Well the moment I saw that it was Mac Donalds that we had to, to complete our project the first thing that came to mind is their crappy customer service and the bad attitude of the cashiers. But that was to be a good thing for me because I thought it was going to give me something to write about for this paper. Boy I was wrong, I was very wrong as a matter of fact. I went to the Mac Donalds near my house and I was well prepared for their attitude drenched service. When I entered I saw, to my benefit, that the place was jam-packed. So with a sly smile on my face I walk up to the counter and BAAM!! A sucker punch: My order was being taken by the manager himself, there go my 100 or so words for the essay. Well I went along hoping to encounter some mishap from the manager or one of his cronies. So I place my order and to my surprise it was greeted with a smile and not only that he personally walked over to the guy incharge of the French fries and told him not to put salt on my fries and then he tell the guy preparing my burger about my specific pickle requirements and to my surprise they both got it right the first time around. The manager detected the slight disappointment on my face and with a smile, God I hate that smile, told me that as far as the fries go the lack of the salt on them was not a once in a blue moon order because of the fact that they have a lot of retired people who come in at that place. Upon finding out that I was doing this for a class project he put the icing on his cake by apologizing to me. Well I walked out of the place with having lost my $2 dollars for no cause at all. Now a normally I would be happy after getting this kind of service at a Mac Donalds but since I had to write this essay I started to analyze the situation to come up with the explanation that would explain my biased view, that it wasn’t good management that resulted in this good service but rather it was something that I did that made them behave in this strange and bizarre way. Fast forward to 10 minutes later I came up with one “definite” conclusion: The words ‘I have a very specific order’. So, firmly of the belief that that was indeed the case I decided to have another go at the Mac Donalds management. And this time I decided to enter into an unfair fight. How? I went to one the most busiest Mac Donalds on Earth: The one at Times Square. Yes I know what you are thinking and yes I am a sore loser. Anyways, i walk in and boy did I get my money’s worth of service. Lets start at the beginning. I walk up to the counter and instead of a slime was treated with a disgruntled expression, BAAM!! Round 1 for me, sweet revenge. I give my order to the not so I-am-happy-to-be-here employee who after hearing the order looked at me as if was from Mars. After finding out that I wasn’t busting her chops, she slowly but surely turned around and walked to co-worker who was packaging various orders. The both then turned around and looked at me as if I were totally bonkers. Anyways she comes back and tells me to step aside while my order was being prepared. When I was waiting I found out that there was one disadvantage in this venue for me, I couldn’t exactly see what was happening with the whole order and exactly how many people were involved. All in know is that they took more than half an hour to give me what usually takes at the max 15 minutes. Everytime i would ask her about my order either she would not respond the first timw and when she did it was because i raised my voice. Upon getting the order i asked her whether i could talk to the manager and well after a five minute argument and another 10 minutes (may have been more) i got to talk to the manager and he told me that it was confusing for th people who were preparing my order because they were used to one specific routine and told me that they couldn't be blamed because thats not the way thing were done over there. Istead of arguing more i just left and kindly asked the manager to keep my burger as a reminder that there's always someone that wants to go the other way.
All in all if I was a consultant I would go back to the first Mac Donalds and ask the manager over there to become in charge on training the employees on how to take special orders. Both old and new employees should be asked to undergo a simulation where they have to treat especial orders but also how to handle rowdy customers. And order to do this they must be emphasized to practice patience. But the difficult part is doing all this in a timely manner especially if you work at a very busy place. And for this communication between everyone in the order preparing should be top notch.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Carnage amid Chaos, yet sweet redemption
This activity was a excellent hands on experience of as to how to handle a situation where a large group of people have to come up with a solution with certain limited resources and no particular given set of rules.
This activity by far the most important one, with our future professional careers in mind, was also by far the most difficult and for the professor the most predictable one. I on a personal basis could have predicted the ongoing action but i have to admit i was shocked as to what unfolded. Shocked not because there was something new but because each and everything thing that was expected to happen did actually take place. The confusion was indeed the usual ingredient but the girl with the good grade refusing to compromise and the guy who almost took it all apart at the last time are not your usual suspects but they were there and both at the same time. I think its easy to say that the person who came out of this the most most happy chap was the professor himself.
In terms of handling the affairs i think the class did an excellent job until the end. No one was assigned the leader yet one guy decided to step up and not only act but also got the support and response that you would expect a leader to get. It was not only him there were other "sub leaders" or managers to help him out. Almost everyone had the same agenda in mind, at least the majority did but that was undone by the fact that the acceptance of the proposal would require a 100% vote. That meant that the contradicting view of a couple of people were of huge significance. But the class as a whole should versatility and adapted to the new and changing situation and coped with it by coming with a proposal that pleased all. That was until due to a is understanding it all came apart. And this is where i think we failed, instead of getting up from the fall we lied down and accepted our fate. Which as it turned out due to one person wasn't to be. By this act that person not only take the highlight of the night and made it their own but also the credit that was to be given to the people who orchestrated the whole deal for the major part. And they have only themselves to blame as when they were required the most they gave up. Equal blame lies on my shoulders and those of the rest who just lied down and refused to struggle. In the end though we got parts of what we wanted. Why parts? Because we left it all to be done in the nick of time. And as i had mentioned befor doing things according to tthis approach leaves you neither here not there.
