McD's

In preparation, I invited a hungry McDonald’s loving friend, so the food wouldn’t go to waste. Surprisingly at 9:45pm, there was a line. After the unnecessary 5 minute wait, I ordered the two items off the dollar menu, stressing my specifications. Specifically when I asked for four pickles on my burger, the cashier looked at me as if I had three heads, and took a few seconds too long to process the thought. She said she wasn’t sure if that’s possible, and I continued to stress it, so she proceeded to ask the cook/preparer in charge. He then explained to her that a burger has only two pickles, and she would have to charge every extra pickle separately. However, he would make this one exception and add two extra pickles free of charge. I then realized that on the receipt it must show four pickles, so I asked her to charge the 2 extra pickles even if it would cost more than a dollar because I needed a receipt that includes the 2 extra pickles. The extra pickles ended up not costing more. She told me the amount due, and I paid in cash, and go my receipt. She then stepped away to get the French fries, and when she returned, still stunned at my unusual order, she put the two items in a bag, and looked more confused than she did when I ordered.

Two employees got involved, and I used a stopwatch that recorded 4 minutes and 31 seconds. She treated me with suspicion at first, and almost laughed at my order, but when realizing I was serious, she turned her attitude around, and treated me courteously. She honestly said she was unsure as of how to go about the four pickles, and went to ask another employee, who explained himself very clearly and even offered to give me five pickles, but I replied that it won’t be necessary. The order was completed correctly. I opened the burger to verify that four pickles were present, and ate a few salt-less fries.

I would rate order preparation, communication, and coordination highly. The order was prepared well, and met my expectations. They employees communicated professionally both to each other and to me. Coordination is key in this type of environment, and they performed and coordinated well. Customer service would get a bit of a lower rating from me, because I feel that the cashier should treat every order the same, and should view every customer equally regardless of how odd his or her order may be.

As a consultant, I would focus on improving customer service. When a customer visits a McDonald’s restaurant, he or she mostly interacts with the cashiers, and that is what he or she would base his or her experience on. Therefore, improving customer service is crucial to a patron’s satisfaction. Specifically in improving operations during special orders, I would make a few changes. I would come up with a better flow, or a protocol for specific requests, so that the employees don’t have to stop what they are doing to ask another employee for instructions. More importantly, I would train all of the employees, and make sure they are all aware of the procedures for special requests.