Fast Food Morons.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

I’m not defending the two apparently brain-dead individuals mentioned in earlier posts but I would like to say something in the defense of fast food workers regarding change counting.

You need to remember that these individuals are working at a job that is extremely repetitive and almost hypnotic. The individual taking the money at a fast food restaurant has been standing basically in the same little area for hours (probably 5 1/2 since he has to have a break at 6 hours), doing exactly the same thing over and over and over. The person is running almost on instinct. Punch in order. Give total. Get money. Read how much change. Count it out. Get food. Repeat. Therefore, it is completely understandable that you breaking that pattern by suddenly thrusting an additional quarter or bill at them or something is going to cause a small disturbance in their world. Granted, anyone with brain activity should be able to recover rather quickly from this but give these people a small break. Essentially they are doing a mindless task and you are asking them to use their minds!

P.S. I am not saying this to sound demeaning to fast food workers—I was one for six years and I’m one of the more intelligent people I know!

The Top 10 Greatest Things About Procrastination:

62

I think the point is that they haven’t even been taught how to enter in the cash tendered. If that were the case they’d punch in “$11” and the readout would show that the change should be $5.33 or whatever. I think most of these kids are trained by the knucklehead who had the job before them to just hit “total” twice instead of hitting “subtotal,” entering the cash tendered, and then “total” (Or whatever the combo is, It’s been a while since I worked a register.) The same thing happens to me every other time.

Another one of my peeves is that Burger King will pretty much make you a combo out of whatever your favorite is, as long as you get it with the fries and drink, but sometimes they won’t have the double cheesburger meal listed as a combo number so I ask “Can I get a double cheeseburger combo meal?” about half the time they have their wits about them enough to ring up a double cheeseburger, fries and a coke and hit the “combo” button, but the rest of the time they turn around and look up at the menu and say “No, we don’t have that.” To punish them I usually order the “Big King” value meal with no lettuce, onion, tomato or sauce, but with pickles, mustard and ketchup. (In otherwords, a double cheeseburger, and it’s 30 cents cheaper than the double cheeseburger meal, but that’s their problem!)

"Hi, I’m Troy McClure! You may remember me from such medical films as “Alice Doesn’t Live Anymore” and “Mommy, What’s Wrong with That Man’s Face?”

63

A good story on this very topic:
www.boulderweekly.com/waynesword.html

I hope that this link continues to point to the relevent topic… if you click on it and the article doesn’t fit this thread, well, I guess it’s too late. I couldn’t find an archive on the page.

64

I haven’t read every post on this thread, cos it’s just too gosh-darn long, but the posts I did read either stuck up for the workers who weren’t getting it right or blamed the economy or a poor work ethic.

OK, I can see where some of the people working in these jobs are hassled, and I try never to contribute petty annoyances to their load. But I have to say that the incidents of orders being filled improperly are, from my experience, epidemic, regardless of who is working. It’s not the same people working there every time I go through Mickey D’s. But the mistakes are made over and over again.

I don’t necessarily blame the kids who work there (although if you have a job, apply yourself to said job. Working the drive-thru window ain’t rocket surgery!). I am more inclined to blame the manager or shift supervisor, who got their position because of some higher quality job performance, I presume. Are these kids trained properly? Are they supervised properly? Is corrective action taken when things go wrong? You’re the manager, for crineoutloud! Manage!

People in general, and I think on the lower rungs of the work force especially, will get away with whatever they’re allowed to get away with. If the franchise’s standards were more stringent, they’d have to carry their weight or be replaced by someone who will. That’s the way it ought to be, anyway.

I know I would rather work for a strict manager than a lenient one. Not because I’d slack off otherwise, but because a manager who leads with such an example lifts everyone’s job performance higher.

The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx

65

I can’t agree with this enough. Waaaaayyyyyy back in the dark ages when I was 21, I took a maid job at Harrah’s Tahoe. I mentioned this to a friend the other day and he said “Didn’t you find that demeaning?” Well, yeah, it was scrubbing toilets and picking up after (moderately clean/respectful of the room) hotel guests, but honestly, I was quite PROUD of the work I did there. If you had ANY idea what it took to be a good housekeeper at Harrah’s in the late 70s (they didn’t keep bad housekeepers, and it was one of only a small handful of REAL 5-Star properties - today’s 5-Star standards are far lower), you’d understand. The pride I took in making beds and cleaning bathroom floors sent me up the ladder rather quickly, and over the years my hotel career went from Maid, to Floor Supervisor, to Concierge Floor Supervisor, to Exec. Office Receptionist, to Executive Administrative Asst. to the General Manager, to Asst. Head Housekeeper, to Head of Housekeeping. Not bad, eh? Unfortunately, I see entirely too few folks who take pride in “menial” jobs. The only way to move up from one is to do your job and do it well (or sleep with the boss). :wink:

StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.”
I Spy Ty.

