I want to see what you all think of an idea

[toomanycalls1]

Where I work we have a lot of people who take public transportation. We also don't have anything within walking distance for lunch.

So we order a lot.

Management is getting not happy about how much time and disruption it causes every day.

So I came up with this idea:

I am volunteering to be the organizer.

We put a pile of the local menus at several places in the office.

By 1130 everyone emails me where they want to go and what they want.

Majority rules. I email those that don't want what the majority wants and ask if they want something from there. I also let the people who voted for other places if there are enough ordering from the place they want. For example if we voted for A and 3 others wanted B I'day "Bob, Joe and Sue want B if you guys want to order from there let me know"

at 12 I call in the order.

When it arrives send an email out "Foods here" and ask people to come get it and pay me then.

[myswtghst]

At my work, we do something similar. Thankfully, we have an in-house IM system so we can chat about it, but same idea.

I work second shift, and of the people I work with (a couple different departments) I'm the only one with a scheduled dinner break during that time long enough that I can leave, so I tend to make runs a few times a week, and the rest of the time we order in.

I have a stack of menus on my desk, including the local chinese place and a sub delivery place. If no one has said anything to me by an hour before my break, I shoot out a mass IM, ask for suggestions, and decide where I'm going or where we're ordering from. We take turns ordering, and it generally works pretty good.

The only advice I'd give is to have pretty firm "deadlines" in place. I have trouble sometimes with coworkers being indecisive or fussy, and not responding until a few minutes before I have to head out, which can be a huge pain.

[powerboy]

I thhink that it is a great idea. Just make sure that everyone who ordered pays you, when they pick it up.

[Bagga]

Better still, the first day you use the system, they pay double. Following days they pay for what they eat that day. So everyone is at least partially paid up before their order.

One of the problems with this very useful system is that occasionally you will get SC/workmates who say "But i TOLD you that I didn't want dill pickle in my burger! (even if they didnt tell you) This burger has got pickle in it. It's not what I ordered! I don't want it, and I am not gonna pay for it".

So when that happens, you take it out of their prior payment, and remove them from the system. They can bring their own packed lunch in future.

[draggar]

On paper it sounds like a great idea but in reality it will suck. People will only partially pay, not include tax / tip (if needed), and as Bagga said people will complain to you about getting X when they wanted Y or people will pout 'well, I don't want to eat where everyone else does, so I'll get my own'. I used to get food for everyone in the store but I always ended up short changed and I usually ended up paying for someone's lunch because prices change and it's not reflected in the menu.

As for the menues, excellent idea. They should be kept in a lunch area (if you have one) so people can easily access them, get 2-3 menues of each (at least) and keep extras as your fesk for when the others go missing.

[digilight]

Definantly go on a prepay system. Any folks wanting to get in on this system must pay ahead of time, whether its 20 bucks at the begining of the week and they "re-up" when their "bank" is at 5 bucks or whatever. You just don't want to get stuck getting the shaft on it.

Also include the tax and tip amount in their totals. And make sure they know that. So if they order something that is $4.35 before tax/tip it is a accepted fact that their total would be 7 bucks even afterwards for example.

This could be easily kept track of with a weekly spreadsheet that gets emailed to all those involved, also covers your ass if person A claims that they should still have 12 bucks in the kitty but everyone else has seen their amount be adjusted correctly for the week.

Do it right the first time so you don't have to figure out where to hid the body after they piss you off to bad.