The title says it all; this is about a special operation in the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald’s. The reason this is a special mission is because mission is very complicated and the outcomes are uncertain. Some might ask “what could be so complicated in McDonald’s?” Well, nothing is complicated in McDonald’s, as long as you do not ask for something out of the ordinary. Now that we are on the same page, and you understand the mission, I will explain the objective: go to McDonald’s, order a cheeseburger with four extra pickles and a small well-done fries with no salt and have all this printed on the receipt.
It was a beautiful spring day and I started it with a big smile on my face. All this was true until I went into the McDonald’s to initiate my mission. I went straight to the register and asked for a cheeseburger with four extra pickles and a small fries, well-done without salt. Until this point everything was going according to plan. After placing my order I asked the cashier to make sure that all my requests be written on the receipt. She nodded with her head so I assumed she understood. At this point the guy in the kitchen shouts out “a cheeseburger without pickles?” and the cashier replays “not without pickles, with four pickles.” I understood that something was going not according to plan, so I asked her again to make sure that my request will be printed on the receipt. Again she nodded her head but now I began to get a little bit of an attitude. At this point, the girl in charge of making the fries asks “fries no salt!?” as if she was amazed that someone in the world would eat fries without salt. The cashier replayed “no salt!” I immediately added “I want them well done”. Again I had to make sure that all my requests will be printed on the receipt. I was pretty surprised that almost two minutes have passed from the time I made my order and the cashier never asked me to pay. Sure enough I saw another employee joining the cashier. This one was the manager. The cashier explained the manager what I had requested and the manager replayed “so what is the problem…? You do this and this and that….” while pushing some keys on the computer screen. Again I had to make sure that this will be printed on the receipt and of course I received a positive reply with a little attitude. At this point the guy in the kitchen shouts “four extra pickles or four pickles?” I already knew that things are not going to go according to plan and the mission is on the verge of failure. I could not let that happen so I called the manager and explained her how important it is for me to have exactly what I had asked for and have a receipt to prove it. At this point I had to pay my three dollars and twelve cents. As you might guess by now, the receipt did not show anything close to what I have asked. I called the manager again and explained her that I need to have things written on the receipt. She insisted that she cannot do that because the system will not allow it. The only way to do this she said is by ordering four cheeseburgers. I told her that I have been ordering this for a while and I have never had a problem with this in any other McDonald’s. She replayed that she cannot do it. I have now become a little more aggressive with her so she said “OK, I will have it on the receipt”, the manager took the receipt and wrote the number 4 besides the extra pickle. At this moment I understood that I am dealing with a manager that doesn’t really care for what I am asking for. I explained her again that this will not work and I need to have it printed. The manager started to become very angry, she was also very big physically, so I thought that it might be better if I leave the place. I said “thank you” and left the restaurant. I was very disappointed that the mission has failed, however, at this point I still did not understand how bad the failure was.
It was not a real surprise for me that this mission did not work. I knew that the odds were very low. However, I have learned a valuable lesson; when it comes to customer service, if the person that is providing the service does not care for what you want, you will never be treated well. I will probably not get credit for this project, but I had a good time doing it. The thing that most amazed me in this entire interaction was that the manager never even tried to help me. She just said that she can’t do it. A good manager or employee would at least try, but they both never really cared for what I asked for. I do not eat McDonald’s so I gave the hamburger to a homeless in the street, but before I did that, I had to check if I got four pickles. Without much surprise I saw that I have only three pickles in my cheeseburger.
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