The customer's always right... Wrong

I think whoever came up with the phrase "The customer is always right"
has never worked with the general public for any real time. As most
of my readers know I work for McDonalds. I one day I see tons of
examples of the customer being wrong. In some cases we don't have to
tell them, but often we do. I figured going through a few would make a
good blog post.

One of the most recent examples would be a customer I just had come
through drive thru. He ordered two hotcakes, two hashbrowns, and two
sausage patties. I was nice/smart enough to ring in the hotcakes &
sausage platter to save him some money. His total came to $10.79. As
he pulled away I heard him grumbling about the price. When he reached
my window he told me his order is never more then eight something. So
I read his order back to him. He informed me the reason it higher was
because I put the hotcakes & sausage in together, and they should be
separate. So I did some quick math and told him it would come to
$10.76 before tax. He told me to do it that way to save him a few
cents. Again I informed him that was the pretax amount and it would
be more after tax. So then he asked about the prices, and when I said
$2.00 for the hashbrowns he said "well there's the problem, I didn't
want four hashbrowns." So I explained the fact that our hashbrowns
are $1.00 each. He argued that every other time he's come through
they were two for $1.00, and wouldn't believe me that ours have been
$1.00 each for about two years now. By this time a manager came back
to see what the hold up was, and she had to reexplain everything to
him again. So that's one example of a customer who was wrong.

Another example is our change over from breakfast to lunch. Unlike
most McDonalds we switch to lunch at 11:00am instead of 10:30am. I
hear a lot of arguments on this. I think my favorite one is "I was
here yesterday at this time and got lunch." the normal repy I like to
give is, "I'm sorry this location has served breakfast till 11:00 for
at least the past ten years." Some people change their story, others
keep arguing. Then you have the ones who after being told we're still
on breakfast, start ordering lunch items anyway. I've had a customer
go through about fifteen different lunch items already. It really
makes you wonder if they are seriously that unintelligent or if its a
joke, or if they think arguing will get them lunch.

Another example would be the customers who order specials that aren't
at this McDonalds, or food that isn't sold by McDonalds. A good
example right now is various restaurants, excluding McDonalds as far
as I know, are running their fish sandwiches two for some amount. Now
we keep getting people who order two fish sandwiches and when they
aren't the lower price they argue. Then you have to explain that
they are thinking of a different restaurant. Or you have the ones who
order a fish sandwiche on friday and expect it to only be $1.00
because they saw an ad for McDonalds in philadelphia and assume
everywhere has it. But one of the best ones i've seen was the girl
that came in and ordered a frosty. Now anyone who knows fast food
restaurants knows that McDonalds doesn't sell frosties, but she
started by arguing that when she was here last year we sold them.
When I tried explaining to her that its Wendy's that sells frosties
she argued that all the McDonalds in her area sells them.

So you see there are many areas where the customer is really wrong,
but good customer service says you should just smile and make them
think they're right even when wrong...

Saturday routine

As my friends and family on facebook probably know Cathy and I have a
Saturday routine we usually do. About the only time we don't is when
Cathy has to work, or on the rare occasions when something else comes
up. Although it can be very tiring, its usually a fun day.
It starts out at 4:00am when we get up to do our paper routes.
Although I really hate getting up that early, it really helps with
doing the rest of our Saturday routine. Depending on how long the
papers take we either go home for a short break or head straight for
breakfast.

Several months back, after a bad experience at a different
restaurant, we decided to try Lisa's Café in Palmyra. I can say it
was one of the best decision we've made for breakfast. In the time
we've been eating, we've decided on some usual breakfast meals. On our
most recent trip I got their pancakes with sausage, and Cathy got
their creamed chipped beef.

The pancakes are always thick fluffy pancakes that really fill you
up. They also don't require a lot of butter and syrup to make them
taste good. With the sausage you get four breakfast links. I really
feel its worth the money. The creamed chipped beef comes served over
either home fries or toast. Unlike most restaurants theirs has a
really meaty flavor. The home fries are lightly grilled. Of all the
times we've eaten there we've never been disappointed.

After breakfast we usually have some time to kill. Some weeks we do
some grocery shopping, others, w just come home. Around 10 we head up
to ZooAmerica to visit with the animals. How long we spend there
really depends on the weather, and how busy the zoo is. There are
always animals we make it a point to stop and talk to. Among them are
Marbles the owl, Butch and Sally the black bears, and of course Dakota
Custer and Sioux the wolves.

