I might have been kind of an Ass, here. (Self-Sighting, Mild Rant)

[Nijiero]

Okay, I feel I might have been an SC somewhat here... I know it's a lame excuse, but in my defense, we're in the middle of moving and I'd already been having a rough morning.

On my way to Old House to pick up another Truckload of Stuff to transfer over, and I was struck by a Mighty Thirst, so I pulled up into the Drivethru of a GoldenArches, two cars ahead of me in line. I ordered One Thing. And ONLY one thing. A Large Diet Coke, with Easy Ice. Then I waited in line for ten minutes. For two cars ahead of me. And then I pay, and get my Soda, and drive off... down the road, I insert straw, take a sip, and immidiately get REALLY annoyed. Because it was Dr. Pepper. With at least Regular Ice quantity, if not more. Seriously, you had ten minutes to process the simple order, with a machine that require only that you push a button and it AUTODISPENSES both ice and cola... you repeated my order to me at the pay window AND the pickup window... and STILL got it wrong.

So, I whipped along the turnaround, went back, right on inside, skipped the line of people and told the manager, in my annoyed tone, to tell his workers to Pay Attention to their JOBS. And got a cup to replace and remake it myself. I asked for nothing else, fixed my soda and left.

I don't want freebies, I just want people to do their jobs CORRECTLY. Is that too much to ask? To go out for a quick meal, and not have to have it redone every time? Concepts like 'No Onions, Extra Pickles'or 'Extra Sauce' (many places which you have to PAY for, and then not actually GET) Should not qualify as Rocket Science.

I just wish more people in the service industry (not you guys, you guys are all GREAT. ) would, at the very least, live by MY get-me-through-the-day mantra... "You don't have to LIKE your job, but you have to DO your Job."

Rant Over! Hopefully I wasn't TOO out of line in my reaction, there.

[sevendaysky]

Many McDs these days use an automated drink machine for drive-thru. Whatever the computer is told is what it fills. The other day, Mom and I go through their drive-through and I ask for a large Hi-C Orange, NO ICE. She tells the guy this. The screen isn't working or whatever so there's no visual verification. At the window, they hand us the cup - FULL of ice. I tried to tell Mom to STOP and let me hand it back through and have them redo it, or pull up front and let me run back in to fix it, but she wouldn't. I checked the receipt, and the guy punching in the order omitted the NO ICE request and thus the machine filled it with ice. I did write in to the website and complain because of the guy not punching the right buttons.

In your case, Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke are both dark, and the machine fills a drink as soon as it's put through the computer, which means it can have 5 drinks sitting waiting when only 1 belongs to the car currently at the window. It's possible a car behind you ordered a Dr. Pepper with ice, and the person at the DT window grabbed the Dr. Pepper and handed it through to you. Without some kind of label, it's hard to tell which is which in the cup unless it's something obviously different in color from cup to cup. So I can understand how it might have happened. HOWEVER, in the case of the auto machine, it dispenses in order, so the first cup to hand should have been yours (the Diet Coke).

[Food Lady]

When I worked at BK there were too many people at the window and stuff could get handed to the wrong customer because of us getting in each others' ways. But fast food corp people feel having a lot of staff=faster service. We were trying to pay attention. But even so, mistakes happened.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

But fast food corp people feel having a lot of staff=faster service.

If only retail corporate people felt the same way.

[HiddenMica]

Having worked in fast food for almost a decade now I can let you know that not all of them have the automatic ice dispensers. I know where I work doesn't and that the light ice can be completely, and totally, dependent on who is working the drink station. When someone asks for extra ice I usually go about three fourths of the cup. Light ice usually only coats the bottom with me where some people will go about an inch of ice. Never had the joys or working with an automated machine so I wouldn't even be able to tell you how one worked. Fast food is one job that doesn't take a lot of intelligence to do, but takes a hell of a lot of organizational skills for the employees and people skills on the managers part to do well. If they had an automated machine, I can understand your anger, but if they didn't, it could just have been someone has a different idea of light ice as you.

As for the wait, your order had nothing to do with the wait, it was the people in front of you that caused the wait. I've had three people in a row come through with forty to fifty dollar orders in drive thru. You can't pull all of them over because then the orders will get messed up when walking them out, or as in our store, there aren't any parking spaces. You also have the people who order something that is cooking or order a lot of one item (we have one customer that regularly orders over 100 tenders that comes through drive thru twice a week which take three and a half minutes to cook then counting them all into the separate boxes takes a while even if they are fast), that will make the person behind them wait for the same item. If there are three people in row waiting for the same item that the first guy bought out, then you can't really have every car pull over.

We are human. If it's busy we panic and make mistakes. Some people don't deal well with the high pressure, and fast paced, environment of fast food and fall apart. If the manager is one of those people, then no one else will be able to handle it either. No one will work harder than the manager works, and if the manager can't handle it then the employees will fall apart as well.

I hope this gives a bit of understanding to it, granted your anger could have entirely been deserved, but working in a fast food place, I can tell you that things can fall apart quickly, and easily, with a crew that isn't trained well or a manager that can't place people in the proper positions the employees are capable of.

[pltkcelestial18]

We are human. If it's busy we panic and make mistakes. Some people don't deal well with the high pressure, and fast paced, environment of fast food and fall apart. If the manager is one of those people, then no one else will be able to handle it either. No one will work harder than the manager works, and if the manager can't handle it then the employees will fall apart as well.

^This. After having worked in fast food for a year though I am a little more understanding if the wait is long or something gets mixed up. Stuff happens and people make mistakes.

I can understand your frustration though. It sucks to ask for one thing and get another. I don't know how many times I've gone to places and asked for no pickles but still got pickles on my burger.

[Food Lady]

If only retail corporate people felt the same way.

I know, right? Was totally thinking the same thing!

[blas]

I still feel that the piddly mistakes that happen and happen too often could be prevented by better listening and less rushing.

I am forced to rush at my work a lot, despite me hating it, I have someone breathing down my neck literally nearly every moment of my shift, asking me if I'm done yet or what is my problem, why is this machine not working yet, etc etc. I know how much it sucks to be pressured, but when you're in a place where someone will give specific orders like "No ice" or "only ketchup", you NEED to listen and not just "meh, whatever, I'm too busy for this" or not care if you get it wrong because you were too busy or pressured. like what seems to happen a lot to me if I ever go to a different McDonalds than the one I stick to the most.

I swear, I say "only ketchup", every other McDonalds, they hear "Everything BUT ketchup" or "only onions".

[Ironclad Alibi]

The only automated drink dispensers I have seen, from the customers side of the counter, dispense a measured amount of liquid for the small/medium/large button pushed. It is based on the remainder of the cup being ice. I have seen clerks using a manual button to finish filling cups ordered with light ice.

Back in the day when soda jerks were active, the glasses were marked with lines. The lowest line was for the syrup, the next line for the soda water, and the ice filled the remainder. This was to ensure the proper mix was dispensed to provide the correct flavor to the drink. I have seen similar lines on paper cups in the past. A line for the ice level, the remainder being the drink. I have not noticed if the cups still have that.

[hotelslave]

I always order drinks with No ice. About 75% of time going through the drive thru they fill it full of ice drives me crazy

[MiloMorai]

I'm with OP on this. I don't order DIET coke because I prefer it. I order it because I'm DIABETIC. Getting regular is not for happy times.

[Kristev]

Agreed. I also have diabetes. But I learned Diet Dr. Pepper really does taste more like regular Dr. Pepper.