Special Order at McDonald's With Surprising Results

When I saw the directions for this extra credit assignment I was quite surprised by it and had to laugh a bit. I remember years ago knowing people who worked in the fast food industry and had heard their stories about the “wonderful” special order customers. That being said I was a little nervous about what the reaction would be and did not have much confidence in it coming out correct. My first instinct was to place the order in a New Jersey McDonald’s where I feel people tend to have a bit more patience, but I never got around to that so had to bite the bullet and place my order in my neighborhood in Brooklyn and was quite surprised with the results.

I headed into the McDonald’s at 4:20pm to find it more crowded than I expected for that time of day. Since it was a hot day I guess many people were there getting ice cream. I never knew a McDonald’s would be a hot spot for ice cream, but live and learn. After waiting on line I was able to place my order at 4:27pm. I requested a special order of a plain hamburger with four pickles and a small well done fries with no salt. The cashier working did give me a little smirk but repeated my request back to me and I had to reiterate that I wanted exactly four pickles. She typed in my order and also made sure to scream back to the person prepping the food that the burger needed four pickles I assume to be sure it came out properly and also made sure the woman working the fryer behind her knew well done and no salt. The burger came out and was put to side and fries were worked on. I specifically heard the woman who was working on fries say to my cashier these are the well with no salt before handing them to her.

As I was waiting for my complete order I realized that I had not been given a receipt in with my change. I asked the cashier for it and she said it was not working at the moment and I explained that I needed to have a receipt. I could tell she was confused and a little annoyed as to why I would need a receipt for an order of $2.05, but she told the manager it was not printing. The manager was on the phone at the time and I guess was trying to resolve another issue because she told the person on line that now machine one was not printing. As the person on the phone walked the manager through a reset process, I was able to inspect my order which was shockingly exactly correct and it was 4:35pm. I tasted a fry to be sure it was unsalted and tasted well done and not just looked that way and was shocked it was. By that time the manager had fixed the printing issue and was able to print my receipt from back log. I reviewed my receipt and it did not read four pickles or the details on fries and the cashier said they just put in “extra pickles” and that is why she yelled back to specify four earlier and same with fries. I took that as her word as she did get the order correct and since I had waited for receipt to even print did not push it further and left the store at 4:40pm.

The handling of my special order request went very well I felt. The staff did not have to get a manager involved in the order at all other than the issue with the register malfunction of not printing the receipt. The communication among staff flowed nicely and I was happy that the cashier was sure to make sure to tell the burger prepper and the fry prepper exactly what was needed to be sure there was not an issue with them misunderstanding the computer request. After seeing the receipt and computer process I can see why she did this.

If I was brought in as a consultant at McDonald’s I would work on the entering of “special orders” in the system so it is more specific and there is not the need to make sure to have to reiterate it. One other aspect I would work on at least at this particular McDonald’s is the friendliness of the staff during the special order process. While the order was handled well and came out correct, I could have done without the smirk while ordering and could sense a bit of frustration regarding my need for a receipt and then my questioning of the wording on the receipt. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get exactly what I wanted though….I thought it was only Burger King that allowed you to “Have it your way”.