Five Pickles, Fries Well-Done, with a Side of Mac Sauce Please!

Getting a frantic McDonalds manager to satisfy an unusual craving is no simple job. As I expected, when I asked for my special order the main issue was getting the Mac sauce on the side. As I requested my special order all went smoothly until I asked for the side of Mac sauce. The lady at the cashier immediately said, I cannot do that. I proceeded to respond that I have done this at a McDonalds before to which she responded that I should speak to the manager. When I finally got the manager’s attention and told him my request he said without flinching, “I can’t do that for you”.  When I told the manager that I have done this many times at other McDonalds’ he simply told me that those other managers were not supposed to meet my request (a straight-up lie to my face). After a few minutes of making suggestions to no results and feeling fed up with this manager’s unwillingness to help me out, I told them to cancel the order. The manager then asked me to give him one second so that he can go to the back to see what he can do. After about a 40 second wait he came back and told the cashier to ring me up a side of sauce and that he would be able to give it to me on the side. Even though he probably used those 40 seconds to spit in my food, my request was finally satisfied and my cravings subdued!

            The management process required to fulfill my order was horrible. However, this was expected as the McDonalds in my neighborhood is possibly the worst one in the world! On many occasions they have messed up my order and ultimately lost my business. On a rating from 1-10, 10 being the best, I would give this McDonalds team a 4.

Organization was horrible in this establishment. They are not prepared to handle “extra special” orders. I was able to see this because the cashier was completely lost when trying to punch in my order to the register. I feel like the lack of organization in this establishment caused the manager to initially make zero efforts to find a resolution to my requests. The team didn’t have a preset protocol to handle any out of the ordinary orders and thus chose to disregard them completely.

Perhaps the only thing worst than the organization of this establishment are the communications of its employees. Something that I found incredibly shocking and upsetting was that when told to talk to the manager, the cashier simply said “yeah you should talk to him”, and pointed to the manager standing directly behind her while making no efforts to get his attention. Rather than me just shouting “HEY YOU” to the manager, I asked the cashier, “Aren’t you going to get his attention for me?” The fact that the cashier didn’t take it upon herself to get the managers attention for me shows how unorganized and how badly trained these workers really are. It was kind of an awkward position for me because I felt that I shouldn’t be the one to get the manager, the cashier should. Sadly, the manager’s communication skills were not much better than the cashiers’. When talking to me he was very rude and was not really paying attention to me. He was moving back and forth while I was expressing my need to have the Mac sauce on the side making me feel that he really wasn’t listening to me. He kept fighting me telling me that he just couldn’t put the sauce on the side even though I was trying to come up with easy solutions such as giving me a tiny cup and filling it up with some sauce. He just shook his head and disregarded my ideas. There is certainly a lot of room for improvements here. For one, communications between employees and the manager should be stronger. The cashier should not be afraid to get the managers attention, which was the case for me as the cashier had basically told me to get the manager myself. Another thing is obvious, show to the customer that you are making an effort to make them happy. I felt that the manager was making zero effort to help me until I threatened to cancel my entire order.

Training was another thing that was lacking. Organization and communication goals should be taught in training. It was the lack in training that caused the organization and communication to become lacking as well. It is obvious that these employees, including the manager, were not trained to handle special orders. I feel this way because the manager seemed to do all that he could to avoid having to put in a special order. Had he been better trained, a special order wouldn’t be such a difficult task and thus he would be more likely to perform it without any attitude. Standard customer service training needs to be enhanced, particularly at this branch of McDonalds. While the cashier was polite, the fact that she gave me the job of getting the manager is preposterous. As a customer, I am not the one who is who is to “get the manager”. Even on the managers side customer service was upsetting. His actions and demeanor really made me feel unimportant as his initial responses to my requests were lackadaisical, uncaring, and unwilling.

Leadership would have made this task much easier. It was the lack of leadership that made this order that much harder. The leader, who is supposed to be the manager, couldn’t even take a leadership role. When faced with a problem, a leader finds a solution, and at the minimum makes an effort to look for solutions. I felt like I was the one taking the leadership role as I made so many suggestions as to how I could get the sauce on the side. By making a near zero effort to search for solutions, he showed that I’d probably be better off had he not been there at all. He set a bad example for his workers and showed that when faced with an uncertainty, just say “NO CAN DO”.

            It took around 6 minutes just to get my order in, and another 4 to get it out. This is way too long for a “fast food” restaurant. The order is unusual, but should not be so difficult to satisfy. A simple side of sauce was too much for this McDonalds team to handle efficiently. While in class, a classmate told me how easy it was for her to get this “special” order. She said that when her cashier wasn’t sure what to do, another cashier immediately took the lead and got her order out without any hassle. It is clear that at the McDonalds she went to the management, the training, the organization, and the leadership was on a much higher level.