66

Okay, I’m too lazy - I mean busy - to look up the post, but MadPoet said something about getting paid by the number of calls, not by satisfying the customer. I think this is a contributing factor - the take over of the bean counters. (Sorry if you’re a bean counter, don’t mean to belittle your profession.) It’s about quantity, not quality. Get to the calls, whether you can fix the problem or not.

What makes this worse is we’re becoming more of a service industry country, more and more people working as service in some format, and yet service seems to be getting worse. Is it the lack of basic courtesy (on both parts), customers expecting too much, lack of work ethic, some other problem, some combination?

I think about telemarketers. If you work as a telemarketer, I pity you. I usually screen my phone calls, because I don’t want to have to deal with it. I have read about people who play games with the telemarketers, keeping them on the phone with trivial questions and misleading responses, etc. Some part of me wants to get one and launch into a tirade about why the person chooses to be a nuisance. Your job is to call people who don’t want to be called, interrupt whatever they are doing, and try to get them to buy whatever it is you’re selling, regardless of whether they need it, want it, or can afford it. And the thing is, they are told not to take no for an answer. As long as the person stays on the line, they are required to keep trying to convince him. I tried to be polite with my responses, but it irritated me to no end they wouldn’t take no. Then I found out they can’t - or they’ll get fired. So now if I do answer, it’s an “I’m not interested” as soon as I can say it and then an immediate hangup. I don’t launch into my tirade, because I do keep in mind that at the other end of the line is a person who is just trying to make a living. But still, I want to slam them for making the companies able to use telemarketing by providing the labor force.

Look at it this way - do telemarketers like it when they get called at home by telemarketers? Do they enjoy getting hassled that way? If they are like most people, no they don’t. So why would you choose to do that?

My sister did it for a short time. Gave it up really quickly, because of the pressure to push and push.

from DaveW0071:

Cute!

67

I have followed this thread with interest, and now I have my two cents.

I agree with Dave for the most part. So much of the time it’s the management that takes a lot of the blame. I’ve never worked fast food, it looked too hard. (I used to take my lunch at El Pollo Loco, and man those people hustled! Too much stress and work for me!) But I have had my share of “shit” jobs. And while I always had a good work ethic, and tried to do my best, it was disheartening. Some of my managers were idiots, or not capable. Not all - I had some that I liked. But I felt very frustrated with some of the policies the managers made, the people they hired, the people they didn’ fire, the example they gave, etc. etc. And then when customers complained about some of these things? Who gets the blame? People like me, behind the register, people meeting the public.

Another thing…it seemed like the nature of the beast with service-type jobs that the people that carried their weight and did their job (like me) were almost punished for doing so. For instance, we can’t be sick, ever, because if I were not there, the place would only be left with the useless employees, and what would they do? So, people like me CAN’T be sick. If we call in sick, the boss runs a big guilt trip. And we can’t leave work sick, even if we are utterly miserable. Also, people like me did more of our fair share of the work, and got little thanks or reward for it. Gee, treatment like that will really keep the good employees around, won’t it?

I know that there are useless/stupid/clueless workers out there serving the public. I have worked with them. But I also know (as someone else mentioned here, sorry I am too lazy to go back and get your name) that sometimes when you work many hours stuck in a confined place (like a veal) your brain sort of freezes. And, when you are working so fast, all the time, your actions get kind of automated. Once I was at the cashier, took a lady’s check, rang it up, and then put the check inside her package with the stuff she bought, instead of giving her the receipt. I am so grateful that she was honest, she returned the check to us. But was I stupid? No, just terribly rushed, and trying so hard to be fast and please everyone.

I think there is a problem with some of these fast food workers, especially with attitude. Many are apathetic, rude, and sullen.

But, I can forgive many of the silly mistakes, because I know how that can be! Sometimes I tell some worn, harried-looking worker behind a counter having trouble - “It’s OK, I used to work behind a register, I know what it’s like”. You’d be surprized - there is this look of relief that comes over their face. And they relax. They are so used to being treated like they are something that comes from underneath a rock, when they meet a “kindred spirit”, it’s like a shot in the arm.