After ZooAmerica we stop by Bruno's Old Style Hoagies in Palmyra for
a late lunch or early dinner. Again just like Lisa's we have usuals,
but don't always get them. The last time we stopped in I got their
turkey and ham. Although they suggest the numbers a certain way, they
will customize them for you. They have this one listed as a "diablo"
which means its a hot sub. Instead I got mine with the tavern ham and
smoked turkey, and Swiss cheese on a soft roll. Cathy got an Italian
sub on a soft roll, with American cheese. Just like Lisa's Café we
are always happy with what we get.

After lunch/dinner we usually don't plan anything unless the Bears
are playing at home. If that's the case then we head up to the Giant
Center for a night of hockey. I know to a lot of people this may
sound like a boring day, but we enjoy it.

Chicken McWraps

  McDonalds just recently started some new "premium" chicken wraps, so
over the last few days I've tried them. My first thought is they are
trying to compete with places like Subway, but I really don't think
they are as good as Subway's.  I figure I'll go through the wraps in
the order I tried them. I'll first describe what they should come as'
then how I ordered them, and lastly how I got it, and my thoughts.
    The first one I tried was the chicken & bacon McWrap. They all
come either grilled or crispy. This one has the chicken, bacon,
shredded cheddar jack cheese, tomatoes, spring mix lettuce, shredded
lettuce, creamy garlic sauce, and they all come on a 10 inch steamed
tortilla. The only change I made to this one was no tomatoes, and
surprisingly I actually got it that way. One of the first things I
noticed was the fact that the bacon was really limp, and I'm one who
likes bacon more on the crispy side. I'm not sure if it was just the
fact that someone didn't cook our bacon right, or if the steamed
tortilla made it limp. As for the taste, it works fairly well the way
it is. My biggest thing is I could barely taste the garlic sauce. So
assuming it had the correct amount on it, I would suggest getting
extra added.
    The second one I tried was the chicken & ranch McWrap. This one
has tomatoes, cucumbers, spring mix, shredded lettuce, cheddar jack
cheese, seasoned rice vinegar, and buttermilk ranch. For this one I
ordered it with no tomatoes or cucumbers, and again I was surprised to
get it the way I ordered it. Again the flavors seemed to work well
together. Again assuming it as made correctly I think the vinegar was
a little overpowering, ad the ranch was too faint. For my tastes I
would suggest either light or no vinegar, and a little extra ranch.
    I tried the sweet chili McWrap last. This one usually comes with
cucumbers, spring mix, shredded lettuce, cheddar jack cheese, sweet
chili sauce, and the creamy garlic sauce. For this one I ordered it
with no cucumbers, and light sweet chili sauce. Unfortunately this one
they really messed up. What I got was the wrap with the cucumbers on
it, what appeared to be extra sweet chili sauce, and bacon which
doesn't even come on it, and I didn't ask for. So now its really hard
for me to say how it would have tasted if it would have been made
correctly. For me the cucumbers just doesn't work on it. Again the
bacon was too limp, so I really think its the steamed tortilla causing
this. The sweet chili sauce was way overpowering, this is the main
reason I asked for it with light sweet chili. And I couldn't taste the
garlic sauce at all. If I ever order this one again, I'll have to
definitely ask for it the way I originally did, and I think it will
taste a lot better.
    Overall if you are looking for a healthier option at McDonalds, I
would suggest any of these wraps grilled. Or for just a different
choice I would suggest the crispy version.  I think the changes I
suggested would make them taste better, but if you like any of the
items I removed, then try the wraps with them on. So surprisingly I am
suggesting people eat at McDonalds, and even at the location I work
at.

Back to blogging

As the few followers i have can tell i haven't been on my blog in a while again.  This is mainly die to my laziness.  The days I actually have time to type a post i just don't feel like sitting down to type it.   I hope to change that with this post today.  I have several ideas for some blog posts.

One of the easiest things to blog about is work.  i can post about some of our "intelligent" customers,  or about some of my "intelligent" coworkers.  Of course this can also include some of the "intelligent" mistakes i make in a day.  This alone could make for some interesting blog posts.

Another idea is a "foodie" type blog.  I figure between the few times we eat out, and the free meals I get at work this could give me some posts too.  Although the ones from food gotten at work will probably sound pretty much the same.

Then of course I'll have just the general ideas that come into my head.  I'm sure from time to time this will bring me some interesting posts.  So to my few readers stay tuned for some more posts, and help spread the word.  I feel the more reader/followers i get the more motivated i'll be to post.