It Works Better When You, You Know, Listen!

Colorado, Employees, Extra Stupid, Fast Food, Ignoring & Inattentive, USA | Working | June 9, 2020


I don’t think I’ve ever had as much trouble ordering food as I did a couple of days ago. I’m starving, it’s late in the afternoon, and I didn’t have a chance to eat earlier. After a long day of appointments and running errands, I stop at a national chain fast food restaurant but a location I don’t frequent. The drive-thru is closed for maintenance so I park and go inside to the counter to order.

The conversation goes something like this

Me: “I’d like to place a takeout order, please?”

Cashier: “Okay, go ahead.”

Me: “I’d like a bacon cheeseburger combo, with the side salad instead of fries, and lemonade to drink. Ranch dressing for the salad; also, please add lettuce and tomato to the burger?”

Cashier: “What size?”

Me: “Medium.”

Cashier: “That’s a large [combo with a plain cheeseburger] with fries and a salad and [soda that’s lemon-lime flavored]. Is that all?”

Me: “That’s not correct. The burger should be a bacon cheeseburger. No fries, just the salad, and a lemonade to drink. And medium, not large.”

Cashier: “Okay, so, a bacon cheeseburger with a side salad and lemonade?”

Me: “Yes, that’s right, with lettuce and tomato added to the burger.”

Cashier: “Another burger with lettuce and tomato?”

Me: “No, I want the vegetables on the bacon cheeseburger I ordered already.”

Cashier: “What do you mean, ‘vegetables’?”

Me: “Lettuce and tomatoes?”

Cashier: “Okay, I think I have it now; a large [plain cheeseburger combo], a medium [bacon cheeseburger combo], and a plain burger with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes?”

Me: “That’s not right at all! Can you just void the whole order and start over, please?”

Cashier: “Well, I’m trying! Just a minute.”

After starting over, she has the order right, I think, as she reads it back correctly.

Cashier: “Is that for here or to go?”

Me: “To go.”

Cashier: “And a name for the order, please?

I give her my name and pay, she gives me my receipt, and I check to be sure I’ve been correctly charged, and I have. I don’t notice the name she entered.

A couple of minutes later:

Cashier: “Order for [Not My Name]!”

It’s “off” hours, between lunch and dinner, and I’m the only customer in the restaurant not sitting at a table eating.

Me: “Is that mine?”

Cashier: “Oh, sorry; I couldn’t spell your name.”

It’s a common but easy to misspell name, so it’s not hard to mess up, but she wasn’t even close.

The food is on a tray, not in a bag, and includes both fries and the side salad. The drink is lemon-lime soda instead of lemonade, and the dressing was Italian, not ranch. The burger has lettuce, tomato, and onion, but no cheese or bacon.

It takes involving the manager, but I finally have, in takeout bags, the right food, plus “complimentary” freshly made fries that I didn’t order, and lemonade, upgraded to a large.

As I turn to walk out the door…

Manager: “Thanks for coming in, [Not My Name]. See you again soon.”

Me: *In my head* “Not likely!”