68

Here’s my two cents-

  1. I live in Seattle. Any kid smart enough to dress himself has a working knowledge of VB and HTML by the age of 12, so they are cutting web pages for spare change. The ones that can’t end up in fast food.

  2. However, the dumb kids are much preferable than the burnout adults that staff the place after the kids go back to school. The kids haven’t had their spirits broken yet-the divorced/recently released/halfway house mutants we get around this time of year-ack.

  3. I think that the employer can make the difference. Dick’s Burgers (a Seattle institution) offers higher pay, college money, and all sorts of perks, and their cashiers KICK ASS!!! They do the math in their head, they are prompt and courteous, and it’s because they know that the opportunity they are getting there is one up on Jack in the Box or McD, just cuz of the bennies. And, because of the bennies, there are more applicants, so Dick’s can be more selective in their hiring.

  4. I have to agree with the poster who spoke of younger management types. I used to go to Popeye’s Chicken regularly, and noticed one week that they had a new manager. He was telling the crew to change all sorts of stuff around, much to their protests. He was doing it as a power thing. By the time he was done, all the competent and cheerful people were gone. Never ate there again.

-sb

They say the Lord loves drunks, fools and little children.
Two out of three ain’t bad.

69

I’ve already posted here, but as a member of the service-industry work force, I just wanted to put another oar in.

My job is not demeaning to me, in spite of how others see it (I’m a pest-control service technician for those who don’t know). Yes, it’s a dirty job, especially if it’s done right, because you can’t do adequate inspections and treatments unless you crawl around restaurant kitchens and go into cobwebby basements. So don’t look down on me because the knees of my trousers have grease stains on them. I got them looking for your freakin’ roaches.

I also make every attempt to give extra good service to the whiny, the disgruntled, and the general pain in the 'nads customers, then point out what I did for them. Yes, I know you’re complaining about your bill or about my dirty knees, but I just dragged three dead mice out of your basement and I think I found where they’re getting in. Wanna pay me now, chuckles?

I like my job, because I feel I’m making a difference and helping make people’s lives/businesses better. And I’m damn good at it. Too many techs just walk through the job, not trying to make a difference. They are the ones who need to find another job. It is not the work that demeans a person, it is the person who demeans the work.

The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx

70

MadPoet:
Have you ever heard of St. John’s Wort? Maybe you should look into it. Hold your chin up and demand respect from everyone. Friends, enemies and customers. Of course, you’ll have to deserve it.

Rilchiam:
Give the kid a break. I guess you’re perfect? The kid is obviously new and looking for buttons. The concept of mustard and ketchup is not orange or red, it’s the button on the right or the button on the left. I personally HATE mustard. If you ask nicely they’ll get you another one. If you’re not so nice they’ll get you another one. Why not be nice? Can’t we all just get along?

Johnny:
I’ve not idea where you’re from, but in the south Coke is slang for any soda. Much the same as “pop” or simply “soda” is in other parts of the contry. I guarantee if you ask for a “coca cola” that 9/10 times that is what you’ll get. If not, send me a bill to DAVIDB@…

Evilbeth:
You’re not really that evil are you? You’ve a good point. Even very intelligent people in that sort of menial task must dumb themselves down in order to get through the work. With nothing else to think about except how much you don’t like being there it’s self-inflicted torture to attempt to think. Do you agree?

Vixy:
I don’t undestand. Why don’t you just help the poor sap out and next time he’ll know he can hit the 2Xcheese, Lg. Fry, Lg. Drink and COMBO buttons?

Irishman:
The problem is that almost everyone is too selfish. Almost everyone wants to be the center of everyone else’s attention which, of course, is a serious conflict of interest. You’ve adopted a wise policy of not taking it out on the sap on the phone. I, too, tell them “I’m not interested” and hang up the phone simple yet effective.
Most people like to get a check every couple of weeks. I hope that clears up that question.

Yosemitebabe:
Right on sista’. In any event, I wish I had half of your artistic ability.

All:
I suppose I’m just lucky, but I usually get good service. Maybe twice in my life I’ve had service that was actively rude with no provocation on my part. People make mistakes. Hell, I goofed up a $200,000 settlement once 'cause I forgot to set a flag in the sort routine. Whoops. I made it right eventually. No problem. Just have some damn patience and some common decency. I’d also like to point out that the reason these “lower-class-of-people, loser-type, inferior humans” are doing that sort of job is because we are all too good to do it ourselves. I worked at Mickey D’s for three weeks one time and I can tell you about a quote that does not belong on the Quotes we’ll never hear thread.

