Welcome to McDonald's

Braving it up, I walked into the McDonald’s on Fort Hamilton, between Chester Ave. and 36^th Street on Friday to make my special order. It was a nice evening, around 6:30 p.m. – dinnertime. There were a few occupied tables, and in a blacked private room, a birthday party for a little girl. As I walked in, I saw there were two registers opened, one who wore a McDonald’s uniform, and the other, surprisingly, in plain clothes. I chose to go to the register which the girl in the uniform was at and waited in line. This way, if she was unable to place the special order, she would have to call over the manager and I would be able to make some detailed evaluations. There were 3 people ahead of me, and as I waited, 3 more that waited behind me.

When it was my turn, I placed my order and requested a receipt for my order and the cashier looked at me as if she heard wrong. So I told her once again what I wanted and started to look through the screen, I’m guessing, to see if the options were there and told me that the fries can’t be well done with no salt.  She called over the manager, who was actually the plain clothes wearing lady and she told me that she is able to make the order as per requested, but it cannot be printed on the receipt. She was willing to write on the receipt that my fries had to be well done with no salt and sign off on it if I insisted that the receipt had to say my exact order.

The manager herself went to prepare my fries, since she could not punch it into the computer to send the order to the preparers. Meanwhile, another McDonald staff took over the register she was originally working at so the line does not start to increase. I saw that there were already some fries that were being cooked at the time I ordered, so when they were ready, the manager only emptied part of the batch and kept some of it in the fryer. Afterwards, I saw her place the well done fries on the side where the rest of the fries were cooling and bagged those for me. My fries took longer than usual, so my order was a bit delayed, but the manager even apologized for the wait.

My hamburger was being made when the manager was preparing my fries. The girl at the register was able to indicate extra pickles, but the quantity only indicated “1” on the receipt. She made sure I had 4 pickles in my burger by telling those preparing the burgers that I specifically wanted 4 pickles, to prevent me having to come back and correct my order.

Upon receiving my order, I also received my receipt. The manager was supposed to sign off on the receipt, but she was already busy with another customer. So instead, the girl at the register who took my order signed off on it. She corrected “1 XTRA$ PICKLE” to “4 XTRA$ PICKLE” and also added “Well done, NO salt” under my order of fries.

I checked my order right afterwards to make sure I had the 4 pickles in my burger and my fries had no salt. I don’t know how “well done” fries taste like, but they were crunchier than normal and there was no salt. I opened the wrapper of my burger, and found that there were exactly 4 pickles, just like I ordered. Satisfied with my order I left the place feeling proud that I actually had to courage to go through with the assignment after postponing it so long.

During the entire process, I realized the manager and staff were very respectful to me, listening to what I wanted and not making me seem weird or anything that I was making a special order. They made sure I got exactly what I wanted in the order. They did their best to make sure I didn’t have to wait so long and to prevent the line of customers from building up. The whole ordering preparation was very effective. The manager herself didn’t just order her staff to make my food and even went to make it herself to make sure it was right. The staff who took my order made sure she emphasized that I wanted 4 pickles by telling the preparers herself to make sure it was communicated across correctly and that I would not have to go back and correct my order. The whole process was very organized. The manager helped her staff when they didn’t know what to do and guided them through the process as a good leader would.

Overall, they were very effective in getting the order and the RIGHT order to customers. I didn’t see the other customers having to wait extra long because of hindrance due to my special order. But if they did have to improve on their efficiency, I think the staff should be instructed on what to do during a special order and to learn about the different options on the computer. This way, they can be more prepared and not have to resort to asking the manager for every special order placed in the future.