May 24, 2001

Gone in 30 seconds
   by indavis <isaac@dontforgetthemilk.com>

I don't even know how to call this one. Every once in a while I treat myself to a little breakfast, and this morning was one of those times. So I detour from my path to work and swing into McDonald's. Now before you start booing and hissing, I happen to like their breakfast. I know, there are a million other places, but it's on the way, and I'm hungry, so get out of the way.

I pull up and place my order, which recently they have been getting right on a consistent basis. Kind of scary. I pay at the first window, and pull up to the second. A little sidetrack here: who designed the windows exactly two and a half cars apart? I know there's room, put in an extra ten feet and the third car in line can pay while we are waiting. Pfft! Now, back to the original story. Once I get to the second window, they hand me a business card that says ":30 Drive Thru Guarantee," and the card gives me a free big mac. So I start looking, and they are now guaranteeing that I will have my order in 30 seconds. Now I truly have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, they get a !Pfft for speeding things up. You can't go wrong there. But here's where I start to wonder again. How bad is the customer service going to be, now that these people are on a serious time constraint? In 30 seconds, they have to remember to bag your order, get your drink, and salt the fries. They're going to be in a rush just to spit on your burger. Sorry about that, just a little joke. I actually worked at a McDonalds as a teen, and I never heard or saw anyone doing anything like that. So no lawsuits. Anyway, it does make me wonder how they are going to do it, since I remember how frantic it was back then. I guess they have better equipment now that can cook much faster, but should you really put your employees under that kind of stress? For that, I hand out a Pfft! because you know if those people hand out too many cards, they are going to get chewed out. I think 30 seconds is really pushing it. Especially on a special order, or when we take the kids. It takes more than 30 seconds just to say what we want. So I am going to leave this one up to you the reader. Me, I am just sitting here amazed that I spent this much time writing about a McDonalds promotion. I think I am going to give myself 30 seconds to get a life. Isaac

Published: May 24, 2001
Editor: stacy