Monday, April 26, 2010

MD Experiment

I first thought this extra credit assignment is impossible to accomplish since the worded instructions specifically stated that the receipt has to reflect the four extra pickles and well done no salt fries. I expected that the ordering machine would not have the ability to make such unique custom order, unless it supports custom typing on the order. And therefore this custom order would not show on the screen of the list of food to be made in the kitchen. Definitely this task had created a conflict to the McDonald employees, but their flexibility in management surprised me, that they treated their customer on high priority by satisfying all my requests.
The McDonald I went is located near a train station in Queens. When I came in I saw four cashiers handling orders. Every employee there dressed in a red shirt except for one of the cashiers, who wore a grey color one. I figured he was the manager of this McDonald team. I decided to let him take my order because I thought he probably had the highest authority and he would make this task easier. First I made sure that he could print out the receipt, and then I went on with placing my special order. I emphasized that I wanted a hamburger with exactly four pickles on it and a well done no salt small French Fries, and the receipt stating this exact order. The guy didn’t question me that he seemed to have taken such unique order before, and he quickly placed the order on the machine in a few seconds. He pointed to the fries cooking station and told me he would make the fries himself to make sure it’s well done and no salt. He picked up one set of the oiling fries to show me that it has been cooking for a while already. Then he put it back in the oil and went to tell the burger making employee to place exactly four pickles on my hamburger. After three minutes, he came back with my order, but the receipt only stated one extra pickle on hamburger and the well done no salt condition on the French Fries was never mentioned. I was initially dissatisfied that he almost completely ignored my second request in this order. He said he couldn’t print out what’s not a selection on the machine. However, I got him validate this special order by asking him to make changes on the receipt and sign it. He promptly accepted my request and make changes to show my special order on the receipt. Lastly, I sat down with my food, opened my hamburger I saw four pickles and tasted one of the fries. The fry was hard and no salt was added. The McDonald team had successfully completed my special order in as quickly as four, or five minutes.
The McDonald team was effective in managing my order that they were willing to satisfy my requests without giving any negative attitude. Based on their prompt reactions to my order, they appeared to be experienced in handling irrational situations. The manager who took my order clearly knows how to get this special order done, mainly because of his knowledge of the workplace and different divisions of workers. Although not many people request print out receipt in McDonald, I still recommend McDonald to add a function to make custom receipt on the ordering machine, just for customers who needs a receipt for reporting their expenses. Instead of manually hand writing/revising the receipt, the McDonald staff could get this special request done much more professional on the ordering machine.

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