My project for extra credit was to go to McDonald has them make a special order. I was just speechless because I have never seen people who have requested a special order in the McDonald’s. I could be imagined that a staff may star at me very intensely and my face may turn red. I might even try to run away as soon as possible even though I couldn’t attain my purpose. But I decided as the old saying goes, “Many hands make light work” that I am going to the McDonald with jue-hee jung who is a classmate of mine.
We tried to set up a plan on how McDonald and their management would face an unsuspected situation. The first thing we did was to try to find a McDonald is which was not crowed because they might not listen to our special order. We decided to go the MacDonald’s at 26th street 6th Ave. Unlike our expectation, there was a long line of customers. However, we took courage and asked one of the staff members, “Do you have a Macganbang?” As might be expected, she didn’t know what the Macgangbang is. So, we ordered $1 Double Cheeseburger with an entire $1 McChicken sandwich stuffed into the middle of the Double Cheeseburger. We respectfully asked her to do that and telling her that “It is really important for us that you fill this order.” She hesitated for awhile before talking to the manager. The staff member explained our order to the manager and she tried to help us. However, the manager wasn’t happy with our order and got a bit upset. We begged the manager for doing that even though the manger doesn’t like. The staff member who received our order persuaded their manager to try. Finally, the manager accepted our special and accepted the special work and discussed with worker how to make it. The staff member was confused with our order to begin with but later she figured out our order and explained to rest of staffs in detail. Four people were involved in this special order and they spent almost 10 minutes to complete this special order. Fortunately, there was a short line of customers so that the other staff members were able to take care of the other customers very quickly.
The best thankful to them was that they tried to help us even though we made an unreasonable demand and cared our special order expertly. Actually, they even asked us if our order was correct several times. When we received our order, all was correct. We expressed our gratitude for all of the kindness they showed us.
In brief, I wish to evaluate the management process for our special order in 3 ways.
Overall, communications was effective among employees. In particular, communications was more effective between management and employees because they have a horizontal relationship like a friend. However, communications were less effective between employees and customer. We didn’t seem to have a big communication problem with employees but they took awhile to grasp our order because of our English conversation. What I would recommend for effective communication with customers for better customer’s service is to put yourself in the shoes of the customer and try to make sense of customer’s needs. Secondly, there was one thing that was lacking; they were not set up effectively to handle “extra special” orders because they were confused on how to make it and they only focused on our order. If there is a long line of customers, it would be big problem because they should focus the other customer order as well. So, if I was the manager, I would treat a special order like ours in person to have an effective management process for store.
Lastly, the staff who received our order displayed true leadership traits during our visit because she was patient and understanding. She understands our order positively and then explained the order in detail to other staff members. Thanks to her, our order was completed and satisfactory. I think leadership and cooperation which were shown here are necessary for effective management process.
