Zen Drive-Thru

Lack of information

2006-08-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working a lot, but nothing too interesting or out of the ordinary. Everyone, including me, is getting ready to go back to school. I'll be transferring McDonald's and going to one near school 160 miles from my current location.

For those that don't understand the finer point of the McDonald's corporation, here's the basis of it: There's two types of McDonald's. There's corporate-owned and operated and then there's Franchise. Franchise is privately owned. My current workplace is a proud, clean, fast-moving corporate store right on the interstate with a 24-hour drive-thru and sans the nasty PlayPlace. We're tastefully decorated and we value our regular customers as well as new customers. The McDonald's I'm going to, hopefully, if Carl gets his butt in gear and calls the new manager, is privately-owned and near a campus, far from an interstate. At my current McDonald's, it's no doubt, and no one will deny me the fact that I'm good at what I do. I'm fast, friendly for the most part, but not overbearing, and I try to be nice to coworkers and get along. Here's the rub: privately-owned McDonald's are not concerned with times and (as far as I've seen) quality of a visit or of the food. I'm worried that I'll be too "high-strung" (as far as running a McD's) for them. Somebody told me I'll scare the crap out of them when I go there. I aspire to be a crew trainer though, so maybe it'll be okay.

I have just remembered something that has been going on at work lately that is worth noting. It has to do with a certain coworker. I don't bash coworkers like I've heard some of my coworker do, occasionally I'll agree with a statement made or go on a rampage because someone made me angry, I'm human you know. But this coworker is the bane of our store's existence. Even the managers can't stand him any more. The issue is that we make it very known. We can't have him fired for being stupid, annoying, and not staying on track, but we've done everything we can to make him feel unwelcome so he'll find someplace he's a better fit. We don't include him in our conversations, we tell him to stay at his register when we're in the drive thru when it's empty, and we've even plotted his murder within earshot with one of our managers. This is horrible, I know, but when I say "we" I literally mean the ENTIRE crew. It's not just me and my cronies. He messes up orders, he's rude to customers, he yells when he speaks, he bosses people around, he doesn't know what on the sandwiches and salads, he doesn't run for himself when he's alone, and he wanders off when he's the only one on counter. This wouldn't be so bad if he had only been there a week. He's been with us over a month. Even my significant other can't stand him. My brother, who is now one of our lobby people and training on counter, can't stand him. There's just a point when you have to look at your job and say "do I fit in here?" If the answer is anything but, "Hell yes, I love my job," it might be time to look for a new one.

Time to get ready for work. I have errands to run. I'll try to write again before I leave for school.

Pushy Parents

2006-06-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

Real conversation in the drive-thru the other afternoon (pretty much from memory):

Me:Thank you for choosing McDonald's, how may I help you today?

Female customer: Yeah, do you offer any healthy choices in your Happy Meals?

Me: Yes, ma'am. We off Apple Dippers in stead of French fries and a choice of white milk, chocolate milk, and apple juice for the drink.

Customer: No, I mean, for the actual meal.

Me:Um, we offer cheeseburgers, hamburgers, or chicken nuggets.

Customer: You don't offer grilled chicken or anything?

Me: (thinking: what kid in their right mind wants GRILLED CHICKEN in a happy meal?)

Me (to our general manager, Carl, in the office): Do we offer grilled chicken in the happy meals?

Carl: No.

Me: No, I'm sorry, we don't, ma'am.

Customer: Is there a manager I can speak to. (It wasn't a question, it was a demand.)

Me (to Carl): Here you go, Carl, she wants to talk to you... (hand off my head set to Carl)

Parents like this should not be allowed to have children. I'm sorry, but if you're going to take your kid to McD's and force them to eat our nasty grilled chicken (I'm sorry McD's, but it's gross...This is a fast food restaurant, let's stick to the fried food.), you shouldn't be allowed to be a parent. If all you want is the toy, then, okay. The toys cost $.90. The manager finally ended up giving it to her, but she got angry because the stuff wasn't in happy meal boxes/bags (we're out of the boxes, thank goodness). It wasn't our fault that her food that she was forcing down her kids throats wouldn't fit in the bags that are made for 4-piece chicken nugget boxes.

