Actually it was the drive-thru but it had the feel of the old west... (cue music...)
Let me set the scene... The girlies and I had finished some school work and I suggested we take a break at lunch and go see if they had any new headboards at the Goodwill. (Alas... no head board, but lots of fun finds...I'll post about these later.) Being 1:30 when we left there the girlies wanted to hit the McD drive-thru for snack wraps. I told them we had leftover soup at home... to make a long story short one of the girlies had read my "Not Me Monday" and knew I had been to McD without them. I didn't have much of a leg to stand on, so I agreed to one snack wrap for each of them and a soda to split. They agreed to my terms and across the parking lot we headed.
You know the scene...
we wait our turn...
pull up to the speaker...
"two mc mac wraps, no pickles and a dollar orange crush please"....
"$4.39 pull around to the first window"...
we pull around...
pay...
pull forward...
(and this is where the trouble begins.... )
some pimple faced young thing thrusts the soda (no straw) at me and tells me to pull forward they will bring my food out...
"what?"...
"Mam, just park up there, we'll find you when your food is done"... (very sarcastically with eye roll!)
It is at this moment I notice the three spaces reserved for this particular form of fast food purgatory are filled by two poorly parked cars, and I glance to the right and see not one, not two, but FOUR cars idling!
Now, I know we all have to do the "pull forward" from time to time, but I think we all agree this should be reserved for large orders... not two snack wraps!
So I calmly look at "pimple faced, eye roller" and say "No thank you"...
"excuse me?"
"I'm sorry, but I said, no thank you, there appear to be six cars up there waiting for their food, and I only ordered two snack wraps, so no thank you, I'll wait here. Can I have a straw please?"
"Mam, you have to pull up so I can get the people behind you their food."
(Let me let you in on a little secret... she really picked the wrong day of my month to force this issue....)
So I answer her... "Miss, it appears to me that you are not getting anybody their food you are just asking us ALL to wait up there. And if I had the kind of time to sit around and wait I would have come inside, but here I am at the window so no thank you, I will not be pulling forward, now please go check on my snack wraps."
Window closes... pimple face scurries off... (girlies are ducking down low in their seats...)
Mc Manager opens the window... "Mam, is there a problem?"
"Nope, just waiting for my food."
"Could you pull forward please?"
"With all due respect, could you just get my order please?"
"Mam, we need to serve those in line behind you. (now mind you only one car has left fast food purgatory in all this time...)
"Sir, you don't seam to understand how the whole line thing works... you serve the ones at the front and then they move on so you can serve those behind them." (one more car squeals out of purgatory...)
"Mam...I really need you to pull forward, you see we have to "clear" orders out of the computer in a timely fashion..."
(Ah haaa! the truth comes out... this about their timing!) "Sir, I don't think I could be any more clear...I ordered two snack wraps... I will wait here for them... I have no intention of pulling forward so please stop asking, and I still need a straw"...
AL "mom...please, just pull forward....
(One more car leaves)
Window slams open... bag FLYS out and lands in KK's lap (on passenger side)... Window slams shut...
I knock on window...
"WHAT NOW? YOU HAVE YOUR G*D D*MN FOOD!!!"
"Straw please..." (one flies out)
I drive off...
KK: "Was that really worth it?"
I smile...
To tell the truth, I'm not sure if it was worth it or not... I do hate bad customer service, but I also really dislike bad behaving customers... was I one? I don't know, but it did feel like a little victory at the time... It really felt good to not just blindly obey and pull forward... to wait ten minutes for two snack wraps...to take a little stand...
PS... girlies would not eat snack wraps as we were all sure they were spit in... had to go to wendy's for jr. bacon cheeseburgers... still a victory...
UPDATE: I have received several comments, emails and even facebook comments on this post. I just wanted to let you know I did file a complaint. I have not heard back, but that fact that I posted this on here and all of you are as outraged as I was... it think I get the last laugh...
Honey I always find a little sentence to be helpful in are times of need. "I'd like my money back, I will be contacting the better business bureau and your corporate office." I've never seen people scramble as much as when you mention those two entities! Were you in the wrong? NO! Obviously the current employees need to be replaced. Smile, you did the right thing. The girls decision to not eat the food. Very smart!
ReplyDeleteFOR. REAL. You are not responsible for their falsifying the drive-thru times. Taking money and telling people to pull forward just so it didn't LOOK to the general manager like there was a problem on the grill...wrong. And for crying out loud! No matter WHAT a customer says to you, that type of a response is COMPLETELY uncalled for. I hope you don't go back there. Ugh...ugh ugh. This just burns me up! Good for you taking a stand!
ReplyDeleteOooh, girl, now that is an experience! I've actually done that before, too- I said, "I'm sorry, but I'm in a really big hurry today" and just sat there, smiling when they asked me to move forward.
ReplyDeleteThey brought the food. :D
You should e-mail corporate though, about that cursing. That was completely unacceptable employee behavior.
I would definitely report the cursing pimple faced rude employee to coporate. I used to work for McDonalyds 28 years ago and let me tell you the BIG WIG Management team would come in every so often and TIME us at doing everything, now their computer system monitors do all the timing for them, and if it shows on their screens & reports then they get a bad grade so to speak. OH well, not your fault, I would say you do have a slight rebel side in you, but I can sooooo relate. I like the comment about communicating with the BBB I will have to use that one next time, actually I HAVE asked for my money back, which took way too long but oh well... again THEIR Loss! And if I were you I would have taken the wraps back with the reciept and demanded a refund. This is hilarious! NOT!, but the part about the western show down and I could just hear the music in my head and see Clint Eastwood staring you down. LMBO! Todays blog could be called High Adventures! Love you, pam
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by today and commenting!
ReplyDeleteI love having one more reason to never, NEVER eat at McDonald's. Let's see... general filth, maladroit service, a menu with NO redeeming features... yep, that just about sums it up.
ReplyDeleteLove this! You are too much. Are all of your drive thru experiences this much fun (obviously not for the girls)?
ReplyDeleteAwful! I know someone who had a similar experience at BK and went in afterward to demand an apology. She was crying by the time she left, but everyone in the restaurant applauded her. I hope corporate sends you a big gift basket full of coupons.
ReplyDelete