Just because you can to command your bowels to move while waiting in line at the fast food place doesn’t automatically make you a vegetarian.
See? I miss all the fun threads. Page one, I’m reading through with my mouse over the reply button, itching to click. Page two, the urge is almost irresistable. Page three, I’ve got most of a post lined up in my mind. And now it’s page four, and the scatalogical jokes are all about.
Damn.
Well, I’m a gonna throw what I got out here anyway, flinging my opinion forth like a monkey with a fistful of…
No, no, I’m better than that.*
Much of the contention in this thread is kind of a customer vs. establishment vibe that, let’s face it, has always been and will always be around. I’d like to be clear up front, I’m not touching that part of the argument. I believe the Customer needs to fight for what they want, or companies claiming to be Customer Focused, or whatever they like to say, won’t know just what their customers want.
No, I wanted to try and explain just what Customer Service means. See, to most Customer Service industries like fast food, the “Customer” the serve is a plural term, not singular. So while, “I don’t care about your time, you’re here to serve me!” might make you feel better, it does nothing for the people in line behind you. And no, I’m not being drawn into the 30 seconds/3 minutes argument. The point is, the quality of service decisions they make are targeted at all their customers, not just one.
So I work for an airline, one of a few that doesn’t assign seats to their passengers. A strange idea that has gotten complaints, which are outweighed by compliments. The decision still boils down to: More customers like it because they board planes faster, pick seats they want (such as, away from the creepy guy or the crying baby), and don’t have to play match the illegible print on their ticket with the tiny, faded plaquard above the seats. It works for us, because we turn our planes faster, fit more flights in a single day, move more passengers places, etc., etc. Sometimes a good customer service move pays off immeditaly, others trickle down. Really good decisions do both.
These drive-through commandments follow the same logic. Fast food is about delivering quality food as fast as possible. The drive-through area even more so. So while their desire to move you through the line at a less than serene pace seems callous, it’s not about you. It’s about the 1.5 billion served.
On a side note, the preview menus are pretty common around here. What’s truly innovative is what I like to call the double-barreled McDonalds. Only one I’ve seen like it, they added on a second drive through lane. One menu, shared by all, then you choose a lane as you pull around. Either you’re next to the window in the building, or a small brick hut. Both have clerks to take your money, and dispense drinks. If you’re in the outer lane, someone from inside runs your food out to you.
Looks like a lot of work for them, but darn, they’re efficient! They don’t even tell you which lane to pick! You just pull around, and they repeat your order…I’ve been through a couple of times, and they’ve never mixed it up yet. They process an extremely high volume of people every day at lunch, and work hard to keep the machinery rolling.
InkBlot
:eek:
*Not really.
Oh, you thought I meant control over MY bowels. No, no: it’s better than that.
Daniel
Just when I think that no one could possible dream up yet another idea for a super hero, here you come with, “Super Bowel Control Man”.
That is just plain wrong.
What can I say? I’m in touch with my inner third-grader.
Daniel
This is all well and good. But when I’m at the menu, I will scan over it if I damn well please. I am totally convinced that it is reasonable to do so, to boot.
I don’t care what the “typical customer” or the “average customer” does – I am my own person with my own way of doing things. If I’m marginally slower** at the speaker than the guy that has ordered the same damn thing every day for 20 years, then tough shit.
[sub]*** and it is “marginally”. No cell-phone yapping, no changing minds 20 times, etc.*[/sub]
That’s you’re call. So far as I know, only the infamous Soup Nazi would actually eject you for delaying too long. The typical fast food place won’t, but I’m just explaining why they’re not necessarily on your side, either. They’re looking for fast, efficient, drive through operations.
But I do point back to my 30 second/3 minute comment. I’m not going to argue what’s “reasonable.” Scan the menu, make an informed choice. Makes you happy when you get the food you want the first time. Yes, they have little service clocks, but they’re inside. When they start mounting timers next to the menus outside, then I’ll be offended right there with you. 
InkBlot
:eek:
How about a Commandment for the business?
"Thou shalt maintain the speakers and microphones in good working condition, and ensure that the person taking the order can speak and understand the freakin’ English Language!!"
I don’t know what’s worse, driving up to the order mike and hearing “Wel&#^%#&.I take yo*#^&$^^, please?” or hearing “Waccum Mudunna, I take joo ord?”
In scenario one, the following usually ensues:
CH: “I’d like a #3 combo with a diet Coke, please.”
