McDonald’s Is ‘Fast Food’ Still a Thing?

If we continue to accept sub-standard service, food, and other products then we really deserve what we get, don’t you think?

Based on experience it seems that this is a reasonable question for McDonald’s Is Fast Food Still a Thing?

I suggest the answer is “not really”.

A young Grandma told me a story that really made me think…

This Grandma had taken 3 young kids to a McDonald’s on a busy Saturday.

The weather was lovely, and they were going to have some highly anticipated Happy Meals and then go off to the park for some play time.

The order included Happy Meals plus a few other items. The bill was pretty steep for fast food but that’s true pretty much everywhere now.

Whether the food is good or even whether it’s ‘fast’ doesn’t matter.

So, while watching kids and sending one for condiments and another to fill up drink cups, the Grandma waited…and waited…and waited for the order to arrive.

She was delighted when the order finally arrived and off she went with the 3 little ones following behind her.

Of course, nothing was as it first appeared at McDonald’s today.

The extra order of fries was missing! That wouldn’t do because these kids loved fries and never had enough in their Happy Meal.

Say what you want about consuming fries…calories, etc. We were at McDonald’s and fries were ordered and not received.

So, Grandma goes to the counter to ask for her missing fries.

Fortunately, she was able to keep a close eye on the kids from where she waited at the counter.

The employee apologized and provided fries with a smile. All good.

Back at the table, low and behold, one kid finds a hamburger instead of chicken nuggets in her Happy Meal.  

And not just a nice plain hamburger that Grandma might have been able to convince the child to eat…no, no it was loaded with ketchup and pickles.

Out of the question!

Back to the counter Grandma goes to trade in the offending and  “horrible” hamburger in the hopes of finding the missing chicken nuggets.

A different employee took care of the exchange and provided an apology with a smile. That was nice…and the least a person would expect.

Back at the table, children now have what they ordered. Grandma’s food was ice cold.

It must have been difficult for Grandma to conceal her feelings because one very sweet 8-year-old asked her why she wasn’t happy with McDonald’s.

Grandma told her that the service was terrible – two items had been left out of the order and the food was cold.

The girl said, “yes but I’m sure they are trying their best”. Did I mention McDonald’s is her favorite place to eat out?

Hmmm. How to handle this without seeming mean?

This is a child, and she believes that people try their best no matter what because that is how she is being raised. Sadly, that is not the case everywhere.

The work ethic in North America has deteriorated and that’s not even up for discussion. It’s very clear.

But what is also clear is that not everyone has lost their work ethic. Of course not.

So, Grandma told the girl the truth of the matter. Here’s what she said:

“The employees may very well be trying their best, and we should appreciate them. But their best doesn’t seem to be good enough to get the job done properly. It may be their fault, or it may not. But one thing is certain – the manager is definitely at fault.”

If they want the answer to McDonald’s: Is fast food still a thing for you? They need to try harder.

Now, it could be that many of the employees were of the lackadaisical variety who didn’t really care whether orders were right, or food was cold.

Who knows without speaking with each and every one of them?

Management is responsible to ensure they hire employees who will work to take care of customers and get the job done properly.

Management must ensure that there are no obstacles to get in the way of an employee who is trying to do their job properly and take care of customers.

Management needs to train, schedule well, organize, plan, follow up and generally do a good job of managing the restaurant.

The manager of this particular McDonald’s was not doing a good job. It’s likely the management wasn’t trying their best either.

The bottom line is there were a ton of employees (18 at least – those were the ones in plain view) who were all stepping on each other while trying to operate the restaurant.

Nothing was working. It was chaotic to put it mildly.

This was not a floor coverage issue.

Throwing more employees into the mix at this particular time at this McDonald’s restaurant was not the answer.

Good management and organization were needed. Probably more and better training, as well.

McDonald’s isn’t perfect and right now given the change in the work ethic of those coming up and into part-time jobs, they should be looking for new and better ways to handle hungry crowds.

Kiosks take orders but you need some damn good humans too.

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