McDonalds is My Kind of Place

Admittedly, I did not want to participate in this assignment because McDonalds is nowhere on my list of “must go” restaurants. However, after speaking with a few classmates, I thought this would be a lot of fun. I was really looking forward to it.

I went to a McDonalds in my neighborhood and looked around. It was not very crowded and there were very few people sitting in the restaurant. As far as I could see, there were about six people on duty. I may have cheated here a little, as I knew the manager, Juanita, whom I’ve not seen in quite some time. We hugged and kissed and asked about each other’s families and then she was back at work. I placed my order for a cheeseburger with exactly four pickles and a small fries with no salt. I thought that this order would get a lot of reaction but to my dismay, it did not. The manager stepped from behind the counter and gave the cheeseburger order, in Spanish, to a worker in the back and specified that the burger must have exactly four pickles. She held up 4 fingers while speaking to the worker. She then proceeded to give the french fry order to the other manager on duty. All workers took the order in stride. No sucking teeth or loud sighs or calling on the Lord. In the meantime, the manager came back to me and said, “It will be just a few minutes for your order. We have to wait on your fries.” She then proceeded to help an older gentleman with a special order. In a few seconds a Spanish worker came from the back with my cheeseburger with a special sticker on the front of the wrapper. The manager confirmed with the worker that the burger had exactly four pickles. Everything was satisfactory with the burger. I saw that the other manager had dropped a new batch of fries in the oil. When the fries were cooked they put my fries in the appropriate packaging and put the whole order in a bag. The manager immediately grabbed the order and said, “Would you like a drink with that?” I replied, “No thanks, take care.” I checked my order and it was exactly as I ordered. I laughed my head off. The process took about five minutes or less.

Watching the management process at this McDonalds was extremely encouraging. I was very impressed with the customer service from the manager and other workers. All seemed to work in harmony and I believe, from what I could see, it was an all female staff. The manager understood that some of her workers spoke a different language, Spanish, and she accommodated them by speaking to them in their native tongue so they would understand and all could get the job accomplished. She was very respectful and for some reason they all looked happy. The staff handled the customers with personal care and listened intently. As a consultant, I don’t think I would change a thing. Everyone was treated respectfully and in a timely fashion.