Another woman came in while Nancy (another manager) and I were running the front line (for those not in the fast-food-know: usually the area in the front with the front counter and registers, the fries, and the final drive-thru window). She ordered a bunch of sandwiches for all these kids she had with her (there were two other women with her). There were probably 6-7 kids in all. Now, you must know, we don't have a Play Place like two of the other McD's in our city do. We're a very nice, clean, "classy" McD's. (i.e. we're decorated like an upper-class living room...) We don't handle a high-volume of children customers on a daily basis compared to the other stores. So, they go and eat their sandwiches. The kids finish and are running around the restaurant bothering other customers. Finally, the woman gathers them all up and brings them to the front counter while Nancy and I are cleaning ("If you have time to lean, you have time to clean!"). She tries to get the kids to all order ice cream, pies, or apple dippers: their choice. First of all: it's a bad idea to give kids more than three choice (small or large ice cream cones, fudge, caramel, or plain sundaes, flurries, apple pies, fruit and yogurt parfaits, or apple dippers), second of all: why bring them to the counter? Leave them with the other two women to watch and just ask them what they want there. They were sitting 15 ft. from the counter, if that. Point is, some of them got confused and threw conniption fits and she had to take them all back to the table.

While she was calming them down Nancy and I got to talking about parenting. Nancy has two children of her own, with another boy on the way and is a single mom. I do not have any children, but I do have a half-brother who is 5. We started to talk about how you have to set limits. My little brother, Andy, knows that when we walk in to McDonald's he can have a happy meal. He can have chicken nuggets or cheeseburger. He knows he receives fries and a white milk. (Surprisingly, he prefers the white milk over everything else). A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I took him into a Coldstone ice cream shop and told him he could have a dish of ice cream with one thing added. No joke, the kid looked at me and said "I just want strawberry ice cream." I asked him if he wanted anything in it, and he refused. He sat and enjoyed that ice cream so well as we sat outside. He ever shared some with Xile. He took a bite of Xile's and mine, but was so content with his little dish of strawberry.

Here's the catch: Andy's a terror. When he's with his mother, he's an absolute terror. With my dad, when she's not around, he's fine. With me and DarkHalo (my other brother, 15), he's fine. He's an angel for me and Xile. He adores Xile. He will not even think about misbehaving with me, because he knows I won't put up with it. He knows I'll take him home and let him sit on his own with no one to talk to. I'll go and work on the computer if he wants to misbehave. His mom just lets him scream, and then gives in.

The lady did come back, alone, and order all of the desserts, by the way.

The point is, know how to set limits for your kids. And know your limits. And especially consider the people around you. They don't want to listen to your kid scream. Just because your kid is screaming doesn't mean you should go through the drive-thru either. Chances are, we won't be able to hear your order over it. If we can't hear over a loud engine, or a motorcycle on the highway, we can't hear over your screaming child in the back seat.

Hello, I'm talking to you!

2006-06-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, you there, on your cell phone...your total is $3.15. Yes, I'm talking to you. I want to know if you had two double cheeseburgers and a McChicken. Yeah, $3.15--OMG, get off your cell phone!

That has to be my biggest pet peeve about people who come through the drive-thru. Don't talk on your cell phone in the drive-thru. Do you talk on your cell phone when the waiter at the restaurant is taking your order? No. At least, I hope not, I'd feel really sorry for that waiter.

I don't know about you, but my mother taught me not to talk while someone was on the phone. Would you like it if I just stood there and stared at you until you got off your cell phone and finished your conversation about that guy you saw last night, like omigod...

It's common courtesy people, talk on your cell phones someplace where the rest of us don't have to deal with you. It's not your home phone, it's for emergencies. Just because you can call your friends anytime, anywhere, doesn't mean that you should. So please, turn off the cell phones.

Idiot Savant.

2006-06-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Haha! I figured it all out. Although, it isn't hosted through the actual site, it is through Google's Blogger site. Which is okay, I've worked with it in the past and I like many of the features. And the silly bar on the top is a bit of pain. If it's even there, I haven't checked yet. So, future posts...yeah...we'll see how work goes tomorrow.