Me on a personal basis chose the avoidance method. Avoidance not in terms of what the professor has explained in his slides but more along the lines of sitting back, observing and learning from other peoples mistakes . And i did learn one important, amongst others, lesson. That my approach while good could have been carried out while participating and helping the group out. They say time and tide wait for no man. Indeed they don't but as long as you learn from youe mistakes there is always a second chance.
This activity by far the most important one, with our future professional careers in mind, was also by far the most difficult and for the professor the most predictable one. I on a personal basis could have predicted the ongoing action but i have to admit i was shocked as to what unfolded. Shocked not because there was something new but because each and everything thing that was expected to happen did actually take place. The confusion was indeed the usual ingredient but the girl with the good grade refusing to compromise and the guy who almost took it all apart at the last time are not your usual suspects but they were there and both at the same time. I think its easy to say that the person who came out of this the most most happy chap was the professor himself.
In terms of handling the affairs i think the class did an excellent job until the end. No one was assigned the leader yet one guy decided to step up and not only act but also got the support and response that you would expect a leader to get. It was not only him there were other "sub leaders" or managers to help him out. Almost everyone had the same agenda in mind, at least the majority did but that was undone by the fact that the acceptance of the proposal would require a 100% vote. That meant that the contradicting view of a couple of people were of huge significance. But the class as a whole should versatility and adapted to the new and changing situation and coped with it by coming with a proposal that pleased all. That was until due to a is understanding it all came apart. And this is where i think we failed, instead of getting up from the fall we lied down and accepted our fate. Which as it turned out due to one person wasn't to be. By this act that person not only take the highlight of the night and made it their own but also the credit that was to be given to the people who orchestrated the whole deal for the major part. And they have only themselves to blame as when they were required the most they gave up. Equal blame lies on my shoulders and those of the rest who just lied down and refused to struggle. In the end though we got parts of what we wanted. Why parts? Because we left it all to be done in the nick of time. And as i had mentioned befor doing things according to tthis approach leaves you neither here not there.
Me on a personal basis chose the avoidance method. Avoidance not in terms of what the professor has explained in his slides but more along the lines of sitting back, observing and learning from other peoples mistakes . And i did learn one important, amongst others, lesson. That my approach while good could have been carried out while participating and helping the group out. They say time and tide wait for no man. Indeed they don't but as long as you learn from youe mistakes there is always a second chance.
Nick Of Time! Not as "CooL" as It SounDs
In today's world time is of the essence, in part because time is money. Some people take time for granted because they have not confronted the harsh reality that the above is soooo true. Can't really blame them as i would be a hypocrite to do so as i used to be one of them poor souls and in some way still am.
The management problem that i am facing this semester is that of managing my time. I have part-time internship, a weekend job and to top it all of i am taking 6 courses this semester. Add some club activities and you got all the ingredients needed for a nervous breakdown or failure of all. And thats going to be my biggest test this semester, to put it all of. And not only pull it off but to do so in flying colors. Right now i seem to be pulling everything off in the nick of time, while the going is bad it's the flying colors that i projected for myself. The task ahead is to ace in the tasks that are assigned as possible. All this is possible even within the given limited time frame, all that is needed is near perfect usage of time. Now that would be possible through a series of trials and errors, but once again time, in a different sense of word is of the essence.
Here in lies my biggest challenge of my college career to date. I have start walking the walk from the word go from now on. And i have an idea on how to do so, by not stop doing things in the nick of time because that leaves neither here or there. I'll you readers( if there are any!) on my progress. Oh and in case you guys were wondering its GO!!
The management problem that i am facing this semester is that of managing my time. I have part-time internship, a weekend job and to top it all of i am taking 6 courses this semester. Add some club activities and you got all the ingredients needed for a nervous breakdown or failure of all. And thats going to be my biggest test this semester, to put it all of. And not only pull it off but to do so in flying colors. Right now i seem to be pulling everything off in the nick of time, while the going is bad it's the flying colors that i projected for myself. The task ahead is to ace in the tasks that are assigned as possible. All this is possible even within the given limited time frame, all that is needed is near perfect usage of time. Now that would be possible through a series of trials and errors, but once again time, in a different sense of word is of the essence.
Here in lies my biggest challenge of my college career to date. I have start walking the walk from the word go from now on. And i have an idea on how to do so, by not stop doing things in the nick of time because that leaves neither here or there. I'll you readers( if there are any!) on my progress. Oh and in case you guys were wondering its GO!!
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