"One technical order, please."

      

I went to a McDonalds on Montauk Highway in Patchogue, NY. I approached an employee named Amanda when I then began to give her my order of one small hamburger with exactly 5 pickles and an order of well done fries with a side of Big Mac sauce. She looked at me like I had five heads and began to laugh. After I told her that my order was a serious order, she looked down at her order screen and started fumbling with some buttons. I assume that after she was not successful in finding all the right buttons, she called another employee over named Max. Amanda told Max the order she was trying to put in the system and they both exchanged some laughs (along with a few coming from me). Max spoke to me and said the order was in, and to avoid any miscommunication to the chefs, he was personally going to go back to where it was being made to assure that my order would be correct. There were no managers involved. I stepped aside and waited for my order to be completed as I noticed a few awkward looks coming my way from the back of the kitchen. The order took 7 minutes and 21 seconds. Max handed me my order and told me to have a nice day. I opened my food at a near table and it was correct!

Organization: Excellent. I was very surprised how smoothly this went. All the customers were in single file in back of four registers. The cashiers/ “order takers” knew what they were doing and how to do it in an organized fashion. Amanda and Max were able to handle my “extra special” order effectively. It was great to see that once Amanda knew she was unable to complete my request, she asked for help. She didn’t waste time by trying to act like she knew how. Even though I was greatly satisfied with them on an organizational level, one thing I would try to improve would be to address these “special orders” with my employees and explain how they can sometimes be requested. I would make sure my employees knew how to work with the right buttons and to also try not to laugh, no matter how ridiculous an order may seem. Some people could get offended (even though I’m sure it didn’t help that I was laughing as well).

Communication: Excellent. The communication between me and Amanda was effective. She knew exactly what I was asking even though she needed to ask for help to make it work. The communication between her and Max, her co worker was also effective. She repeated my order to Max 100% correctly as he listened carefully and typed in the order into the system. There was no management involved, just two employees. This surprised me. Having not a single manager involved in this process was very impressive. I can not say there is a need for improvement in this area.

Training: Excellent. It wasn’t expected that every employee would know how to process this order without any errors or need of help. So the teamwork that was demonstrated between Amanda and Max was very effective and helped to complete my order. Like I had already mentioned, the fact that no managers had to be involved was quite impressive and showed how well these employees are trained.

Leadership: Excellent. Max demonstrated incredible leadership. When Amanda was experiencing difficulties and she asked him to help her, he came with a smile on his face, listened to what the issue was and took charge. He made sure that I was being attended to in the most effective way, and an example of this was when he directly told me he was going to follow the order in the back and make sure it was done properly.

Leadership is definitely a necessary skill to work at McDonalds. It helps to run the business more smoothly, effectively, and efficiently. Max’s leadership proved how this “special order” was able to be processed and given to the customers with great satisfaction. Again, I can not say Max could have exhibited more leadership qualities. I was very happy with my service.

I spoke with other classmates of mine and they shared with me their experiences with this project and how it ran no where as smoothly as mine did. I was pretty surprised as well. The way I was treated and my order was handled, it was like I was just another customer with just another order. Service was excellent, timing was a little longer than usual, but that comes with understanding. I am a vegetarian so I do not eat McDonalds, but I did give my order to my sister which she happily enjoyed!

PERFORM BETTER. USE POWER NAPS!

the following is an article from managementfortherestofus.com:

     The case for power naps is simple. Our jobs require us to be at our mental best – we need to be alert, interpersonally effective, creative and have a good memory. Understanding your natural everyday energy peaks and troughs can help maximise your performance at work and leave an abundance of energy for your life outside of work. And all this from a short power nap!
     
Everyday energy peaks and troughs
Your body has many natural cycles, such as the heart beating or the daily awake/sleep cycle. The natural cycle we are interested in relates to our brain’s “hemispheric dominance”; whether we are using our left or right brain more. During this cycle, we experience 90 to 120 minutes of high energy and concentration and mostly left brain activity, and then dip into a 20-minute period of low energy and inefficiency and mostly right brain activity.
You may be tempted to skip the energy dip by grabbing a coffee and pushing on, but you’re your denying your body its natural restorative period. So to improve our performance, we need to value this dip in energy, take power naps and leave our right brain to work it’s magic.

Learn To Recognise “Take a Break” Power Nap Signals

• Needing to stretch, move about, yawn or sigh
• Making careless errors in speech, writing, typing or counting
• Feeling emotionally vulnerable
• Hunger pangs
• Wandering mind and weakening concentration

Breathe Easy!
Alternatively, you could try the nostril test. Sounds crazy, but it works! Close one nostril with a finger and breathe through the open nostril. Repeat with the other nostril, and notice which nostril was easier to breathe through. If your right nostril was clearer, then your “left brain” is dominant or if your left nostril was clearer, your “right brain” is dominant and you should be taking a power nap.

