My Journey to McDonald's

Going into McDonad’s today was a bit frustrating and worrisome. Making such a specific order which included a small hamburger with exactly four pickles and fries that were well done with no salt was not the nerve wracking part. What I really was not looking forward to, was making sure they made a receipt which stated my exact order. Of course, knowing the type of people who worked at that McDonald’s, I knew this was not going to be much fun. However, to my surprise I was wrong.
After I placed my very specific order, I told the cashier to make sure my receipt reflected my purchase. At first, she said she could not do it, but another employee overheard my request and told her she could. She helped her add the four pickles, which I even had to pay extra for. Next, the second employee showed her how to add “no salt” to the receipt. Unfortunately, neither one of them were able to figure out how to put “well done” on the receipt. For this, I had to get a third person involved. The manager had to come over, write in “well done” and put a signature.
To my surprise, the employees of McDonalds were not as annoyed with me as I envisioned. The woman who took my order, looked annoyed with me, but she didn’t make it a very big deal, nor did she question the necessity of such a specific receipt, which I probably would have done if I was her. The second employee who helped construct the receipt was way to busy to even show any frustration. She just ran up several times to help, and quickly jotted away. Lastly, the manager looked most confused, but she added what was needed and signed without any questions. Though “well done” could not be added through their system, in the end, my order was completed correctly. When I checked my burgher, it indeed had 4 pickles and the fries were well done with absolutely no salt. What amazed me the most was not their ability to complete my order quickly, but it was in the calm way they did so. They did not give me an attitude, and they did try their hardest to fulfill my every request. This made the assignment so much easier then I imagined.
The effectiveness of the manufacturing process was very good. They gave me my exact order in almost the exact same time it would take them to give me the standard hamburger and standard fries. Additionally, it was pretty well organized. On a scale of one through five, one being the lowest and five the highest, I would give them a four for organization. I did not give them a five because it took a few too many people to get involved. The communication was again a four. They clearly understood and communicated my order very well, but it took two people to explain it, which I thought was unnecessary. What I was impressed with was the effectiveness of their customer service. When my cashier was having trouble preparing my receipt, right away another employee jumped in to help, although she was busy with another order. She was very helpful and so was the woman who took my order. For that, I would rate their customer service effectiveness a five.
If I was brought in as a consultant to help McDonald’s efficiency, I would mainly make them aware that people do have special requests and it is not a big deal. I would want them to get use to that, so it would not come as a surprise and as a result less people would have to get involved in the process. I would recommend them to offer the options of altering their orders at no cost, and I would tell them to make sure their systems are able to print receipts which reflected the special orders. Not all people always like that standard McDonald’s hamburger and fries, therefore those who want to modify their orders should be able to do so without feeling the unease that I felt prior to my order. Maybe I just got lucky with the cashier that I had, or maybe that McDonald’s was use to having special orders. Whatever the reason was for my experience to be fine, I am pretty sure it would not be like that each time. Therefore, by educating the employees on special orders, McDonald’s could make the eating and ordering experience more pleasant for everyone!