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Student Process Essay #3 |
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Student Process Essay #3 |
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All of a sudden, it hits you. No, it’s not a car, a raindrop, or even bird poop. It’s the craving for a delicious double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. Just the thought of the grease dripping off the gleaming hamburger patties makes your mouth water. You hop in your car and drive straight to McDonald’s. Halfway there, you realize you have a problem. In your haste, you’ve forgotten to put on shoes, and the store policy is no shirt, no shoes, no service. But alas! An idea occurs to you. They’ll never know you don’t have shoes on in the drive thru. Now, you must navigate your way through the double lane drive thru successfully in order to take a bite into that tasty double cheeseburger. To have the best experience possible, you will need to know how to speed up the process by being polite, patient, and attentive.
If you are not in a shoeless situation, you should first determine if the drive thru is right for you. To do this, ask yourself these questions:
If you answered yes to any of the first three questions, going inside would save time for the people who would have to wait for you to either make up your mind, have your food made, or have your change counted in drive thru. Answering yes to the last two questions means that it would be faster for you to go inside if the drive thru is very busy.
After deciding if the drive thru is a good option, you will need to be sure you are fully prepared to order. Before you even get to the restaurant, check to see if you have the proper type of payment; McDonald’s takes cash, credit cards, and debit cards. Do not try to write a check because it won’t be accepted, and you will be wasting everyone’s time. If you are using cash, make sure you have enough to pay for what you order. After that, make sure you have a sufficient amount of clothes on. Although you may not have shoes on, shirts are recommended for males and required for females. Finally, put away the equipment you don’t need. This mainly consists of your cell phone. Nothing is more obnoxious than customers who take a long time to order because they’re talking on their phone. As soon as you’re completely prepared, pick the drive thru lane with the least amount of people and wait patiently for your turn to order.
You may need to entertain yourself while waiting to order. You can do this and still help yourself and others get through the drive thru quickly. For example, you can try to figure out how much your order will cost. If you’re only ordering a double cheeseburger, and you know it’s on the dollar menu, simply add the local tax rate to a dollar. And if you have even more time to spare, try to find enough spare change in your car to get an even dollar amount back. This game will clean your car and make the money exchange easier on you and the McDonald’s employee.
Next, you will arrive at the menu. Patiently wait for the order-taker to welcome you and listen carefully to what the employee says. You might be told to wait, but this simply means that the order-taker is busy with another customer. When you’re told to order, speak clearly and concisely.
There are certain ways to say your order that will increase the chance you get your food how you ordered it and reduce the stress in that McDonald’s employee’s life. For example, if you decided you wanted enough food to fill you and more, but had a strong aversion to pickles, you first need to mention that you’d like a double cheeseburger meal super-sized. Only after saying that the meal was super-sized, add that you’d like it without pickles. Finally, determine what kind of soda you’d prefer. Happy Meals are even more complicated. First tell the order-taker if you’d like a Happy Meal or Mighty Kid’s Meal, and then if you would like apple dippers. Next, specify whether chicken nuggets, a hamburger, or a cheeseburger is preferred, any special way the burger should be prepared, and finally the type of drink. You may also want to ask for a particular toy after ordering the meal. It’s necessary to say these in a specific order because there are different buttons on the cash register for the different meals. If you don’t follow the order, the employee may have to put in your whole order again. This can be especially frustrating if you’re very picky about what you like on your sandwiches.
Answer all the questions the order-taker might have, even if this means repeating your order. If you are asked to repeat your order, instead of becoming upset, try to remember the plight of the McDonald’s employee. They are working for nearly minimum wage in a high-stress environment and dealing with difficult people all day. After reflecting upon that, calmly and clearly restate your order, and as soon as the order-taker seems to have it down, you may ask for any condiments. Your order will be listed on the screen in front of you if it is working. Make sure everything is correct, and if it’s not, tell the order-taker at that point.
Listen carefully at the end when the order-taker will tell you the amount. If you want to get through the drive thru quickly, it is in your best interest to have the money ready by the time you approach the window.
The last thing the order-taker will mention is which window you will pay at. All McDonald’s have two drive thru windows, and the first one is generally open to take money and orders. It will be closed if you go from about 11:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. In that case, the order-taker will instruct you to drive to the second window where you pay and receive your food. As you take off from where you ordered, notice if there are people in the other lane, and if they are done ordering as well. If they are, and you know they were there before you, let them go first. Otherwise, carefully pull into the line and await your turn to pay. If you haven’t had the opportunity to prepare your money yet, this would be an ideal time to do it.
As you pull up to the first window, the employee should repeat what your amount was. Be certain that this is the correct amount, as you don’t want to end up paying for someone else’s order. Hand the money to the cashier and avoid letting the change fall out of your hand. If you get change back and the cashier doesn’t count it back, you may want to quickly count it yourself. Pull ahead to the next window as soon as you can.
At the next window, you will receive your food. If you’ve had bad experiences at McDonald’s before, you may want to check your food to see if it was made correctly and if the condiments you requested are in the bag. Pull into a parking stall if you need to spend more than thirty seconds doing this. In the event that you do find something wrong, you may politely tell the employee at the window that your food was made wrong, or if you’ve parked, go inside with your incorrect item and kindly ask a manager to fix it. You’ll be surprised how much difference being polite can make. A customer who does not whine or yell will be treated much better, rewarded with more free food coupons, and will not end up with spit in their hamburger.
There will be times when your order is taking too long because either the people who make the food are behind, or they need to cook more of what you ordered. At that point, they will tell you to pull into one of the reserved parking spaces. Wait there for no more than fifteen minutes. If you have been waiting for a while, and there’s still no sign of a McDonald’s employee coming to your car, you will have to go inside to remind them that you still need your food. However, this only happens rarely.
As soon as you receive your food, you may drive off and enjoy your delicious double cheeseburger. If done right, you should be out of the drive thru and devouring your double cheeseburger in a timely manner and will not have offended anyone in the process.