.. the right way, please. Today I was in back booth, taking money and orders. It was a pretty chilly day (eventually we had flurries, but anyway), and normally it's the type of day that I'd wear gloves for. However, in back booth, it's almost impossible to do so, for three reasons. One, it's hard to wear gloves and conduct money transactions. Two, it's hard to take an order on the touch screen, although sometimes it's gotten around by static electricity and a pencil. And three, because of the fact that every few minutes when I'm between orders I would be removing said gloves anyway in order to do dishes.
So my hands were like ice, and pretty stiff. And what annoyed me today is observing how people give money. The right way to do it so that money doesn't fly everywhere is to hand the person the change first, and then hand over the bills, with them not crumpled in a ball, not folded every which way, but all straight and somewhat orderly. This is ideal, so that I can just quickly count the money and put it in the till, and then handle the change back if any.
However, people don't do this typically. So I'll get change buried in crumpled up bills, or folded into the bills, or people giving me the cash and then change under the misguided belief that the change will weigh down the cash. In reality, due to how people will typically hold cash, this just results in the change sliding off of the hand and onto the ground. And then if money flies away, and it will inevitably happen, it's supposed to be a loss in MY till. And there's no way I want that to happen.
On another note: for the love of God, ask for the things that you need when you're ordering. Don't get to the window, where we have your food all ready, only to decide that you need a bunch of sauces and ketchups because you didnt think to ask until you got to the window. I'm not going to ask if you want sauces or ketchup or whatever for your items.. it's my belief that if you aren't asking for the items as you're ordering, then it's obviously not as important to you. Asking for the items at the window just slows the whole process of handing the food out in a major way.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
L2Multitask, kthxbai
So last night I was working and I was running for drive thru for part of my shift. Now, when the runner has someone who is a good presenter, drive thru can just hum along, because then we're able to achieve what's called HBO (Hand Bag Out).. basically that means that we should ideally be able to just hold the bag out the window, the customers just grabs it and is on their way.
However, the person who was in the window was a slow person. He's somewhat of a nice guy, but it doesn't help when he keeps people waiting because of his own ineptitude. For instance, drinks. Our drink station is automatic, but drinks won't be made is there are drinks clogging up the conveyor line and just sitting in the front of the line. He would sit and wait on his order to finish being bagged, and just ignore all the other drinks that needed lids on them.. and as a result, with the line full, more drinks couldn't be made. So when he'd get another order immediately afterwards that was complete, the next customer has to wait on the presenter because he would have to still sit there, put lids on the drinks, and wipe them off (if needed).
Why would someone think that just standing there waiting on food is acceptable when there are other things that could be done while you're waiting on your food to be handed to you so you could hand it out the window? I always try to multitask when I'm able to-- stocking while taking a drive thru order, cleaning while waiting on food to be bagged, etc. Why can't more people do this relatively simple thing?
On another note, our store has officially run out of those Coke glasses. It gives me a bit of pleasure to see an order where someone orders five large meals that runs them like $30, and then they come to the second window and they're expecting a glass and we get to tell them that the glasses are gone, even the display ones (we had people asking to buy the display before we were even done selling all of the glasses, it seems kind of sad to me). I'm sure eventually people will stop ordering the large meals so much now that we don't have the glasses.. I'm also sure that it'll take a while for it to sink in for people around here.
However, the person who was in the window was a slow person. He's somewhat of a nice guy, but it doesn't help when he keeps people waiting because of his own ineptitude. For instance, drinks. Our drink station is automatic, but drinks won't be made is there are drinks clogging up the conveyor line and just sitting in the front of the line. He would sit and wait on his order to finish being bagged, and just ignore all the other drinks that needed lids on them.. and as a result, with the line full, more drinks couldn't be made. So when he'd get another order immediately afterwards that was complete, the next customer has to wait on the presenter because he would have to still sit there, put lids on the drinks, and wipe them off (if needed).
Why would someone think that just standing there waiting on food is acceptable when there are other things that could be done while you're waiting on your food to be handed to you so you could hand it out the window? I always try to multitask when I'm able to-- stocking while taking a drive thru order, cleaning while waiting on food to be bagged, etc. Why can't more people do this relatively simple thing?
