Special Order

What do fast food service workers hate the most? People who have unusual orders. Unfortunately for us, that was the exact assignment that we needed to complete to get the extra credit points. I went to the expensive McDonald’s on Broadway in the financial district because that was near my apartment. I didn’t care too much about paying extra as long as I got the extra credit points. So I walked in to the restaurant and waited a minute or so to be called up to the register. As I was preparing to order, I was thinking about the possible reactions that the worker would have to my order. I asked for a small hamburger with four pickles and a small order of fries without salt. The attendant slightly rolled his eyes when I said four pickles exactly. After I completed saying what I wanted, he asked me again about the fries; “no salt?” I repeated no salt. While I was paying for my meal, another worker attempted to get my fries ready. However the fries in the hopper were all with salt. Luckily the cashier saw it and told the other worker that I wanted fries without salt. The other worker asked 2 times about the salt. The cashier went to the back and the other guy told me to wait for my own made to order fries.
For at least two minutes I was just standing to the side of the cashier against the wall waiting for my burger with four pickles and no salt fries. Meanwhile, the cashier was doing his job and taking other orders. The fry attendant (helper guy) put the uncooked fries into the fryer and was shaking the oil off when he asked the cashier what size I wanted. The fry guy got my fries ready and put them in the small baggy and handed them to the cashier. The burger was already done and the cashier put both items into the togo bag and handed it to me. At that time I asked him to change the receipt because it did not specify that I ordered fries without salt. He tried explaining to me that he couldn’t do that in the machine; the fry guy also came over and said that it couldn’t be done in the machine. Since apparently he didn’t know how to make the receipt so it said no salt, he decided to write it in by hand. Hopefully this will count as a complete order. I thanked him after he returned my receipt and walked out of the store. On my way home I opened the bag and unwrapped the burger and was surprised that it actually had four pickles.
Thinking about the process, I am slightly surprised that the employees didn’t show too much attitude. It may be because they work in the financial district and there must be all kinds of weird orders taken all the time. I know that at least three people got involved in the process; the cashier, the fry guy, and someone in the back who assembled the burger. I was not able to see the burger station, so I don’t know if there was an assembly line or just a single person in the back. The whole process took the employees approximately six minutes. I’m sure that it would have been longer and unpleasant if there were more people in the restaurant. The workers would have been more difficult and unwilling to do minute things like fixing the receipt.
The staffs manufacturing was done pretty well. The fry guy confirmed the size and the fact that there was no salt, with the cashier several times. He did not seem to mind doing the work as he did not seem to act in any particular manner other than normal. The cashier went to the back for a bit to tell the burger station that I wanted four pickles and they did that correctly. I had to communicate to the cashier my exact order at the beginning and to fix the receipt at the end. Aside from hearing the unusual order, I don’t think that the cashier was shocked or lost. Everyone involved did was they were supposed to do in a timely manner and were mostly professional (at whatever level McD employees can be professional). If I was able to consult the company, I would make several different versions of their layout and see which provided the fastest responses to the customer’s order. The customer should be able to view the whole process and intervene to fix or alter the method at any time. This would be helpful for special orders where specifics are important and also make general customers happier because they won’t have to send back any order to get it fixed. In the future, a camera should be pointed at all items in the customers order and follow them as they are assembled. This would provide the customer with ultimate and immediate control over their order.

D.I.S.C. analysis

What could choosing words possibly mean? Well apparently it defines who we are. This activity told me that I am a conscientious person. I mostly agree with the results. One of the tendencies listed was being diplomatic with people. I have found that to be true for the past few years. Needing clear guidelines is very important to me; I often find it hard to get a task done without knowing what exactly I have to do. In order to be a better person I need to be more assertive and push what I believe in.

I don’t think that I could change to become a total D, but I could get some of D’s and I’s characteristics in the future. I believe that the more situations a person can adapt to, and know how to behave for the best outcome, the better. Knowing other people’s management type can be helpful in dealing with them. By knowing their strengths you will have a better idea of how to either work with them or beat them.