I was very surprised at how nonchalant the cashier responded to my order. I spoke to her very nicely; almost apologetically. In an indifferent manner, she assured me that it was quite alright. As soon as my order was placed, she dropped a new batch of fries into the fryer for me. As she got my soda, she stuck her head into the kitchen and confirmed my order with the cook about the pickles. He nodded in understanding and proceeded to make my burger. When the fries were done, she prepared my order first and did not salt them. This whole process took a very short 3 minutes. I think it helped that there was good communication between the employees and there was plenty of staff present to do each task. I saw the manager standing by the kitchen but he was not consulted.

If I was asked to be a consultant at McDonalds, I do not think that I would change must of their procedures. There was plenty of staff on hand, so I there were no back log of orders that would make my wait long. The system that they were using for communication between the front and back of the restaurant worked well. The cashier noted on my receipt that there should be 4 pickles and the manufacturing responded well to the clear directions. Given the circumstances, I do not think that the staff could have been much more efficient than they were. My order did not seem to disrupt their flow of actions. From a customer service standpoint, I did not receive any attitudes. McDonalds seemed well equipped to handle special orders. One possible suggestion that may make their smooth operation even smoother may be using microphones to communicate between employees. Some large retail stores and restaurants such as Applebee’s have walkie talkies or head sets that are used to communicate between staff.

I think that the employees handled the situation very well. They seemed like they were accustomed to whacky orders like mine.