I don’t care what you do on your own free time. But I still think it’s a pretty damned stupid thing to do. And if you start messing up my order because of it, it makes you doubly stupid.
And a jerk.
I’ve worked retail-seven fucking years. And I did it without the aid of substances. Yes, it was hell.
I know you aren’t flying a plane. But you better be able to take my order and give my change correctly.
I know you aren’t flying a plane. But you better be able to take my order and give my change correctly.
Or what? I’m fired? Fine by me.
I never once fucked up an order or gave anyone the wrong change, but would it have been the end of the world if I had? Lighten up. Guinastasia, don’t be so square. Mentally challenged people work fast food. It doesn’t require any brainpower.
I’m sure you’re being sarcastic, but you’d be surprised how many people there are for whom it seems beyond their capabilities (actually, you’re probably NOT surprised because you work with them). Also, it’s kind of amusing that we got one poster who told us how difficult the job is, and how if we would walk a mile in his shoes, we would see how hard it is. Then we get another who says its so easy you can do it stoned. Well, which is it? If it’s so easy, why do you guys fuck up so much?
That’s exactly what In-n-Out burger does, and that’s why they are extremely popular with customers. I have never gotten bad service there - every question is asked one time only, and none of this “would you like to supersize?” bullshit. Those people work their butts off, because they pay them some decent money.
I worked at a McDonalds for one and one-half weeks. I quit because one of the managers was always looking at us girls’ butts and calling us “sweetie,” and the general manager never did anything when we complained. Also, I was never trained on register, but was screamed at for five minutes after I screwed up a couple times when they told me to work the register without telling me how it worked.
The training levels SUCKED. The managers bitched about the customers CONSTANTLY, occasionally while the customers were within earshot. The customers were split about 80/20 between nice normal people and utter asswidgets, and you always remember the asswidgets better. The work was so monotonous and simple that it actually became difficult to do. My brain’d get in a rut and I’d completely zone out. I worked at the second drive-thru window, and I’d get so rushed through that I’d not be thinking at all. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. You try doing that for eight or nine hours straight five days a week, and still be alert and chipper. I lasted about three days before the monotony zonked me out, and then any slight bump from the routine majorly fucked me up. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, bag out window. Drinks out window, sauce in bag, b-- drink needs no ice. Take drink back. Stare at it. Dump drink into grate, leaving cup with only ice in it. Realize that was really stupid. Try to remember how to get the automatic drink-pouring machine to give me soda manually without being entered into the register at the other end of the drive-through. Curse myself for being a stupid bitch.
I am NEVER WORKING THERE AGAIN.
I feel your pain, racinchikki. I think working at McDonalds would be a good sentence for corporate criminals like Kenneth lay. Let him spend eight hours a day at that drive through window with those stupid headphones on. I think it would be a much better deterrant than federal prison. It would sure scare the hell out of me.
I agree. Give the fat cats a chance to see what its like being a corporate peon. While I’ve never worked in food service, I have worked at Target which was extremely unplesant.
I’ve never really had any trouble ordering fast food, so I’m surprised the problems are so widespread.
I just let them ask me the questions and give them the information as they’re ready to punch it in, as Cheesesteak suggests. It doesn’t really slow you down, since they’re going to ask you anyway, and there’s no repeating or frustration.
People might expect too much of fast food workers, and just dump orders on them and expect them to be completely alert after 7 hours of the same bullshit.
I work at a gas station, and I rarely fuck things up, but after I’ve been dealing with people for 7 hours, watching 5 or 6 pumps for drive offs, monitoring which pumps are at in what state, making sure no one is smoking out there, and some guy asks for 6 different cigarette types (and this, oddly enough, is fairly common) - if I happen to lose track of the last 2 packs he wanted were, I really hate being treated as if I were a moron for it.
my order is never complex, all i ask from fast food is that it doesnt have mayo on it. i hate it with a passion. im alergic and it makes me all red and blotchy.
so when i say ‘ill have a BK chicken burger no mayo please’ i expect no god damn mayo. now them occasionally getting it wrong, me opening and checking the burger as i always do finding mayo and going to get a new one doesnt really bother me, it doesnt happen that often.
what really pisses me off, and it has happened several times, is me opening the burger, giving it a quick glance, ‘hey no mayo’…‘hang on, what this residue white glaze…fuckers’
yes there are people in the world who seem to think that when you order no mayo and they put mayo on it then see their mistake, they dont make you a new burger… oh no, they scrape the god damn mayo off the bun and still serve it to you.
this isnt a case of forgetting my order or being to busy to plug in the keys, all of that is forgivable, yes working retail is hard ive done it so im tolerance for crappy service is pretty high, but they realised there mistake and decided to service me it anyway.
needless to say i drop my normally easy going attitude every time this happens and make one hell of a scene with the manager, not the staff, not the poor chick behind the register, because its not her fault, but the manager, because they get paid marginally more to deal with shit like this.
