MCDONALD’S ANYONE?

You’ve been to McDonald’s before – don’t deny it cause even after the gore of Super Size Me – you still go.

Well at any rate – I do. On my way to work a few times a week I pick up an egg & cheese biscuit (no meat), a yogurt parfait and a fruit & walnut salad (breakfast, lunch and snack). I do this a few times a week so I know the cost, etc…

Well today it seems I was met on the drive-thru speaker by a newbie. I ordered my usual and it took about a full minute for her to understand “egg & cheese biscuit”. Now, it’s on their menu – it even has it’s own button on their register and prints out on the receipt.

But I’m a nice person so I bear with it and go to the pick-up window where I am promptly overcharged. Lucky me I have an old receipt in the car trash and show her how much it is supposed to cost. The price is adjusted.

I wait.

I receive my bag of stuff and depart. When I get on the road I look in the bag and BEHOLD!

No egg & cheese biscuit.

Of course because of the wacky road I am on I have to drive 2 blocks make a right, then a left, drive 4 blocks, sit at a light and make a u-turn. SO after 5-6 minutes of returning, I park, march up to the drive-thru window and ask for my egg & cheese biscuit.

She looks befuddled, disappears to the back and returns with a bag and many apologies.

No problem – I’m really running late – gotta go.

I get to my office, unpack my stuff and what did I get?

A Sausage McMuffin.

Now, I know you’re thinking “why didn’t you check before you left?”

I’ll tell you why. It’s because we in the DC area (and I’m sure other places) have become complacent with bad customer service. And I for one am sick of feeling like it is my fault for not checking, double-checking and triple-checking other peoples work.

Where did this go wrong?

For starters:
She wasn’t properly trained – seems most places with any type of customer service required hire people with a pulse and few other minimal skills.

Might I suggest the ability to count to 10? How about being able to speak clear English? Hey! When I was in Mexico I ordered EVERYTHING in Spanish. (I’m the one carrying the Berlitz book and trying to find the restroom – but I always ask in the native tongue. And in case you were wondering it is “banos”.) How about the ability to LISTEN to the customer?

She didn’t open the damn bag before she handed it to me and count to three. I ordered three things – she should make sure three things are in the bag. Period. Not hard – not asking too much.

She couldn’t read (or chose not to). Now, I should add she seemed to speak very well so I don’t think that this was a language barrier. But she did clearly hand me a yellow-wrapped sandwich that said “Sausage McMuffin” instead of a white wrapper that says “Egg & Cheese Biscuit”. Seems to ME she couldn’t read.

Hmmmmm, I could go one but I think you get the picture.

Of course this doesn’t resolve the fact that I’m still hungry.