On another note, our store has officially run out of those Coke glasses. It gives me a bit of pleasure to see an order where someone orders five large meals that runs them like $30, and then they come to the second window and they're expecting a glass and we get to tell them that the glasses are gone, even the display ones (we had people asking to buy the display before we were even done selling all of the glasses, it seems kind of sad to me). I'm sure eventually people will stop ordering the large meals so much now that we don't have the glasses.. I'm also sure that it'll take a while for it to sink in for people around here.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Don't be vindictive because you hate a position
So today I was taking orders on the top speaker in drive thru, with another person in the back taking orders on the other speaker and taking money. Literally every other order that they took was incorrect in some way.. whether it was that the order was missing something or the person was rung up for the wrong size or the wrong drink, there would be chaos for the presenter as people would complain about their wrong order.
The person in the back was complaining about being in the back, and loudly so. They had enough sense to not do it in front of the customers, but everyone else could hear the person complain. I'm pretty sure that it was even somewhat intentional that orders were being messed up-- after all, mess up enough and that encourages managers to remove the person from the area for the sake of keeping the line moving.
I see this as good and bad. Good because you need the best possible person in a spot like that. Yet bad because it feels like it rewards people for being intentionally crappy and puts more work on other people. People who whine typically get thei way while people like me who do their job end up wanting to go crazy.
The person in the back was complaining about being in the back, and loudly so. They had enough sense to not do it in front of the customers, but everyone else could hear the person complain. I'm pretty sure that it was even somewhat intentional that orders were being messed up-- after all, mess up enough and that encourages managers to remove the person from the area for the sake of keeping the line moving.
I see this as good and bad. Good because you need the best possible person in a spot like that. Yet bad because it feels like it rewards people for being intentionally crappy and puts more work on other people. People who whine typically get thei way while people like me who do their job end up wanting to go crazy.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Fellow employees are just as bad
Sometimes it's not the customers who are dumb. I mean, they are, but it's almost like it's somewhat expected.. as if to be a proper customer one must receive a lobotomy. Sometimes it's the coworkers who really make things the hell.
Today I was supposed to assist the presenter (the person who hands out food in drive thru) by setting up their drinks so that they were made, had lids on them, were wiped clean, and put in drink carriers as needed. She kept complaining *constantly* about how hard it was to present, how confusing it was when orders skipped around, how bothersome it was to have another person or two nearby because she totally had this, etc. I finally had enough of her whining and told her that I would switch places, so that she would be responsible for drinks and I would hand the food out the window. And what did she do? She wandered around randomly like an idiot, didn't help with drinks, didn't even try to make a single drink from the coffee machines, and was generally acting like just a warm body that mcd employs for the sake of employing people.
Now, at our store, the drive thru experience can be a tad trickier. Due to how the store sits (at a corner of a busy intersection, right near a hospital), there are two different speakers, one for each entryway a person can drive in, basically one is closer to the road and the other closer to the store. Now, these two speakers would usually have two different people taking the orders during the day (at night we're lucky if we get that, usually you have one person taking orders on both of those speakers and taking money at the same time) in addition to one person just responsible for handling money. Sometimes one person's order is finished before another, and that's ok, because each car gets a picture taken to make it somewhat easier to identify them-- although if we get two cars that are both white, for example, that can all go to pot.
I bring this up mostly because of the concept of multi orders, basically where a person requires more than one transaction at a time. Due to how the system is configured, orders show up on the front screen depending on whose order was taken first, and that can be bad when you have a multi order started on one speaker while there are three other orders that have already given their order and paid, because the screen will still show that multi order as first since it was started first, even though it wasn't stored and paid first.
Sometimes we get screwed up when a multi order is displayed because we have to put in at the very very beginning of the order that it's a multi order; otherwise the system won't let us indicate that there's more than one order and confusion results. In those cases, we learn to watch for the bottom of the order to indicate whether it is stored, totaled, or paid out, and the paid out order we know is at the window to have their food handed to them.
Now we bring it all the way back to the girl at the beginning because the above are basic facts that should be known, mostly because I've been the first to actually realize this at work and I tell people all the time why the screen displays the way it does. If she had been someone who just started, sure, I could understand the confusion. But she's been there for a few months now, and yet this concept just flies over her head, and she gets easily confused in drive thru, so whines about how *HARD* it is to present.
