Fast Food Restaurants
A Look at Fast Food Restaurants and Customer Service or the Lack Thereof
We all live in a world that has been forced to constantly be on the move. Our society behaves in a manner that is comparable to someone who is addicted and tripping on crack. In a world of microwaves and fast food restaurants we nearly expect instant gratification. The problem with this is fast food restaurants have lost focus on what mattered before. Fast food restaurants have had this problem for as long as I can remember without any remedy or solution. At least microwaves will cook for the full three minutes. If your food is not done, then you have yourself to blame instead of the microwave, unless it just quit working in the middle of the nuking process.
Fast Food Restaurants and the Lack of Customer Service
How many times have you pulled into a drive through and attempted to order food on the go? From personal experience, my answer to that question would be over 100 times at least. I guess the next question should be how many different fast food restaurants completely failed to listen to you at all? The most common rebuttal to this problem would be, check your bag before you leave. I have heard that one comment far too many times. Fast food restaurants fail to properly service the customer on the other end of the microphone way to often for it to be considered a mistake anymore. It now has crossed over to be considered an industry standard.
Fast Food Restaurants and Window Side Manners
When you are thinking about fast food restaurants, you better have a commando like strategy before you ever pull into the drive. It almost takes a military mindset to defeat the enemy of bad customer service at fast food restaurants. Here is one experience I had at a McDonalds in Rowlett, Texas. I pulled up to the ordering menu and the very first words that shouted out of that sinister square speaker box was "Your Order". At first I ignored what was said because I have never heard that before at any of the fast food restaurants I have visited. Then that sinister little box did it again "Your Order", the box shouted. So I replied with "Yes it is my Order". So I finished with that sinister square speaker box and pulled up to the window he asked if I wanted any ketchup. As always I said "Yes several packets please". Once I received my order it was wrong and the ketchup never made it into the bag. Fast food restaurants should properly train their employees to be courteous and display appropriate window side manners. Whatever happened to "May I take your order please"? It is kind of like having bed side manners as a Doctor. You wouldn't tell your patient that has cancer, "Sir you have absolutely no chance, if I were you I wouldn't even try".
Fast food restaurants do not seem to be concerned with what is being presented over the intercom or at the window. If you want a good idea of what I am talking about you can visit the Complaints Board website at http://www.complaintsboard.com/bysubcategory/fast-food-restaurants/page/1. This website was created solely for people to express their frustrations about fast food restaurants and their inability to follow instructions or provide good customer service. There are some pretty whacky stories posted on this website.
Fast Food Restaurants and Training Tips
If fast food restaurants would put customer service at the highest priority then customers would be happy at least 90 percent of the time. Training for fast food restaurants should be innovative and simple at the same time. Fast food restaurants should also explain to all teenage employees that they must always strive to provide good customer service to everyone. Glenn Ross has an article regarding training for fast food restaurants at http://www.allbusiness.com/sales/customer-service/3876262-1.html. Glenn's article has five simple tips for good customer service that all fast food restaurants should remember. I recommend reading this article.
Fast Food Restaurants and My Opinion
In closing I would like to reiterate my opinion about fast food restaurants and their inability to follow instructions and provide good customer service. As a customer I only expect you to be friendly, listen to what I am saying and provide me with the order that I placed. I do not want anything more or less. I understand that fast food restaurants have a fast paced environment and require skills that allow you to move quickly from one customer to the next. I just want you to remember one thing and that is treating the customer how you would want to be treated. If it takes a little longer to put the order together then at least the order is correct and the customer does not have to drive back up there to get what was missing.
Published by Mike Perry
I am 32 years old with four kids and a beautiful wife. I have a deep passion for writing and working on my degree in journalism with a minor in marketing. I love social media and the power behind the movement. View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentEven Hitler would have said 'attention please' first. It's just logical to announce one's presence before information retrieval.
egards
Jack Lint
I have done mystery shopping, and it is all timed. The number of customers that a clerk serves and how long it takes the clerk to serve each customer. The conversation with the customer is short and curt.
Excellent job on this :)
More restaurants are focusing on speed of service, rather than quality of service.. it is a shame, but true!
I have to agree with you on this one!
I never go to a fast-food restaurant unless I have no choice left in the world! I blame management, too! A restaurant is a restaurant and people who visit it should be treated with respect! I realize many people do not treat the employees well and it all kind of spills over!!!! Great read, Mike!
I was expecting a rather bland and boring article but this was really well written and brought up some pet peeves of mine. Like you, I expect fast food restaurants and staff to meet basic expectations: listen to the customer, provide food quickly, make sure the order is complete and accurate. All too often I've gotten the wrong items and had to have other customers wait, impatiently, while they fixed the issues. That is not my definition of fast food! Finally, having worked at McDonalds while in college (admittedly, many years ago) their training was not stellar at that particular location. New employees (including me) often wasted time trying to get up to speed.
Thanks for this informative article. The problems with the fast food game as I see it has many facets to it. First, they'll only hire the cheapest people they can get away with (NOT to save the customer money, but to maximize profits). All this proves is that you get what you pay for! Second, when I go inside the restaurant, it could be the height of the lunch rush, and there's a bunch of morons all dickin'-off and grab-assin while the line at the counter continues to grow longer and angrier. Third, they know you're probably in a hurry (especially if you're on lunch break, and have already spent 20 minutes in their slow-ass line), so they'll throw any old thing in the bag and heave it right through your car window, knowing you probably won't be able to go back into that crowded place and force them to make it right....