All alone at McDonald's

I did the walk-in part first. One other customer in front of me, but he got his order to go.

I had the dining room to myself for 20 minutes. At 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday. I know it's Memorial Day weekend, but I had never seen a McDonald's this empty.

Ate and did the drive-in portion. No other cars in line, naturally.

Think they may have figured out I was the shopper?

Probably not. Because my times in line were five and six minutes, repectively.

Survey asked what caused the delay. I give up. I was tempted, but didn't say, they just sucked.

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More About Fast Food

Wow. That's really bad.

mcdonald's same store sales are way down. They keep
making big missteps with their menu the last 12 months
and so far it keeps getting worse and not better.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

Our McDonald's apparently doesn't train the new people. We get tired of the mistakes they make.

That must be a record of some kind. I don't think I've ever had over five minutes except when the place is super, super busy. Are you located in the South? I hear everything goes slower down there.

That sounds like my local McDonalds. They are terrible. How do you answer the question about the delay, anyway? How the heck should I know what causes them to be slow. The last time, they told me they had to make my hash browns but usually, I have no idea.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

If there isn't a readily identifiable issue, I'll just actually say, "There was no reason, that I could discern, to cause the delay." So far {knock on wood!} the reports have been accepted.

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.

That question always bothers me too because I generally have no clue why there was a delay. Like StormCloud I just say there was no reason I could see.

I don't like answering that question either. It's not my place to say why it took them so long.

There are ways to describe the delay objectively even if when it has no good reason you can see. Try inattentiveness, lack of urgency, talking amongst themselves or ineffective time management skills. Let the reader conclude they sucked without using that word.

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

I went into a McD's and it was dead in there too.

When I went thru the DT portion, the employee said, "Welcome Back!"

vlade5394 Wrote:
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> There are ways to describe the delay objectively
> even if when it has no good reason you can see.
> Try inattentiveness, lack of urgency, talking
> amongst themselves or ineffective time management
> skills. Let the reader conclude they sucked
> without using that word.

If I didn't observe any of those, I certainly wouldn't say them.

SunnyDays2 Wrote:
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> I went into a McD's and it was dead in there too.
>
> When I went thru the DT portion, the employee
> said, "Welcome Back!"

One MSC posted about a mystery shopper who actually changed her shirt, put on sunglasses etc. in between the different parts of the shop. That's dedication for ya!

Not McD's but I was at Krispy Kreme this morning. Their goal is from order to drive out 90 seconds (or something like that) it took me 21 minutes and 32 seconds in line for a cup of coffee. I desperately needed that coffee and I kept thinking any minute so didn't drive off. Good for them I wasn't doing a shop.

gogogirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not McD's but I was at Krispy Kreme this morning.
> Their goal is from order to drive out 90 seconds
> (or something like that) it took me 21 minutes and
> 32 seconds in line for a cup of coffee. I
> desperately needed that coffee and I kept thinking
> any minute so didn't drive off. Good for them I
> wasn't doing a shop.

I detested the KK-DT shop, because it was VERY difficult to take pictures of the entire menu board, when it was very tight (circular), very small and slammed with cars!

I love the walk-in portion!

I will never do a DT one again.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

bgriffin Wrote:
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> I will never do a DT one again.

I know!

I hated driving down the street and taking multiple shots of the dozen donuts!

Try doing it in a 2 seat convertible with the top down and in plain view of all of the employees! :/

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I like the DT. My store parks its trucks across from the menu board and there is just enough space for me to drive on the other side and snap pictures without anyone seeing me. I don't like the dine-in shops and only do them when I get an email offering a bonus on those.

I think they ask that not because they think we're clairvoyant but to give us a chance to explain anything obvious, such as "I was behind this humongous SUV that must have had nine people crammed inside it" or "Just as I was parking a masked man ran out carrying a bag presumably full of money and I think it threw everyone off their game just a bit since they were making my order while talking on the phone to the 911 operator" or "Cettie had been there and a goat had followed her in and it took the fry cook and the burger flipper both to herd it out of the restaurant."

Time to build a bigger bridge.

gogogirl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not McD's but I was at Krispy Kreme this morning.
> Their goal is from order to drive out 90 seconds
> (or something like that) it took me 21 minutes and
> 32 seconds in line for a cup of coffee. I
> desperately needed that coffee and I kept thinking
> any minute so didn't drive off. Good for them I
> wasn't doing a shop.

LOL. I never used to time anything. Now that I mystery shop I time everything - even when I'm not MSing!

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Try doing it in a 2 seat convertible with the top
> down and in plain view of all of the employees!
> :/

Yeah, you *would* be the guy in the 2-seat convertible. Red?

I'm having a mid-life crisis I can't help it! And it's silver not red.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

> Try doing it in a 2 seat convertible with the top
> down and in plain view of all of the employees!
> :/

I would be afraid to do a shop in a convertible because I would worry the papers or receipts would fly out of the car!

I think Mickey D's may be in trouble. The one by me is just so horrible I will go anywhere else - and I usually am just buying a soda. I did one mystery shop for them and then asked to be taken off the rotation forever because it was just too frustrating and the food is so horrible.

I like their juices.

Every time I pass this thread, it gets me singing "All alone at the end of the evening ......."

bgriffin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Try doing it in a 2 seat convertible with the top
> down and in plain view of all of the employees!
> :/

Show off...

:-)

"If a train station is where trains stop, what are workstations for?"

The last one I did was a lunch shop back in April. The dine in was ridiculously slow. They ask about the delay, but how are we supposed to know for sure. I answered that it appeared that my entrée item was left in a pick up tray after leaving the kitchen and no one noticed it sitting there. They accepted it and I've already been paid. But if regular customers are having to wait that long, they're in big trouble.

Also, they aren't offering the $1 any size coffee anymore in my area. A medium is now $1.60. They lost hubby's business with that one.

I wondered if they were talking about me with that one shopper! I wear a lot of tank tops so in between WI and DT I'll take off a sweater, put on a hat and glasses, and add some lipstick.

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All alone at McDonald's

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