This is stuff that applies to counter and Drive-Thru. I'll probably mention a lot of these again on the Drive-Thru page.
1. Be Patient
That's all I'm going to say right now. It helps everything if you will just be patient.
2. How to order
If you are ordering a combo do this: "I need a number 4, super sized, with a Coke." In that order. If you say, I need a number 4 with a coke. Oh... and make that super size." This happens to us: You say "I want a number 4 with a Coke" We punch in (brackets represent the buttons)"[#4] [M] [Coke]" then you say "oh, and make that supersize." Then we have to punch in "[Super Size] [0] [M] [Coke] [XL] [Coke]" That method has us punching in *nine* things. When the way you should do it would have us push 4 buttons. "[#4] [Super Size] [XL] [Coke]" That take less than half the time! Also, please specify between Large Size and Super Size. Large Size is the old-school Super-Size, it costs 39 cents. The new Super Size costs 79 cents. This problem isn't that bad anymore, but when it first came out it was horrible. However, we still get people that want their combo "Up-sized" or "Biggie-Sized." If you use the wrong terminology, we don't know if you want Large or Super, so get with it! Learn the McD's lingo! :)
Kind of a spin-off on the above. We get people that say "I'd like a number 7... the Crispy Chicken Value Meal" I know some people just say it for their benefit or whatever, but trust me... we know what a number 7 is all too well, you don't have to remind us.
3. If you don't know what's on the menu or what you want, come inside.
This helps for several reasons that will be discussed later.
4. Sauces/Water
The sauces are made to go with the nuggets and the nuggets only. We are told to give you a certain number of sauces depending on what you order. (1-2 sauces for a 6 piece, 2-3 for a 9 piece, 3-4 for a 20 piece) I realize that a lot of people put the sauce it on their fries, I do too. But, they are not intended for that. We are told to charge you 10 cents per extra sauce. So, don't whine about it. Just pay. More on this later too. We also have to charge for water, once again 10 cents.
5. Asking for hot fries
Here's how the fries work. We drop them in the grease(100% vegetable oil) then press a button. They cook for about three and a half minutes. We pull them up, let them drain, then throw them into the bin under the light. The grease trough that they came out of says "Qual 7" which means those fries have 7 minutes of quality. Once that quality runs out, it beeps at us and flashes "Qual". So, we know when the fries are bad. But, until that quality runs out, we are supposed to sell those fries. Yes, you get shafted sometimes with lukewarm or nasty fries. But, just cause that happens a couple of times doesn't mean you have to ask for fresh fries every single time you come in and make our life miserable. Because when you do that, we end up with more fries than we need in the bin and have to throw away a bunch of otherwise good fries.
An e-mail from a co-worker pertaining to the above:
6. Asking for unsalted fries
I really have no good response for this. If you want unsalted fries, that's your choice/right and we have to give it to you. However, what I can say is this: Anyone who wants unsalted fries is un-American. Unless... you have a dietary problem. However, in that case... what are you doing at McDonald's anyway? Back to the fries. Just to let you know, here's what we go through when you want unsalted fries. First, we usually have to drop a whole new basket of fries. Then we have to move all the fries that are already in the bin over... scrape out all of the salt of the bin... go all the way to the back of the restaurant... wash off the scoop... dry it with paper towels... walk all the way back to the front... make your order of fries. It's your right, but it's just a little annoying for us.
7. The Playland
This is mostly for parents. It's your duty to teach some of this to your kids like: if the doors to the Playland are locked, do not unlock them. At night, most of the workers are students who actually have a life. We go to school and thus, we have homework. Sometimes, we have to close the playground down early so that we can leave work on time and continue the rest of our lives. Your kids won't die if they can't go play on the Playland. Yes, they will whine and cry and pout, but guess what. That's your fault for bringing them to McDonald's when they Playland is closed. We generally close it when it's dark or (during summer) at anywhere from 6-8 o clock. We also close it down if it's rained or is raining. So... if your kid really really wants to play on the Playland, bring them after school or something (Discovery Zone anyone? Chucky Cheese's). Next, don't let your kid throw all of the balls outside the pen. We get to pick them all up and it's a huge waste of time that we could use doing something a lot more constructive.
8.Unsweet Tea
No real problem here. Just this: when you ask for unsweet tea, as dumb as you may feel, say "not-sweet" or something like that. A lot of times "Un-sweet" sounds like "a sweet" especially through the headset.
9.Drinks with no ice
This is pretty annoying too. You get much more drink than you should for your money... but that's generally the idea. I understand maybe if you don't want it to get watered down, but most people are just looking to get some free drink. If you want more to drink than you get in a medium... get a Large! Wow! What a concept! A large is only 10 measly cents more. It won't kill you. The reason this annoys us is because of a lot of the time, we have a bunch of drinks made/making. Sometimes we're stuck doing something else before we can go make more drinks. We look on our screen and see a Medium Coke. So, we make one. Then, you get to the window and you wanted one with no ice, and then we have to take the time to make it. Even if we do remember, this happens: you want a medium, no ice. We can't hit the medium button to fill it or else it doesn't get full. I think hitting large fills a medium cup no ice, but the rest of the drinks don't have an easy solution like that. We have to fill it up part way then do the rest manually.
10. Happy Meal Toys Don't ask us what kind of toy we have. Half the time we don't even know. Also, don't request a different toy. If you do, we have to walk all the way to the very very back of the store, unlock the closet and open a whole new box. We sell one toy until we run out, then we get the next one in line. Live with it. They're McDonald's Happy Meal Toys for crying out loud! Buy your kid some real toys from Wal*Mart and they'll be happy.
This problem was magnified by about 20 when we had those satanistic Beanie Babies. McFunFact!: I HATE Beanie Babies with all that is in me. Now, what made it horrible is that everyone wanted a certain one. The one we didn't have. We also had special "Star Bears" They were big, not happy meal toys. They came in a cardboard/plastic box, etc. I got asked which ones we had so many times... and we always had like 6 different ones up front. Anyway... bad memories... moving on.
11. Don't spill stuff
Be coordinated.
12. The Bathrooms
I simply cannot comprehend how people can make a bathroom so nasty. If bathrooms (generally anywhere) aren't clean, it's not because no one cleans them. It's because people don't know how to use them. I'm not really gonna go into this, it's not a real pleasant topic. They get nasty, we have to clean them. Do us a favor and at least aim straight.
13. Special Orders
You have the right to order a cheeseburger with no ketchup. It's just more complicated for us. It's really not that much of a problem unless we're really busy and there are 10 of these orders at once, the grill people (who aren't terribly smart generally) get them mixed up, etc. Then, there are 2 that are similar, and Drive-Thru takes one of the orders that was for the counter, etc. So, if your order gets messed up, which is likely, don't be too surprised, and try to be polite about getting it fixed, and be patient.
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