Extra Credit Assignment

On November 26, 2007, I decided to head to McDonalds for lunch with my nephew. We parked the car, walked into the restaurant, and placed the order. While standing in line I had a feeling they would have a hard time with this specific order. There at the counter, a cashier approached me and said “Welcome to McDonalds! May I take your order please?” I asked for a small hamburger with four pickles and a small order of French fries without salt. The cashier seemed to understand what I had just said and placed my order through the touch screen register.
While I waited in front of the counter, the cashier decided to take the next order. After exactly five minutes, the cashier brought me a burger and continued to wait for the fresh batch of French fries still frying in the heavy duty fryer. The back crew were going back and forth with this specific order, and I heard the cashier repeatedly say “With four pickles on the hamburger” to them. The manager realized I had been waiting for a while for the food so she decided to get involved. The manager went in the back and put my order together without any confusion from what I noticed. Once I received my food I stepped to the side of the counter and checked if what was in the bag matched the order I had placed. Unfortunately, the contents in the bag were not exactly what I had ordered. The French fries were salt-less just like I had ordered but the burger had two pieces of pickles instead of four.
Having waited for five minutes, I knew I could not just walk away with the wrong order. Therefore, I decided to bring the bag back to the manager so she could see that my order was put together wrong. To correct the mistake, she went to the back and place two extra pieces of pickle on the burger. I was frustrated to say the least at their lack of efficient management over my order, after having waited for over seven minutes.
I thought I had visited this McDonalds at a great time, just when McDonalds switch their menu from breakfast to lunch at eleven o’clock. I though that it would be easy to put this order together, but unfortunately they proved me wrong. Today, I was disappointed with their customer service which they took too long and were wrong the first time. I was annoyed but I did not lose my temper. I just simply made sure that my order was properly completed.
To my point of view, McDonald’s management process is very clear cut and predictable, similar to an assembly line. A cashier takes the customers order then sends it to the back crew on the electronic monitors. The back crew works on the order, following the basic formulas for making cheeseburgers, fries, pies, cookies, and drinks. The cashier than take picks up the food off the heating rack, bags it, and gives it to the customer. Unsurprisingly, any wrench thrown into this system can halt production by several minutes. In my case, the fact that I ordered four pickles on my burger instead of the usual two, I threw the workers off base, slowing production by several minutes. Unusual orders can be complicating to some, slowing down the back crew.
If I were brought in as a consultant to McDonalds to help them increase their efficiency, I would consider making some changes to improve their operation during special orders: I would recommend that a cashier taking the order should fully understand what the order contains. By understanding the order, it can make a whole lot of difference. By understanding the order completely, the cashier can help the back crew if any confusion starts to occur. My second recommendation would be, make sure to see who is working on this specific order and communicate thoroughly with that individual. If the cashier takes an unusual order, he/she becomes responsible for the order. I am not suggesting that the cashier who took the order should go back and check on the other crew for the order. Instead, I suggest that the cashier communicate enough with the back crew without disturbing other orders and without any involvement of the manager. My third recommendation would be to monitor the order’s fulfillment correctly and thoroughly. It’s not about how quick you can serve your customer but it’s about satisfying one customer at a time with their order. A single customer can speak out saying negative things about the franchise or they can do the opposite by saying how well the customer service is McDonalds. My latest experience at McDonalds is a good example of why someone would complain about McDonald’s customer service and efficiency.
People in today’s world are always on the go, so they do not have time to spare waiting for the orders to be put together in their local McDonalds. It is up to McDonalds to perform up to the people’s expectation, not fall behind, frustrating customers to the point that they don’t want to go back. McDonalds has to do a better job of training their workers so they won’t be thrown off if they have to complete orders they are not used to.

DISC

The exercise that we did in class it was very interesting I found my self that I was a C and D. This was describing who I am and how I react to any situations. I think it is helpful to determine people's management type to understand people but it is not 100% true, I believe that DISC test would give you little idea about a person that how a person react to any situations or if he/she fits into the position or able to handle the assigned.

The Power of Vision

My vision of the future in next five years, first I want to complete my bachelor degree with finance by next year. Second I want a good job with good pay and I believe I will get a good job because I have so far lots of experiences from many different companies. Third I want to start a family which means I want a baby. Fourth I want to buy a house if I have lots of money. The last one which is fifth I want to go back to my country and help poor and homeless people, I really don’t know how I will help them but I will try my best to help them by money, food and cloths. That’s all for next five year.