McDonald's

Yet another example of why not to bother to eat at McDonlds, especially the Nashwaaksis location in Fredericton.

Just tonight for the umpteenth time, my order has been screwed up. And in drive-thru to boot. To make matters worse, I was in a rush and needed to get home so after the regular inane slowness in the lane, I bolted once I had the bag. I live just far enough away that it is a major piss-off to drive back down. Also, the food was for my son and he needed to get to bed so prolonging the ordeal was just not an option.

Beyond this, my complaints just keep on going...

First to qualify a lot of my frustration. I was a happy McDonalds employee in Moncton, NB for 3 years and for 1 year in Fredericton. During that time, the quality of management and of workers was FAR higher. The speed and quality of food was better and there were hardly any customer complaints. I am well aware of how to make all of the classic menu items and cannt at all see it difficult to make the new items.

-------Drive-Thru-------

For those that may not know, it used to be a standard that no car was to be in drive-thru for longer than 90 SECONDS from the moment that the order was taken. So basically, worst case, you go from speaker to gone with food in no more than 90 seconds. Delayed orders were a failed service and it was held against you. If the food ordered was delayed (McChickens, nuggets and fish are a pain if you run out as they take 5 minutes to cook), you parked the order and let those behind that car to move through.

I do not at all see this going on. It is a regular event to see myself foolishly sit in line (After the speaker) for 5 to 15 minutes. I also see more order mistakes in drive-thru than is at all acceptable. Worse still, there is a new habbit of not including the reciept in the bag so it becomes more diffficult to lodge a complaint.

------Food Speed------

McDonalds may be "fast food" but not anymore. It is certainly the SLOWEST food on earth. As noted, I worked there for a good chunk of time and made WAY more than my share of burgers. When I left McDonalds, it was still possible to produce in under 60 seconds: up to 12 cheesburger/hamburgers or 6 Big Macs or 9 Quarter pounders. With a properly staffed kitchen, an absolutely insane amount of food can be produced even if the employees are only avarage.

By todays standards, it is appearent that nearly every employee is WAY below average. Wendy's, Burger King and A&W all prepare their burgers to order as McDonalds now does and by far, those restauraunts are a LOT faster a LOT more of the time. This shows that it is possible to get food out to order and quickly.

------Food Quality------

One of the things that I so distinctly remember getting in trouble for when I first started working for McDonalds was making the burgers. Everything was to be centered and there was NO condiments to be seen on the outside of the bun. Fries were to be properly salted and they were also to never stay in the holding bin longer than either 7 or 10 minutes (I can't remember which it was).

Today, no way is this being enforced. It is a common occurance to see sauce or onions all over the place when opening a box or unwrapping something. This is TOTALLY unacceptable. It is also quite common to get old fries or fries with no salt. The McDonalds french fries are the heart and soul of a meal and this is just foolish to ruin the experience that far.

Simply put, the failure of McDonalds is of their own making, both at the corporate and the franchise level. Quality control and service exellence are a thing of the past. Do not bother expecting it from them.