Here’s a new one that just happened to me last night:
I ordered one of the combo deals, and the guy on the speaker says: “would you like curly-fries instead of regular fries?”. Blowero kind of digs curly-fries, so I said yes. Then he gives me the total and I drive forward. Then I’m thinking about it, and the total he read was way too much, unless they raised the sales tax to about 40 percent in the last 24 hours. So when I get to the window, I ask the guy if they charge extra for the curly-fries; he says “no”, so I ask why I’m paying more than what’s written on the menu board. First he says “tax”, but I point out that it’s too much for just tax. Get this: He supersized me WITHOUT ASKING IF I WANTED TO. They now have 3 different sizes of combos, and this genius took it upon himself to assume that I would want the “medium” size combo, rather than the regular size (the regular size is the price that’s shown on the menu). Well, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t that big a deal, so I let it go, rather than have the poor guy take my fries and drink back and replace them, and then ring up the whole thing again. But I’d just like to say to the corporate “super-size” guys - STOP IT!!!
I’m starting to think Fugazi is right. It’s almost like there’s a conspiracy to make us fat.
I’m pretty good about scaling my expectations to the experience. If I’m paying $75 for dinner at Bistro Sofia (that is, if some drug rep is paying $75 for my dinner at Bistro Sofia), I expect everything short of actual fellatio. However, if I’m paying $4 for a meal that doesn’t require me to leave my car, I’m impressed if they can summon up the opposable thumbs to hand the bag out the window. Thus, I am nearly always pleasantly surprised.
If the 20th century gave us no other inventions of importance, it did feature the advent of the little screen next to the drive-thru speaker that displays your order; this unexpected advance in quality control assures that what I shouted into the clown’s mouth and what the folks on the other side of the clown think I shouted are one and the same. (The screen at Krispy Kreme is especially cool, in that it features pictures of the actual donuts you’ve ordered.) Of course, the relationship between what appears on the screen and what they actually put in the bag may be entirely coincidental, but it’s a start.
It’s possible that I have sympathy for the fast food workers since I used to fuck with them at the Dairy Queen back home:
Young Dr. J: “Yeah, I’ll have a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Pepsi.”
DQ Lackey: “So that’s a double cheeseburger, fries, and a Pepsi?”
Young Dr. J: “Uh, no…I said a grilled chicken sandwich, onion rings, and a Mr. Pibb.”
DQ Lackey: “Ok…so that’s a grilled chicken sandwich, onion rings, and a Mr. Pibb?”
Young Dr. J: “What the hell are you talking about? Are you high? I distinctly said that I want a fish fillet…”
This was quality entertainment on a Saturday night in Beattyville, KY. At least it was for those of us who couldn’t get laid.
Dr. J
Dr. J, usually I really like you but I’d have to guess that it’s possible one of the reasons you didn’t get laid is because you were known for behaving like a completely annoying idiot at drive-thrus. Just a hunch.
I cannot describe my level of hatred for people who do this this type of crap. Minor issue in the grand scheme of life? Yes, but it makes me extremely angry anyway.
Also,
If I could offer a suggestion–instead of saying “no tomatoes” just say “No pico”. Don’t say “pico sauce”–that’ll just confuse them as you know. I order chicken soft tacos and I hate tomatoes so I always order them with “no pico” and usually it works really well.
Well, the only thing I can think of is that DoctorJ knew the people? If it was a regular customer, we weren’t busy, and I knew he was kidding, I’d probably start laughing and say, “How about a booger burger with extra spit?” I think he’d get the hint.
I had customers who used to tease me about prices, and I’d just tease them right back.
But if it was at random drivethroughs, and they were really backed up-yeah, that would suck.
Doctor J:
I don’t know how it is now, but back in MY fast food days (mid 80’s) Guys who pulled shit like that…well…let’s just say that stuff could “happen” to your food. I didn’t do it myself. I didn’t condone it in others, but I know for a fact the occasional Big mac went into the bag with a little something “extra” on it. You’ve got to be careful man. It’s the bottom of the barrel working at those flat grills. The ones at the tills are the SMART ones.
One reason among dozens, I’m sure. Seriously, though, Guin is right; I did know most of these people well enough to joke with them.
In retrospect, I’m not sure why I ever found such behavior entertaining, but there is much about the miserable jerk that was the 16-year-old Dr. J that the past 11 years have done nothing to clarify. Maybe it’s better that way–if my teenage years ever start to make sense to me, that’s when I’ll start to worry.
Dr. J
AND THEN 
I just had to laugh at that. For years, I tried to get my kids over the age of two to handle a glass on their own. Straws (like baby bottles) are a convenience no normal person needs. :rolleyes:
I’m not dissin you, Legomancer, but it just struck me as funny, that McDonalds is trying to do what I was.
“would you like some mcfries or a mcshake or a mick fleetwood or a mick jagger with that”
“no, just give me my mcchange and i’ll get the mcfuck out of here”
robin williams
slow down and have some fun with the fast food folks, ask them if they know the gnp of zaire
unclviny
Well, that’s different, then. Sorry, Dr. J. Knee-jerk reaction–too many years in fast food.
Bah. Straws are necessary at fast food places (and many restaurants) to actually drink the beverage, rather than getting smacked in the teeth by the 60 tons of ice they put in. Yeah, yeah, you can ask for no ice, but then it gets warm (or in the case of certain restaurants, is warm to being with).
I could point out that once you’re in a fast food restaurant, you’re already making use of conveniences that no one needs.