Power naps and other energy boosters

When your energy starts to wane, take a break and;

• Find somewhere quiet, close your eyes and use your favourite relaxation technique. Maybe drift back to a favourite holiday, or listen to some calming music.
• Have a light snack, about 200 – 300 calories will do.
• Gaze out of a window and day dream for 5-10 minutes. This has the added benefit of giving your eyes a rest from a computer screen.
• Stretch, walk around and maybe massage your neck or do some sitting exercises.

If you’re not able to get away, the next best thing is to change tasks and the pace at which you are working;

• Organise your things to do for tomorrow
• Doodle on a note pad
• Let voicemail take your calls
• Do filing, tidy your desk and clear out clutter

You’re doing something whilst doing nothing
The key to improving your energy is to make sure you avoid doing anything difficult, strongly goal oriented or requiring concentration during the time out. In short, anything that engages your left-brain. If such meandering scares you, remember how often you come up with something creative or a problem falls into perspective when you’re doing “nothing”.
Consequences of missed power naps
Your body is well able, and probably practiced, at over-riding this natural cycle. Be aware though of the consequences long term;

• Your ability to read, write, think listen or even speak is impaired
• You make silly judgement errors, despite knowing better
• You make interpersonal mistakes and maybe flashes of irritation and impatience
• Your immune system may become suppressed due to continually elevated levels of stress hormones
• Nearly forgot…..your memory starts failing you :>)

This may lead to feelings of incompetence, loss of self-confidence, thinking you are weak or lazy, and being generally fed-up as nothing seems to go right. In reality it’s simple – you’ve simply run out of mental energy. In the extreme, individuals who ignore power nap signals leave themselves open to problems with sleep, digestion, their heart and shortened life span!
So, to make sure you stay energetic, healthy and productive, become aware of your body's needs for power naps cycle and take a break!

By Lyndsay Swinton
Owner, Management for the Rest of Us www.mftrou.com

---does this sound familiar? Maybe a situation you find yourself in often? I know I do. I am alwaysss trying to fight a midafternoon nap even though I am dying for one. Especially being college students, we typically find ourselves to be more tired as our work load increases. I know personally, I feel like if I take time out of my day for a nap, I am wasting precious time to get other things done...but realistically, as this article explains, It may be more beneficial to take that power nap to "recharge". This has some great tips on how to better your performance. Take some time to read it through and you might just find that one of these bits of advice can make a difference in your life!

D in D-I-S-C

DISC...turns out i am D(i). I feel that this hit the nail right on the head. After reading the explanations and about the qualities that exists within this type, I found myself to definitely posses these qualities. Even the qualities in the "I" group. I had to make a decision of which (D or I) was more dominant in me because they were just about even in my evaluation (which I liked to see because there was a balance between two types and not just a predominance in one). So I was very satsfied with it. I do believe I am an excellent leader, very strong willed and dominant. I tend to love competition, but sometimes do feel like I wish I had more C qualities to add to my label. I believe that many of these qualities are innate, and you can't just "become" another type. I think it is possible to gain knowledge to learn how to posses some characteristics in other types, but realistically "who you are is who you are". I think this evaluation is VERY useful in the outside world to learn about people...especially in a professional setting. It may help you address where and why some certain problems exist between people. This can also be applied to personal situations (ex: relationships between you and loved ones) as well. Very interesting evaluation!

Vision

 MY LIST:

1. To have a career in a top finance firm (one that I enjoy waking up every morning for!)
2. To be married and start a family by age 28
3. To never have financial struggles

Addressing my 1st "vision", hopefully by graduating from Baruch College, a great and well known business school, it will help me out tremendously on the job hunts and interview processes. Also, with good connections and a great internship at Northwestern Mutual right now, I can hopefully impress one of these firms, and get the job! 

Starting a family is something I would never rush into, but it has always been a dream of mine. I would like to get into my profession and be involved in it for a few years first, then i would consider taking time off for children.

Working hard, having drive and ambition, setting goals, etc. are just a few things I can think of that will lead me on my way to accomplishing #3. Business is a great field to get into (If you're cut out for it) in terms of the many different job options, fields, and salary potential. I will work as hard and as long as it takes to prove myself to whomever it is i have to, to show them what a great asset I can and will be to the company. By showing what I can "bring to the table", I hope to get those incredible bonuses on top of my salary and commissions :-)