Yes, I got fired from Mickey D’s. These kids/people do a lot more for a lot less just to be shat on by an asshole public. So you can take your college degree and your Lexus and your medical and dental and optical and 401K and stock options and you can take your uppity pretentious ass down the road to the wine and dine restaurant and pay someone what they’re worth because, after all, those guys are doing the same job for at least $15/hour (after tips.) Yes, I’ve got all that ('cept the Lexus), but I’m not the one bitching and moaning “my ***** hurts” because someone won’t wipe for me.

And no “lower-class-of-people, loser-type, inferior humans” is not a direct quote from anyone, but almost everyone in this thread has a serious case of condescention which is implying the above.
Not that anyone cares (now that everyone is pissed), but I’ve also had jobs as a janitor, gas station attendant, salesperson and military grunt (and those guys get the crap duty) among others I don’t even care to remember. I’ve had a lot of “demeaning” jobs, but I swore off ANY food service position after Mickey D’s. Why? As I pointed out earlier, the customers are assholes.

Inertia’s entire philosophy in two words - Be nice.

71

Because HE works there, I don’t! (Don’t think I haven’t tried to point it out – oh they LOOOVE that!) He should already know that. Do you go into Midas and help the guy put your muffler on? Besides, I’m on my lunch hour – duh! :wink:

That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball!

72

Inertia,

In my experience, “Coke” here in So. California means “Coca Cola”. I’ve found that when I order a Coke at a place owned by Pepsico (and assuming they don’t ask “What kind of drink?” after I’ve said Coke), the counterperson usually says, “Is Pepsi okay?” At which time I notice my mistake and order something that isn’t Pepsi-cola (because I like Coke, but not Pepsi).

So here, at least, “Coke” means “Coca Cola”.

In other news, 14 of us went to have Vietnamese food today. The food was inexpensive (about $4.50 per person plus drinks) and tasty. Some of us were familiar with the food, but most weren’t (and unlike Chinese and some Japanese restaurants around here, there are no pictures) but the waitstaff were courteous, patient and attentive. They got a big tip.

73

VV’s right.

Also, when you go into business, you lose all right to complain about the customers to the customers. You can bitch and moan among yourselves all you want. You can decide what services you’re going to supply and what you’re not going to supply and let the chips fall where they may. But you cannot demand that your customers change themselves to suit your business practices, especially if they are shoddy practices like those discussed here. To do so is called “bad service” and leads to customers going elsewhere which, presumably, is not your goal.

And before you tell me that associating someone working for a company with that company is going too far, let me support it. Managers hire the best they can get, of course, but just because they can’t always get who they’d like doesn’t mean the people they hire don’t represent the company. When the girl at the Greyhound Bus ticket counter gives me the wrong ticket, one I didn’t ask for, and then tells me she can’t change it unless I pay the cancelation fee, is this not Greyhound’s fault? What is that animal sewn onto her shirt, a giraffe? A kangaroo? No, it appears to be a dog of some sort. When employees don’t care if customers go elsewhere, that’s indicative of a company -and employees- with real problems on the horizon.

Finally, I can understand “brain freeze”. There’s a Dilbert cartoon where his tab comes to $1.89 and he hands over $7.14, “just to make it easy. As an engineer, I feel obligated things easier for people” (the change is a nice, round $5.25 for those of you still figuring). I confess it took me a minute to figure this out when I read it, and I wasn’t tired, so I’m not completely unsympathetic. Still, there’s a limit. ‘Three quarters plus one quarter equals a dollar’ isn’t just math, it’s kind of a fundamental part of the monetary system itself. And “I already rung it up” seems to indicate that the cashier thinks at the end of the day someone counts up each individual coin to make sure they didn’t make change!

74

VV:
If the Midas guy was putting my muffler on wrong I sure as hell would say something to someone. I see your point though because I empathize with everybody. I just want everyone to be nice. You’re nice. I’m nice. The strapping lad behind the counter is nice (he didn’t do it on purpose.)

