Fast Food Means Poor Service?

I'm a stay-at-home-mom of 2 young children. There are days when I don't know what I'm going to wear, much less what I'm going to make for dinner. I'm sure other moms can understand. You know there are perhaps better meal options for your kids, but nobody wants to cook. So you hop in the car, and drive to some fast food place. No matter where you go, you expect the same things every time: that it's cheap, it's quick, and you get what you pay for. However, there are times when the service just isn't what you expected.

My husband and I live just down the street from a really neat McDonald's- one of those small "retro" ones with the single arches, that look like the letter M, from a certain angle. We usually go to that location out of convenience, but I'm not thrilled about their service as of late. During this last summer, there was an instance when we went through the drive-up window and ordered with no problems. However, when my husband went to pay with a credit card, the person swiped it, then shoved the card back at him like either the card or my husband had a disease. Then when he handed us the food, his treatment was the same. He was very rude. My husband managed to say a polite "Thank you", but the response was "Yeah, whatever!"

We've also had a lot of issues with getting mixed up orders, the wrong Happy Meal toys (for a boy instead of a girl, or vice versa), and one time the chicken nuggets were actually missing from one of our Happy Meals! This same McDonald's also chooses not to serve customers any shakes, soft serves, or other frozen items once summer is over. However, instead of putting up a sign explaining this, they simply tell you their "machine is broken". So if you're a pregnant woman living in my town, and you have a craving for a hot fudge sundae, make sure to find yourself ANY McDonald's in Columbus but this one!

Not to pick solely on McDonald's, because every fast food restaurant has its flaws. Not one of them isn't guilty of screwing up an order in some way or another. (Chalk it up to the fact we're all human, and there are actually humans behind the counter!) But in my case, I mostly frequent the Golden Arches (maybe it's those darn kids toys!), thus they're the subject of my review.

In a world where we need convenience, and where we can find a fast food place on just about every corner, are we really getting what we pay for? Should we really expect that they will give us what we want (for what little we spend)? Every time, or even most of the time? As a good friend of mine said in his blog not long ago, "Sure we can deliver, but you can only choose TWO:

*Done Fast
*Done Right
*Done Cheap

Good day... come back soon!"