OrderTaker: “That’s a &^&$%&^# wupersize&%#$$root beer. 3.94, firs&%#^%^".
CH: "No. My order was a #3 combo with a diet Coke, please."
OT: "@^^#&^%@@@((&^#@”
CH: “Dammit”, at which point I drive around to the window and place my order there, complete with complaint about the mike/speaker issue.
In scenario two, the following usually ensues:
CH: “I’d like a #3 combo with a diet Coke, please.”
OT: “Wha?”
CH: “I’d like a #3 combo with a diet Coke, please.”
OT: “Das a numer tres. Wha drink?”
CH: “Diet Coke”
OT: “Das a numer tres wis a diet Coke. Joo wan fries wi dat?”
CH: (WTF?) “It’s a combo. It comes with fries.”
OT: “Joo wan beeg fries?”
CH: “Cancel the order.”, at which point I go next door to Burger King, where I run the gauntlet once again.
I don’t use the drive-through windows much any more, for obvious reasons.
Oh, yeah. Remember when the LCD screens started going into the menus? So you could see them entering your order? I’m still undecided if this was a good move. As far as I can tell, one of three things happens these days:
-
The screen is broken or missing.
-
The person doesn’t enter my order while I’m sitting there (often, they seem a person behind).
-
The person hits keys so fast, it looks like I’m feeding a small army before they whittle out the errors down to my simple little combo.
I like what many McD’s in my area are doing. No more speakerphone menus. You get one preview menu, then you pull to the window to order with a live person. I suspect the error rate on orders dropped precipitously with that addition. My only improvement would be a second menu behind the guy at the window. Or at least, a reduced menu…maybe just the combos? Because everytime, I look at menu, find my combo, think “#4…I want a #4…” then at the window, it’s, “I’d like a number…er…the…heck, I want a Double Qtr Pounder combo, please.”
InkBlot
:eek:
Chicken sandwich?
One day I want to go through a McDonald’s drive through and order a combo 3.14 and see if they give me an apple pie.
That was directed at Clothahump.
You misunderstand me – the business is offending me in no way, as they are still serving me just fine.
The (apparent?) attitude of the OP towards people take *a tad * “too long” (whatever that is) at the menu is somewhat off-putting. But it’s not really a biggie (har!) because when push comes to shove, the employee must simply deal with such trivialities, anyway, as part of their job. It’s not an “above and beyond” thing to wait briefly on a menu-scanning customer.
The attitudes of some of the drive-thru customers expressed here in this thread is also off-putting … but honestly, not particularly relevant. In real life, I have never been honked at or yelled at in a drive through for my extra 20-30 seconds, so I’m certainly not concerned with what random folks on a message board think. I am convinced that the extremely impatient folk in most daily interactions are in a tiny, insignificant, and unreasonable minority, anyhow.
Let him spin.
I visit one of the two major burger chains about once every other year. I never pay attention to which one because, to me, they are the same (very bad). However, Ray and his successors have done a better job at burning their product names into my subconscious. So when I want little bits of battered, fried chicken, I say McNuggets. I don’t need some yoyo giving me a hard time because I didn’t use his store’s specific name. You know what I meant, just give them to me, take my money and get over it.
oooooooooo. once again we stand in awe of your witty repartee. I mean I really felt the “burn” on that one. Do you give tutorials?
You want lessons from from me on that which you have already elevated to an art form? No, I think your expertise speaks for itself.
I used to use my College Student Discount. If you mentioned it at the speaker, they NEVER applied it. Got so the only way you could get it was to tell them at the window. This might be site-specific, but it happened every time I went there.
I love this thread. I love the diametrically opposed viewpoints.
Group A#: Yeah, uh, wait a sec, I’m just reading the menu. Uh huh. Uh huh. McDonalds sells fries? Who knew? Oh, wait, this is Burger King. Ok, then just give me a Burrito.
Group B#: revs engine MOVE IT ASSWIPE!!! NO READING!! NO REACHING FOR CURRENCY!!! NO WAITING TO ENGAGE DRIVE!!! Where’s my sniper rifle?
If I had it my way ( no pun intended ), I would submit an order via the web and then, at the drive thru, a scanner would read my license plate, whereby the service droids would hand me my stuff without having to have my wheels come to a full and complete stop; the monetary exchange having taken place electronically.
Welcome to Geek Burger, if you haven’t ordered already get the hell out of here. Fuckin n00bs.