She's not the only one who seems to think it's hard. Right now there's an underaged worker who just found out she's pregnant (like a month along) and she acts like she's 9 months along, complaining about how confusing presenting is and how tired she is.. blah blah blah. That I really have little sympathy for, because almost up until the day I gave birth just a few months ago, I was lifting heavy items, moving around constantly, wiping myself out dead tired each day trying to do the work of three people, and did it without complaint. There's no excuse for complaining about how tiring or confusing the job is!
Today I was supposed to assist the presenter (the person who hands out food in drive thru) by setting up their drinks so that they were made, had lids on them, were wiped clean, and put in drink carriers as needed. She kept complaining *constantly* about how hard it was to present, how confusing it was when orders skipped around, how bothersome it was to have another person or two nearby because she totally had this, etc. I finally had enough of her whining and told her that I would switch places, so that she would be responsible for drinks and I would hand the food out the window. And what did she do? She wandered around randomly like an idiot, didn't help with drinks, didn't even try to make a single drink from the coffee machines, and was generally acting like just a warm body that mcd employs for the sake of employing people.
Now, at our store, the drive thru experience can be a tad trickier. Due to how the store sits (at a corner of a busy intersection, right near a hospital), there are two different speakers, one for each entryway a person can drive in, basically one is closer to the road and the other closer to the store. Now, these two speakers would usually have two different people taking the orders during the day (at night we're lucky if we get that, usually you have one person taking orders on both of those speakers and taking money at the same time) in addition to one person just responsible for handling money. Sometimes one person's order is finished before another, and that's ok, because each car gets a picture taken to make it somewhat easier to identify them-- although if we get two cars that are both white, for example, that can all go to pot.
I bring this up mostly because of the concept of multi orders, basically where a person requires more than one transaction at a time. Due to how the system is configured, orders show up on the front screen depending on whose order was taken first, and that can be bad when you have a multi order started on one speaker while there are three other orders that have already given their order and paid, because the screen will still show that multi order as first since it was started first, even though it wasn't stored and paid first.
Sometimes we get screwed up when a multi order is displayed because we have to put in at the very very beginning of the order that it's a multi order; otherwise the system won't let us indicate that there's more than one order and confusion results. In those cases, we learn to watch for the bottom of the order to indicate whether it is stored, totaled, or paid out, and the paid out order we know is at the window to have their food handed to them.
Now we bring it all the way back to the girl at the beginning because the above are basic facts that should be known, mostly because I've been the first to actually realize this at work and I tell people all the time why the screen displays the way it does. If she had been someone who just started, sure, I could understand the confusion. But she's been there for a few months now, and yet this concept just flies over her head, and she gets easily confused in drive thru, so whines about how *HARD* it is to present.
She's not the only one who seems to think it's hard. Right now there's an underaged worker who just found out she's pregnant (like a month along) and she acts like she's 9 months along, complaining about how confusing presenting is and how tired she is.. blah blah blah. That I really have little sympathy for, because almost up until the day I gave birth just a few months ago, I was lifting heavy items, moving around constantly, wiping myself out dead tired each day trying to do the work of three people, and did it without complaint. There's no excuse for complaining about how tiring or confusing the job is!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Non food items bane of existance
Right now mcd has a special where if you order a large meal, you get a free glass, four colors in all. This has of course resulted in people ordering more large meals, because they really want that glass.. sometimes four or five large meals at a time because they *really really* want those glasses.
I honestly don't get the huge appeal of collecting the glasses, but I suppose I've never been a fan of kitsch. Although not everyone buys them for the sake of collecting them (although help us all if we get someone who came in yesterday to get one color glass and they're upset because we don't have the next one out yet). There was one person who even purchased EIGHTEEN of those glasses at once.. why? Was it to give to people? (which, if that's the case, it's kind of a cheap gift.. they sell by themselves for $2-$3 per glass). Was it because they wanted a cheap glass set? (18 x $2= $36.. there are cheaper sets that are pretty nice available at Target). What possesses people to go so crazy over cheap items that mcd sells?
