"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!