McDonald Experience

It was about 5:15pm when I stepped into McDonalds after work. I first notice that there was a huddle instead of lines so it looked pretty packed with people on line. As I walked closer it was not packed with customers, it was just a lot of people in groups. I continued to look at what was going on with the workers at McDonalds. First I noticed there were two cashiers, two people in the back working, and a man standing around in the back. I noticed that the workers had different color shirts on; one had a blue shirt on that was in the back standing around while everyone else had a black shirt on. I wasn’t sure what the color shirt meant but I’m guessing the one with the blue one was a shift manager. I also notice they were understaffed. They usually have a person working on the fries. As I watched the staff at work, I realize they are really disorganized. First you see the cashier yelling at the man standing in the back to fix the coffee machine. The man comes out from the back and tries to fix the coffee machine but nothing was wrong with the coffee machine to begin with. Then it was my turn to tell the cashier my order.
I walked up to the woman cashier wearing a black McDonalds’s shirt and specifically said, “Can I get a hamburger with 4 pickles and a small fries with no salt.” She started to push buttons on her machine and then she was like “Wait. Can you repeat that order?” I said again but slower this time, “Can I get a hamburger with 4 pickles and a small fries with no salt?” After I mention the hamburger again, she asked “four?” referring to the pickles. I said “yes” and she began to look for the button for extra pickles. She then had to ask the guy in the blue shirt where the button for the extra pickles was and he helped her with the button. Then she told the kitchen “I need a burger with 4 pickles.” The man in the back asked the cashier to repeat the order one more time. Then she came back to me and said “You want a small fries without salt right?” I said yes. She then asked the guy in the blue shirt for the fries. There was a fresh batch of fries there and the guy was about to put salt and she screamed “Don’t add the salt. The customer wants no salt.” The cashier then told me my total and I paid.
While I was paying, the cashier handed me my food and I asked for my receipt. I then took a look at my receipt and I only saw extra pickles with no quantity and it did not say no salt for the fries. I then explained to the cashier that it was a class assignment and she then giggled a little and complied by writing the number 4 where the order for the pickles and no salt where the order for the fries were with her initials.
The overall experience was not that long when she finally what I wanted for my order. It took a couple of minutes but it was only because she had me repeat my order and tell the kitchen what I needed. She was very polite even though I had a special specific orders. When I got my ordered, I sat down and open my burger and counted fours pickles, and then I tried the fries and there was no salt on it.
If I had to rate the effectiveness of the manufacturing process or order preparation, I would have to say they didn’t do a really good job. First the cashier had to go to ask the guy in the blue shirt where the button is for the extra pickles. Also she had to tell the kitchen my order for the four pickles and the guy in the blue shirt to not put salt on the fries. I think this would have slowed things down if I had come in a later time when it was busier. The purpose of the machine is to tell the kitchen my exact order so they can prepare it efficiently. The machine for this order was not efficient because she had to tell the kitchen what I wanted. The organization was pretty good because the cashier knew who she had to ask to get me the correct order and she knew that it was better for her to communicate with the kitchen about my order. For communications, this McDonalds could have done better. The cashier had to repeat to the guy in the kitchen the specifics of my order and she also had to remind the man in the blue that I wanted no salt in my fries. The customer service was pretty good because the cashier didn’t seem to be bothered when I gave them the order and did everything she could to give me the right order. If I was brought in to McDonalds to help them improve, I would change the machine so in the pickles section, there can be a quantity. I would also tell them to teach the cashiers every button on the machine.