I suppose it's the same sort of thing with the toys. Now, ideally, they're sold in order, the toy in the #1 box going out first, and then after *all* of those are gone, then the 2nd box, and so on. The crew people sometimes either get lazy or dumb, because sometimes boxes get out of order, and then people get toys that they should have gotten later now. And it gets really annoying because they will try to get us to dig around and search for a particular toy, as if the toys we sell are somehow collectible or something their child will simply cherish. I refuse to dig in the boxes to try to find that one special toy for someone-- the toys have an order they go out in, and I am not breaking that order just because you come in every single day and have everything that we have already put out so far. (I especially enjoyed doing this when the Beanie Babies were out-- middle aged women in particular went crazy trying to find that ONE particular toy for their kids allegedly-- more like they were probably collecting them for themselves).
The sad thing is that if these items were in a dollar store people would probably pass them up, but put those items in a mcd and they will sell in a snap...
I honestly don't get the huge appeal of collecting the glasses, but I suppose I've never been a fan of kitsch. Although not everyone buys them for the sake of collecting them (although help us all if we get someone who came in yesterday to get one color glass and they're upset because we don't have the next one out yet). There was one person who even purchased EIGHTEEN of those glasses at once.. why? Was it to give to people? (which, if that's the case, it's kind of a cheap gift.. they sell by themselves for $2-$3 per glass). Was it because they wanted a cheap glass set? (18 x $2= $36.. there are cheaper sets that are pretty nice available at Target). What possesses people to go so crazy over cheap items that mcd sells?
I suppose it's the same sort of thing with the toys. Now, ideally, they're sold in order, the toy in the #1 box going out first, and then after *all* of those are gone, then the 2nd box, and so on. The crew people sometimes either get lazy or dumb, because sometimes boxes get out of order, and then people get toys that they should have gotten later now. And it gets really annoying because they will try to get us to dig around and search for a particular toy, as if the toys we sell are somehow collectible or something their child will simply cherish. I refuse to dig in the boxes to try to find that one special toy for someone-- the toys have an order they go out in, and I am not breaking that order just because you come in every single day and have everything that we have already put out so far. (I especially enjoyed doing this when the Beanie Babies were out-- middle aged women in particular went crazy trying to find that ONE particular toy for their kids allegedly-- more like they were probably collecting them for themselves).
The sad thing is that if these items were in a dollar store people would probably pass them up, but put those items in a mcd and they will sell in a snap...
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A McDouble is not a Double Cheeseburger
I'm starting this after inspiration from another blog... the idea that posting about things from work that make me want to explode from built up annoyances. It could even result in me being somewhat calmer at work.. that I wouldn't mind.
So mcd came out with the McDouble about 2 years ago. It's like a Double Cheeseburger but about .30 cheaper and with one slice of cheese instead of two. The reason for this is because cheese is one of the most expensive parts of the sandwich (the other part being the meat) and mcd wanted a way to save money.
Now, keep in mind that this was TWO years ago when the McDouble was introduced, at least in our area. TWO. And also keep in mind that a lot of the customers we have come out to one of the mcds at least once a day, and a good chunk of them that come to ours are local residents. So why do I get people who can't seem to order the sandwich properly?
I get people who order double cheeseburgers and then they balk at the price and insist that they meant to get McDoubles. If you mean to order something, then actually order it, don't get mad at me because I rang you up according to what you said. There is a radio campaign as well as a TV campaign that shows you what a McDouble looks like; as well as what it's actually called. Please actually pay attention to what you order, and don't blame me when it's wrong when I've merely rung up what you ordered.
So mcd came out with the McDouble about 2 years ago. It's like a Double Cheeseburger but about .30 cheaper and with one slice of cheese instead of two. The reason for this is because cheese is one of the most expensive parts of the sandwich (the other part being the meat) and mcd wanted a way to save money.
Now, keep in mind that this was TWO years ago when the McDouble was introduced, at least in our area. TWO. And also keep in mind that a lot of the customers we have come out to one of the mcds at least once a day, and a good chunk of them that come to ours are local residents. So why do I get people who can't seem to order the sandwich properly?
I get people who order double cheeseburgers and then they balk at the price and insist that they meant to get McDoubles. If you mean to order something, then actually order it, don't get mad at me because I rang you up according to what you said. There is a radio campaign as well as a TV campaign that shows you what a McDouble looks like; as well as what it's actually called. Please actually pay attention to what you order, and don't blame me when it's wrong when I've merely rung up what you ordered.
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