Extra Credit Assignment

On December 1st, 2008, I went into McDonald’s on 3rd avenue to make a special order for my extra credit assignment for my Management class. I was kind of nervous as I opened the door and walked up to the line. As I waited on the line, all I did was repeat the order in my head so I don’t forget. I wanted to say my order with confidence so that when I said it to the cashier, he believed that I actually like lots of pickles and no salt in my fries.

I waited on line for about 5 minutes because it was busy and many people were on line. Finally my turn came and the cashier said “how can I help you.” The cashier was a male probably around his twenties and was nice I would say. I told him my order and said “Can I have a hamburger with 4 pickles and small fries without salt.” He looked at me confused and said “can you repeat that.” So this time I told him slowly and told him that I wanted a printed receipt of my order. He punched in the right things on his computer thing and printed the receipt. He gave me the receipt and told me to wait on the side next to the soda machines. Then he started helping the next customer.

As I stood there waiting for my order I observed all the employees that were their and what they were doing. There two people on cahier up front. I saw one person mopping the floor where the customers were sitting. There were two people in the back kitchen where they were making the sandwiches. Also there was one guy who looked to be the manager because he was the only one with a different color shirt on. He was standing between the kitchen and the cashier. He was responsible for making the fries and making sure that the customers got their order. He was grabbing the sandwiches that were made in the kitchen, making the fries, putting it in the bag, and giving it to the customers. So there were total of six employees in that McDonalds, one cleaner, one manager, two cashiers, and two sandwich makers.

When my order was given, it went to the computer screen in the kitchen. I saw the guy looking at my order in the screen and he yelled out to the cashier and said “how many extra pickles.” I checked on the receipt it only said extra pickles under the hamburger so that’s why I guess the sandwich maker didn’t know how many. The cashier yelled back and said 4 pickles. The sandwich was made pretty fast and then the manager grabbed it and put it into the bag and he took the fries and put them into. As the manager was coming to hand me the bag the cashier, that attended me, said to the manager that the fries need to be without salt. The cashier grabbed the bag and took out the fries. Then he went over and pulled out fresh fries from the oil and put them in my bag. He walked over and gave me the bag. I said thank you and left. The whole process of making my order took about 4 minutes. There was a little confusion but it worked out at the end.

All together 3 people got involved in my order, the cashier, the manager, and the sandwich maker. The cashier treated me well he was a bit confused when I said my order but he was really nice. Even as I was waiting for my order and the manager was about to hand me my food the cashier made sure I got the right order. I would give this McDonald’s a good rating because I got my order really fast. Even though there was a little confusion involved I still got the right order at the end of the process. If I was brought in as a consultant into this McDonald’s to help them improve their efficiency during special orders I would make sure that the cashier is responsible for the full order. I would make the cashier handles only one customer at a time during special orders and doesn’t move to the next customer until the special order is completed. In this case, the cashier should have put everything into the bag himself and made sure the fries were right and double checked that the sandwich was right too by asking the sandwich maker to avoid any confusion.