I Know It's Just Minimum Wage, But Still...

On a recent trip through the drive-thru at McDonald's, we had quite an experience. The short version is that they got everything wrong.

Everything.  Literally.

Wrong side. Wrong sauce for the chicken nuggets. Not enough orders of chicken nuggets. Wrong drink. Wrong toy. No, I'm not exaggerating.

What's the point of a drive-thru if you still have to go inside to get them to fix everything they screwed up?

I realize these people probably aren't rocket scientists, and I also realize that doing the drive-thru window presents a unique set of challenges...but come on! How hard is it to push buttons on the screen, read the screen, and then put the proper items in the bag? Where is the pride in doing a job well? Sure, maybe it isn't a dream job, but it's still a job that deals with customers and needs to be done right. Even absent that, where is the manager to ensure quality control and customer service? The peons might be bottom rung workers, but managers sure shouldn't be.

I did my time in food service years ago, and I know what's reasonable and what's unacceptable. I've been there and done that, and I understand. I like to think that makes me even more sympathetic when things are rough but the people are doing their best...but it also makes me less so when they're just doing it poorly. You know my thing for high quality customer service. I know how crazy it can get at times, especially if you're short-staffed, but that's really no excuse for the monumental screw-up they pulled that day.

And oh, by the way...when I went in to get our order corrected, guess how many people they had working that day?

11.

Only about half of them were doing anything at all, but apparently they were being distracted by those who were doing nothing, so none of them were right. It was absolutely ridiculous.