• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Multitasking and the fast food experience

aggle-rithm

Ardent Formulist
aggle-rithm
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
15,334
Location
Austin, TX
When I go through the drive-through at fast-food restaurants these days (as I do far too often), the conversation with the order taker goes something like this:

THEY: May I help you?
ME: I want a hamburger, fries, and a medium coke.
THEY: (After a pause) You want a large diet coke?
ME: No, a medium REGULAR coke.
THEY: Will there be anything else?
ME: Did you get the other stuff I ordered?
THEY: That'll be $1.35, drive through please.
ME: Wait, I wasn't finished!
THEY: May I help you?

These people aren't retarded and probably not brain-damaged, but this sort of conversation is repeated over and over again, every day, at fast-food restaurants across America.

Why?

One word: Multitasking.

Scientific studies have proven that multitasking does not work. (See Richard Restak's "The New Brain") It is far more efficient to finish one task at a time before moving to the next one than trying to switch back and forth between different tasks in an effort to minimize "down time".

Since my days as a fast food manager, oh, so many years ago, the technology has advanced enough to allow the drive-through order-taker to take orders while doing all sorts of other things, like bagging fries, taking money, and assembling orders. What these intellectual giants behind this practice have failed to realize is that, although the technology has gotten better, we are still stuck with the same old brains we started out with. And they can't multitask.

Don't believe me? Patronize a drive-through at McDonald's or Wendy's or Chick-Fil-A a few times a week, and you'll see what I mean.

Don't these corporate bigwigs visit their own restaurants? Can't they see what they are doing to themselves? The order takers sound like malfunctioning robots. That couldn't possibly be good for business!

Thoughts...?
 
Why?

Listen skills.........Nothing to do with multitasking
 
Do these experiences make it less likely that you will patronize those establishments?

Linda
 
I worked fast food drive thru at KFC during high-school and multi-tasking is the only way to do it and remain in your allotted service time (which was 30 seconds if I recall correctly. This may have changed in the decade+). At a drive-thru I have to:

Take your order.
Make your order.
Observe what we're low on and tell the kitchen
Give you your total
Get your money
Handle the car now at the speaker
Repeat

So while I'm making your order, I'm also expected to take the order of the person behind you.

Why don't they have another person? Costs. Staffing concerns, etc. They are set-up so that one rings, the other packs, but it never comes out that way unless you're training someone new and you have the extra hands.

It gets a bit more complicated when you have a drunk DT or masturbating DT, but that's beside the point.
 
Last edited:
MG1962 said:
Why?

Listen skills.........Nothing to do with multitasking
Click to expand...

The problem seems to have gotten much worse with the dawn of those remote headsets that they wear now. Sometimes I can hear them talking to other people while they are supposed to be taking my order.

When I was working at McDonald's, I was proud of my ability to take a customer's order mentally while I was giving directions to crewpeople at the other stations. Most of the time I could do this, but if the customer asked a question, or said something a little out of the ordinary, it totally threw me off.
 
fls said:
Do these experiences make it less likely that you will patronize those establishments?

Linda
Click to expand...

If the risk of heart disease and early death doesn't do it, then I somehow doubt it.

It's like visiting Dallas. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again, but...
 
This topic reminds me of the time I asked for a double cheeseburger with bacon, after a long pause the confused looking guy asks 'is that a bacon double cheeseburger?'

And the time one of my workmates wanted a hamburger but the cheeseburgers were on offer and cheaper...

workmate - Can I have a hamburger for the price of a cheeseburger?

McD guy - No.

workmate - Can I have a cheeseburger without cheese?

McD guy - sure. (and gives him a hamburger for the price of a cheeseburger)

To me, it's a sign that when you work in these places you're not allowed to even consider thinking outside the rules laid down by the employer.
 
For extra fun ask for a small Coke.

Sorry we do not have small, only medium, large and X-extra large...

So large is medium?
 
fls said:
Do these experiences make it less likely that you will patronize those establishments?
Click to expand...

Yes (Not the company as a whole, but individual locations).
  • The nearest Walgreen's short-changed me three times (I caught it each time before leaving the cashier). I e-mailed my concerns, and comments about the generally poor cleanliness of the store. Never received a reply.
  • A local McDonald's had a terrible habit of giving me the wrong order (drive-up and walk-in). I stayed away for about a year. No problems lately.
 
If you are so busy you can't get out of the car for ten minutes, you maybe ought to think about whether you have time to eat.

If people can't multitask, then should you be eating and driving?
 
I remember reading the lit on multi-tasking and the psychological refractory period in grad school. It was some of the most complicated stuff I ever read. I still don't understand it.

Fairly intense debates over whether the brain could even do two mental processes at once.

At any rate, I submit that the essence of the problem you describe is just plain old IQ or lack thereof.
 
Maybe that's because you're focused on the IQ thing and can't multitask. (;}
Luckily, when I was back there, those questions never came up.
 
What time of day did you visit? I'd imagine your experience may vary significantly between say, lunch rush and 10pm. Another factor beside multi-tasking could be... wait a minute...

aggle-rithm said:
It's like visiting Dallas. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again, but...
Click to expand...

...how dare you!

So where was I?
 
SRW said:
For extra fun ask for a small Coke.

Sorry we do not have small, only medium, large and X-extra large...

So large is medium?
Click to expand...

Some places call it "child size" just to humiliate you into buying a bigger one.

I even had a waitress, when I ordered a beer, ask if I wanted the "child size".
 
Last edited:
bpesta22 said:
I remember reading the lit on multi-tasking and the psychological refractory period in grad school. It was some of the most complicated stuff I ever read. I still don't understand it.

Fairly intense debates over whether the brain could even do two mental processes at once.
Click to expand...


Maybe it's my computer science book larnin' that does it, but this is the way I understand it:

When you switch from one task to another, the memory of where you are in the first task is stored in working memory, and the new task is given the focus. To switch back, you have to pull the previous task out of working memory and put the new task into it. This takes a finite amount of time that could be spent just finishing the first task.

It's like pushing and popping to a stack. (Of course, if I were still working in fast food, I would say it's like making hamburgers.)

At any rate, I submit that the essence of the problem you describe is just plain old IQ or lack thereof.
Click to expand...

Partly, maybe. It takes a lot of experience to get good enough at two different tasks that you can juggle them effectively, and then you can only do it if the "happy path" is followed -- there are no unexpected curve balls thrown your way.

Most fast food workers don't stay long enough to get that good.
 
Soapy Sam said:
If you are so busy you can't get out of the car for ten minutes, you maybe ought to think about whether you have time to eat.

If people can't multitask, then should you be eating and driving?
Click to expand...
Well, you won this thread.
 
The only time I stop at McDonalds is at two am. They don't let anyone inside at that time. So, getting out of the car would just be stupid.
 
Don't worry! As the recession creeps onward, the quality of fastfood help will improve considerably. It became a standing joke in our house that the reason for idiots--especially idiots that don't understand English--at the drive-through was that "it's a good economy." Hopefully, the converse will apply.

I always order 'child size' drinks, but Mcdonald's won't sell you one unless you order a kid's meal. How stupid is that?

Just my thoughts, MK
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom