While I’ve been busy at work I’ve been trying to think of what to write my next post about, and it occured to me that I could write one about, well, work. Living in a small town with no jobs, I’m of course working fast-food to make some extra money. McDonalds to be specific. Now, I’m not going to lie, most of the time I enjoy my job. I’m on first name basis with the regular customers, the people I work with are awesome, and we all have a good time. But sometimes customers make me want to drown myself in a vat of fry grease. I’m not kidding.
So here are a list of pet peeves, and some things you may not know but should keep in mind when you’re ordering at McDonalds (or any fast food restaurant).
1. Time is important, the faster we take, make, and serve your order- the better our times are and the happier our bosses are. The second you tell us a food or drink item and we punch it into the register, our times start. That means when you know one of the 5 things you want and you sit there for another 2 minutes trying to decide, you have our times running for no reason. This makes the managers assume we are going slow and not doing our jobs properly. So we appreciate it when you know what you want BEFORE stepping up to the register to place your order
2. When there’s a bunch of people in line our job is to clear the line as fast as possible, so number 1 applies even more so when we’re busy. People on the register need to take orders, in theory, in less than 30 seconds, and give you your change in about 15.
3. Specify. Always specify. It not only saves our time, but yours. If you don’t specify your order could be made wrong which is a waste of time and food. If you want a specialty coffee, let us know if you want it hot or iced. If you want chicken nuggets or selects, let us know if you want sauce and what kind. If you want something that can be crispy or grilled-for the love of cheeseburgers please let us know
4. Is it really necessary to make a whole other sandwich just because we forgot to take off the pickles? We want to know if we did something wrong, but keep in mind when you hand that sandwich back it goes straight to the waste bucket.
5. Plain is NOT the same as no-cheese. When you ask for something plain, we hit a button that tells the prep people to not put any toppings on. Cheese is STILL put on. So specify if you still want cheese on that sandwich.
6. Don’t take your tray until your food is on it. Please, please, please. I can’t count the number of times people have walked off with their drink cups and trays, which means we have to set out another one or our managers will reprimand us for not having a tray out.
7. Don’t get mad at the person on the register. If you went through drive-thru and got the wrong order, if your food tastes bad or was made wrong, or anything like that- IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT. All they have been doing is taking orders, they’re not responsible for the mistake unless it was rung up wrong. So whenever you yell at us and take it out on us, it’s pretty unfair since we didn’t make or serve your food.
8. If you want No Salt fries, order those FIRST, this gives us time to make sure a fry basket is dropped and you wont have to wait as long to get them.
9. If you are ordering inside the building, you really don’t need to specify what type of soda you want, since we just hand you the cups and you get it yourself anyway,
And 10. When people order a “McDouble” or a “McChicken” off the dollar menu. Or “One of your dollar drinks.” The only menu we have those on IS the dollar menu, and ALL drinks are a dollar. Redundantly specifying is a little annoying.
Some people are jerks, but most of the time we try to be friendly and helpful, it’s our job. So let us know if we can make something better, but treat us with respect. Just because we work fast food doesn’t mean we’re incompetent. It can be a fast-paced, hard, tireless, and sometimes thankless job. There’s more to it than punching in numbers and flipping burgers.
Inspire Ignite 