Fast food shops

Does anyone think it's sort of a weird question on a fast food shop, when they first ask the minutes, seconds that you were in line, and then after you answer it they ask you "why" you were in line that long? Not the first time I've seen them ask this, but to me this is such a dumb question. Seriously--how would I know "why"? That would be a question for the staff in the restaurant. It's one thing when you are inside standing in line because you may be able to tell them what's going on, but how would you know on the drive through portion? Not the first time I've thought this, just wanted some opinions. Just slightly annoyed.......

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Often the answer just has to be, "I could see no reason for the delay." On the other hand, if the guy in front of you has 3 kids and they can't make up their minds and once he is paid he jumps back in front of you because, "Suzy wants an X instead of a Y, is it too late to change the order?" you can see why the timings get screwed up. Then while you are waiting for your order, Suzy spills her drink and the order taker needs to get the mop and go clean up. You see your sandwich hit the chute, your fries and cup are on your tray, but the order taker finishes mopping, puts up the wet floor sign and then comes back to put your sandwich on your tray and apologize.

I agree with Flash, but seriously, the form could be written better. The "why" question seems a bit forward to me for some reason. I would like a "could you see a reason for the delay" question instead.

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

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2015 02:51AM by bgriffin.

One time the form asked me why it was so fast. You just can't please the Clown.

(It was because somebody else at the counter listened to the order and prepped it before it was entered)

Does anyone know a specific company I can apply to mystery shop a fast food here in California such as McDonald's in n out Burger King Tommys etc?

They really "do" want to know the delay and what caused it. Sometimes a shopper might have caused part of that delay by not being ready to order when they get to the cashier, not having their money ready, or talking on their cell phone. While these are rare, it might likely happen from time to time. They want to know if it was their fault for the delay or yours? Sometimes strange things happen or you have a new crew member who might have trouble using the register. So many variables here...

I'm still trying to figure out how to focus my x-ray vision to see if the person 15 cars ahead of me paid with a debit or credit card.

It's automated to trigger if the timing exceeds the client's expectations for "perfect" timing... I agree it's annoying, especially with how the MSC's system is. But I can see that it tries to cover as many clarification questions as possible.

@DebbiC wrote:

I'm still trying to figure out how to focus my x-ray vision to see if the person 15 cars ahead of me paid with a debit or credit card.

The answer is you report what you can only see. Sometimes you're able to see the car ahead of you at Window 1 give the Cashier a card. It's also obvious when a there's a large order with the car at Window 2.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

@bgriffin wrote:

I agree with Flash, but seriously, the form could be written better. The "why" question seems a bit forward to me for some reason. I would like a "could you see a reason for the delay" question instead.

It is true that a 'why' sounds like a challenge so 'could you see' is a lot softer but would need a certain required minimum number of spaces or the answer would always be a knee jerk 'no'. Better to have shoppers scratching their heads saying, "What are we mind readers?" and reporting 'chaos of unknown origins.' or 'There was no reason obvious to me.' But at the same time, if it took 15 minutes from order to delivery because there was an emergency such as a kitchen fire, a customer slumping in what appears to be a heart attack, a spill in the dining room that needs immediate attention to avoid lawsuits, we understand those things in real life and that they don't reflect on the efficiency of the team. This gives us an opportunity to mention those mitigating circumstances.

In all the years I have been doing this certain fast food shop with a drive thru/walk-in, I have yet to see a debit card used in the drive-thru (or I am blind, lol) I think most customers pay with cash.

I always use my debit card. I only use cash when I am on a shop and it's required.

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

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

In all the years I have been doing this certain fast food shop with a drive thru/walk-in, I have yet to see a debit card used in the drive-thru (or I am blind, lol) I think most customers pay with cash.

YMMV, I guess. I personally pay all transactions with credit, unless they don't accept card or I'm required to pay cash for a shop.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

I use a debit card which gives me 1% back when used as a credit card. Since they don't have PIN capabilities, it gets run as a credit card. Of course, if I am required to use cash for a particular shop, I do.

I see lots of "credit" cards used inside and outside FF stores. I am now beginning to see people use their cell phones to pay bills. The prevalence of cash versus credit cards may be a function of age and region of the country. I know I was a lot slower to use a card rather than cash than my children.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

I had to teach my parents how to use credit cards. They were surprised that they could get one with no annual fee and flabbergasted that they could have the free use of 'somebody else's money' for 30 days while their money earned interest at the bank. That was back when interest rates were double digit so interest for 30 days meant something.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I agree with the fact that sometimes things happen while you are standing in line that will delay the order taker, etc. I also agree that I cannot possibly know what is going on 3 or 4 cars ahead of me. I just did 2 of these shops in two days and both times the order taking evidently was not what the company wants to see. In both of the shops, nothing major was going on that would cause delays that I could see. Thanks again.

The ones I find difficult are the drive thru ones with the large vehicles blocking my view of the ones at the windows. One time, I just said something about not being able to see from my viewpoint in line. It went through with no problem.

Another time I just wrote which vehicle took the longest at the window. Something like, “A white dually truck was at the window two cars ahead of me. It was there for two minutes and I was not able to see what the customer’s delay was.”

It seems every time I have done one at the arches I get that question. Even when the time is very short.

The last time I did one I thought I was cleared for this. The only other customer in line was leaving the counter when I came in. The order taker took care of me quickly. Then the food came out before I could get my change into my pocket. Still, I got the “Why did it take so long?”

After laughing out loud, I wrote something like, “The order presenter had to retrieve the food from about five feet away from the counter. There was no other delay that I could see.”

But, what I was really thinking was that it seemed as fast as humanly possible to me.

"All we want are the facts." Sgt. Joe Friday

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Fast food shops

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