Fast Food Troubles? How to Get Better Quality Food from Fast Food Restraunts

Most everyone and their brother has eaten fast food, but not everyone including your brother, has worked in a fast food restaurant. There is a trick to increasing your chance of not getting sloppy, cold, crusty or otherwise unappetizing fast food, without going in to complain and have it remade. It's actually rather simple, just be considerate and polite to the workers. Now many people are just oblivious to what it is they're doing to upset their friendly fast food cook. Here is an quick list of do's and don't's for visiting any fast food restaurant advised by a taco bell store manager.

The drive thru:
This is where a great deal of patrons end up with fast food burritos with two hand fulls of onions and enough sauce to ruin a good pair of pants, because they are in a hurry, but only to get what they want done.

Tip 1: Do not come to the drive thru if you have 6 people in the car that have no idea what they want. Come inside, where you can stare at the menu as long as you wish.

Tip 2: Do not talk "smack" about the fast food, any workers you know inside, or possibly anyone depending on how small your town is, someone may be in relation. Besides, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Why?

As your sitting there arguing with your five kids, indecisive grama or friends everyone inside CAN hear you. I must stress this. Just because you said, "I'm not ready" or "Hold on", or even pulled up and remained silent, the speaker is ON, and can hear you. The drive thru is supposed to be fast, if you sit there 10 minutes deciding what fast food item you want today, you do two things to annoy your fast food crew inside. One, you build a long line of people who are now going to be grumpy that they waited in line. Two, you have both prevented them from doing anything but standing there waiting to make, or take your fast food order, and you've run up their drive time. Which leads me to my next couple of tips.

Tip 3: Finish your phone conversation before entering the drive thru, and don't begin one while in the drive thru. This includes, "Oh, hold on let me call *insert someone* and see if they want anything..". Do that before you pull in, or again, come inside.

Tip 4: Do not count out 15 dollars in change at the window, sit organizing your purse, or otherwise prolonging your sit at the drive up window. Pay, receive your food, and drive away quickly. You can park and do whatever else in the parking lot, which is for parking.

Why?

As I said first off, they can hear you inside, in fact they have no choice but to listen to you, and chances are they have no interest in listening to your conversation about last night's American idol. Also a little known fact, the moment you enter a drive you make a timer start. Most fast food restaurant's have a goal they must meet, or suffer the consequences of long upper management conversations. If they make this drive time, they are usually rewarded. For example at taco bell you should sit no longer than 45 seconds at the food window, your entire order start to finish should take less than 2 minutes. The time is calculated every 3 hours and is an average of order times. So if the fast food workers inside really try hard and get your food done by time you get to the window, and then you sit there for 6 minutes and bring there average way up, it really makes them angry.

Inside and Out:

Tip 5: Treat the all employees as you would wish to be treated. The misconception that all people who work fast food are unintelligent drop outs does not make them no longer people. Most of them are just hard working individuals trying to make a living, and their living is keeping your belly full of fast food num-nums. Someone has to do it, and the bills have to be paid.

Tip 6: If you feel your order is not what you wanted, do not go up and rant like a drunken sailor loudly and demand to see a manager, it was likely an honest mistake, and it will be remade. Also, if it "doesn't look like the picture", no amount of yelling at the management or crew is going to change that. They are following very strict weight requirements on the fast food items they are putting out, and no, they didn't make the pictures or set those weight requirements. If you really must complain beyond a request for a refund or remake, direct that complaint higher in the food chain where it might do some good. A remake, or a refund is all you'll get from your local fats food store. That should be enough.

Tip 7: Clean up after yourself if you eat inside the fast food restaurant. I know many places have bus boys. and/or people who are paid to clean up after you. However, most fast food restaurants do not. Leaving 2 pennies and a pile of trash does not balance by saying, "Hey, I left a tip". How much trouble is it really to dump a tray in the trash and set the tray on top? That fast food crew will remember you, and your food likely won't be very tasty the next time if you treat them like dirt designed to cater to you.

Tip 8: If your food isn't so fast do not go up and complain unless you can see it's because no one is really working. (ex/ there sitting there talking not even making your food) They could be short handed, out of some product, have new crew members, or there could just be 10 orders on the screen before you. If you complain you are taking one more person away from getting your food, and everyone else's out. It's not going to make them make your food any faster because they are already trying their best, and orders are made in the order they are taken. If it's a repeated issue, stop eating at that restaurant. I never understood people who ate at the same restaurant every day and found something to complain about every day, after the 3rd or 4th mistake common sense would be to eat else where or contact someone higher on the chain to recommend they restaff.

I don't think any of those need an explanation. I know that it seems immature and unethical for any worker to make your food lower quality for making mistakes like these, but remember they are people too. What would you do? That's just the way it is, and having some manners can eliminate the problem all together. You don't get crappy fast food, and the fast food crew's job is far easier and more enjoyable.