December 10, 2012

Drive-throughs ~ Why don't I just give up

As Leo Getz from Lethal Weapon says: They always get you at the drive-through.  Ok he wasn't as PG when he said it. I am soo tired of it.
     Really how hard is it to get an order right?  It isn't as if you have unlimited choices when you order off a marquee and shout into a box!  Without fail I can guarantee you that my order is wrong 50% of the time.  The sad part is I order the same thing at every McDonald's so I can't blame it on a specific store.
    You would think I was ordering a burger cooked a special way or fries with no salt.  Nope it isn't anything that complicated.  The order that seems to completely baffle the employees is... UNSWEET TEA NO ICE.  That's it ~ a drink for heaven's sake.  Unlike my son who on occasion will ask them to make his Power-ade with half water, all they have to do for me is put the cup under the correct spout and pull. I can't blame the order taker because it shows on the screen when I confirm my order.
     I now have a ritual for making sure I get the right drink.  When I pull-up to the window I always smile and say hello.  As I am handed my drink I'll ask: That's UNSWEET right?  Now all I can think of is that there is a camera watching to see if they've made a mistake because no matter what they have put in my cup they always assure me that my order is correct.  Maybe they think that I'd prefer Sweet Tea if I'd just try it?  Well no matter what they say before I pull away I take a sip.  This of course means I have to open the straw first so precious seconds are ticking away.  Why they're surprised when I give them back the wrong Tea I just don't understand.  Usually they're very quick to blame the order taker even though they just told me it was Unsweet. Another quick response is that they gave me the wrong drink order ~ I really giggle at that one when there's no one behind me in the drive-through.
     Half the time it isn't just the drink they can't get right.  Not putting ice in a cup must send some kind of electrical shock through their system.  I can usually plan on my tea being nice and cool at room temperature, the worst that could happen is that I get (OH-NO) warm tea.... that works for me as well!!  Every now and then the window worker will tell me they just brewed the tea and asks would I like some ice.  On those rare occasions I call the store and compliment the employee; yeah I'm one of those people.  Now I get that there is no way for me to be able to tell if my Tea is Sweet or Unsweet but people come on~~~anyone and I do mean anyone who is able to hold their cup can tell if there is ice in their drink.
     Seriously I am not making this stuff up ~ Life is way too entertaining to need to do that.  Just today I went through and ordered a Happy Meal, one large UNSWEET TEA no ice and one Sweet no ice.  I'll deal with the Happy Meal issue in a minute.  I was talking with the guy as he handed me my food.  First drink handed over ice tinkling and I asked is this Sweet or Unsweet?  The look on his face said it all.  That's one Sweet the next one is Unsweet.  I can tell he's not thrilled as I start searching for the straws...BIG SURPRISE both were sweet.  Meg was OK with the ice in hers.  I hand him back mine and heard the usual excuses.  As I handed it back to him I ask him please remember no ice. I'm really hoping his inability to follow simple directions will have no bearing on his SAT scores.  I point out that he's handed me a drink with ice and his reply was "that's OK there's just a little".   At least this time it was Unsweet~ you know I checked it before I drove away.
     Onto the Happy Meal issue.  This is a pet peeve of mine and well while it may seem insignificant I think it is just plain rude and false advertisement.  My kids are way past the age of eating Happy Meals so if I am ordering one you can be sure it is because I WANT THE TOY!!  That's right the toy.  Currently McDonald's is advertising that with their Happy Meals you will get a toy from the new Christmas Movie Rise of the Guardians.  (Review on that tomorrow)  If you haven't seen any commercials, the elves are just adorable and I want the toy.  Now I understand that they run out of toys so I have no issue with that.  What bothers me is that they leave the signs up advertising the toys that are included in the Happy Meal.  Where's the truth in advertising?  Do they think a little girl is going to be happy with the left-over Power Ranger toy or a boy with a My Pretty Pony?   Where's the humanity????
If anyone wants the Power Ranger toy that came with my meal today let me know :(

5 comments:

  1. LMAO, but I totally agree with you. For this reason I no longer use the drive-thru window. It has gotten to the point that fast-food for me means driving to the restaurant getting out of the car, going in the restaurant, standing in the queue, placing my order, filling my drink, walking back to the car and driving home. Talk about not so fast food.
    Jae Mac, I'm Just Sayin'...(Damn!)

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  2. Thanks Jae Mae :)
    I have considered that option guess I'm still holding to the dim hope that the future of America employed at McD's can rise to the challenge.

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  3. Yes! This happens to my youngest who still orders happy meals. She'll be expecting some princess thing or whatever and she opens it to find an alien thing (which isn't advertised anywhere). It's ridiculous.

    I think sometimes they get used to filling certain order types and so they mess up with yours a lot because they do the same order type for 8 freaking hours straight. So you come along asking for something off their radar, and I think their brains have to wake up. My brain woudl go dead too if I had to sit and fill the same kinda orders all day. Although their response always being the same or blaming someone else is lame. It's like when you call customer service lines and you can tell they're reading a script. YOu can never have a real conversation and get real info from them because they'll only stick to their dumb script.

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  4. *ugh*
    Drive-thru screw-ups seriously tick me off. I realize the workers are only paid minimum wage --- my son is one of those kids --- but either do your effing job or go home!

    My sister always order the same drink, too --- Diet Dr. Pepper + extra ice (which I find insane, but whatever, it's HER order!) --- & they screw it up every time.

    I always order a McDouble with NO PICKLES. They used to include the effing pickles 100% of the time, till I started making a point of saying I am allergic to them. I'm not allergic to pickles. What I'm allergic to is the BS of having to check & ensure there aren't any pickles on my stupid one-dollar hamburger!

    My son apologizes on behalf of McD's everywhere. You can bet on it that he doesn't screw up orders or he would be grounded from the Xbox indefinitely!!!

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  5. Yeah Andi!!
    Give your son some extra Xbox time for me :)

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