Johnny:
The tip thing is interesting. Why did Communism fail? No incentive. The guy at the fast-food place even if he brings you your exact order while you’re still walking in (maybe he’s psychic) is still not gonna’ get a tip ‘cause ya’ just don’t tip at fast-food joints. His incentive aught to be the knowledge of a job well done? Why do you have to tip the orientals? Tell them what a good job they’re doing and don’t give 'em a tip, but don’t expect to get good courteous service the next time you go back.

APB99999999:
As a general rule, the nicer a person is the easier it is to get something done … up to a point. Sometimes ya’ gotta’ take the bull by the horns. It is my fervent hope that you were as nice - I just love that word - as possible for as long as possible and that you left not having to pay for something you didn’t want.

Inertia’s entire philosophy in two words - Be nice.

75

But it shouldn’t be a matter of remembering buttons. A good worker knows what s/he’s doing, instead of doing it by rote. S/he should process the order in terms of “I want to put the red stuff on this”, not “I need to push the button on the left”.

Post McD’s, I had a discussion with another arches alumnus. He had despised special orders, because “It gets you all messed up to have to make two burgers different on a tray of twelve”. I maintained that someone who’s on their game shouldn’t get “all messed up”. If you’ve never worked at McD’s, you have a tray of twelve burgers, as mentioned above. You give them all a shot of mustard, a shot of ketchup, then sprinkle onions and place a pickle slice on each. And since most special orders involve omitting something, it should be no trick to sprinkle fewer onions and do two less mustard shots.

Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green

76

I’ve always had better luck with small, indy burger joints, rather than the big chains. Most of them are places where the service is good, the food is much better than Mc Crappy’s, and they are clean enough to suit.

One place I eat at regularly provides 2 cheeseburgers, 2 half pints of milk & large fries for $4.25. For real. Good burgers, & the people there know me by name. :slight_smile:

With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with.

77

EVERY time I order coffee:

“Large coffee, black.”

“Cream or sugar?”

Dee da dee da dee dee do do / Dee ba ditty doh / Deedle dooby doo ba dee um bee ooby / Be doodle oodle doodle dee doh http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/

78

Yes, this is exactly my point! Thank you!

And for those people who love to say, “If you don’t want to be there, go someplace else.”—when you are 16, have no access to a vehicle and McD’s is the only place within walking distance, you don’t really have a choice. I learned work skills as a crew person at McD’s that the “professionals” I work alongside now can never even dream of having. Make fun of it if you will (and I’ve been here long enough to know that you will!) but the whole “If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean” idea is one that all professions can use to their advantage. (I know that doesn’t carry a whole lot of wait when coming from someone who is currently posting from work :wink: but I can assure you I do this with my boss’s permission and blessing–he can’t get anyone else to work this shift and put up with the crap I have to do so the internet is somewhat of an employee benefit!)

Yes, it should theoretically. However, you have to remember, when you work at a reasonably successful McD’s, you are not just making twelve hamburgers. You are making “12 regulars, cheese 9, 6 Macs, 4 Quarters, cheese 2, 2 fish, oops, we’re out of chef salads–I need one for drive-thru, did you get that Quarter grill? Pull the chicken. Can you get more ketchup? I need those Macs…” Now let me know how easy it is to remember all of that and still remember that one of those burgers with cheese wanted an extra pickle slice?

yosemitebabe, hurray for you!! More people could take a lesson from you!

Anyone else familiar with the “catch more flies with honey than vinegar” saying? Do you honestly think that just because your snotty, white-collar ass stood in line sighing loudly and commenting (just loudly enough) in line the order taker will become ashamed at his/her own inadequacies and do a better job? No way. You have just reinforced the exact reason that this person no longer even tries to go out of his/her way to please the customer–customers who don’t take each visit situation by stuation are assholes. Just because you came into a fast food restaurant last Tuesday at 3:30pm and got served quickly doesn’t mean you can expect the same speedy service during the Sunday morning breakfast rush!

The Top 10 Greatest Things About Procrastination:

79

As seen in actual ICQ messages:

PCW: “How as lunch?”

Democritus: “ok, Taco Bell. They got my change wrong. The total was $4.04, I gave him $5.04 and sat there, he said, “The straw’s in the bag”, I waited, he looked at me, I waited, he looked at me. I finally said, “Can I have a dollar back, I gave you a five”. He went and talked to the manager and came back five minutes later with “the key” to get my stupid dollar…sheesh!”

God, all I ask is for them to do it right ONE TIME. If they got it right just one time, I could forgive them…but no, this will not happen…

“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”