On Being Rushed at Fast Food Places
I am well aware that this anecdotal post on one of my anti-favorites is likely specific to living in a "college town" (within a city), but I'm wondering if others have experienced it.
I am already not much of a fan of fast food. I am bored and/or grossed out by most everything on the McDonald's menu. At most other burger places, I never buy burgers, and I tend to order the same thing every single time.
So the existence of "healthier" fast food places, such as Subway and Chipotle, is welcome to me.
However, there is one way that I vastly prefer the "more traditional" fast food places (in the city, at least) -- I feel less rushed.
One would think that fast food should be fast, but I am a man of balance. There comes a point when "fast" means that errors or made or bad service is given due to impatience towards the mildly slower customer.
At the older fast food places, an order is placed, then sent off to be put together and the next customer can order without having to wait.
At the newer fast food places -- again, e.g. Subway and Chipotle -- the entire line of customers "slides down" in assembly line fashion, with them providing their preferences at each step of the sandwich/burrito-building process.
Because of this, pressure is put on the customers to make up their minds quickly so that the "assembly line" can continue.
Now, I have been at suburban Subways and Chipotles, as well as to urban ones. The former, in my experience, do not rush the customers, but the latter do. This really irks me.
First, very often, the workers behind the counter are in such a rush, that they begin to put something on your order before you have asked them to. This has resulted in many errors in my orders.
Second, very often, the workers attempt to begin my order before I am even at the counter. I cannot see the food or the menu from that distance or angle -- depending on the store -- yet I am pressured because I am "holding up the line".
Third, they attempt to do so many orders at once, that people's orders get mixed up. I've purchased the wrong sandwich on some occasions.
Fourth, the line gets very cramped. Sure, this is a cultural thing; for better or worse, we Americans like a certain amount of distance between ourselves and strangers and do not like to feel herded like cattle. But these are also restaurants in America.
I am not suggesting that these workers should be slow but rather patient.
Can anyone else relate to these? Or am I alone in noticing/being bothered by this at city fast food places of this sort?
I am already not much of a fan of fast food. I am bored and/or grossed out by most everything on the McDonald's menu. At most other burger places, I never buy burgers, and I tend to order the same thing every single time.
So the existence of "healthier" fast food places, such as Subway and Chipotle, is welcome to me.
However, there is one way that I vastly prefer the "more traditional" fast food places (in the city, at least) -- I feel less rushed.
One would think that fast food should be fast, but I am a man of balance. There comes a point when "fast" means that errors or made or bad service is given due to impatience towards the mildly slower customer.
At the older fast food places, an order is placed, then sent off to be put together and the next customer can order without having to wait.
At the newer fast food places -- again, e.g. Subway and Chipotle -- the entire line of customers "slides down" in assembly line fashion, with them providing their preferences at each step of the sandwich/burrito-building process.
Because of this, pressure is put on the customers to make up their minds quickly so that the "assembly line" can continue.
Now, I have been at suburban Subways and Chipotles, as well as to urban ones. The former, in my experience, do not rush the customers, but the latter do. This really irks me.
First, very often, the workers behind the counter are in such a rush, that they begin to put something on your order before you have asked them to. This has resulted in many errors in my orders.
Second, very often, the workers attempt to begin my order before I am even at the counter. I cannot see the food or the menu from that distance or angle -- depending on the store -- yet I am pressured because I am "holding up the line".
Third, they attempt to do so many orders at once, that people's orders get mixed up. I've purchased the wrong sandwich on some occasions.
Fourth, the line gets very cramped. Sure, this is a cultural thing; for better or worse, we Americans like a certain amount of distance between ourselves and strangers and do not like to feel herded like cattle. But these are also restaurants in America.
I am not suggesting that these workers should be slow but rather patient.
Can anyone else relate to these? Or am I alone in noticing/being bothered by this at city fast food places of this sort?