why are you taking orders if you can't listen?!

[pltkcelestial18]

So twice now this week I've had people not listen to my orders and screw them up in some way. Both times it was nothing major but it still irked me because why the heck are you taking orders if you can't even bother to listen.

The first incident was Sunday. I had to be in at 8am, so on my way in I stopped somewhere to get two sausage and biscuits with cheese. I told them I wanted cheese on it twice. Did I get cheese on it? Nope. The lady at the second window was the person who took my order and claimed I never said I wanted cheese. I told her as politely as I could that I said it twice. She took my order back and "fixed" it (which just entailed them putting cheese on the sausage and biscuits they had already given me and then wrapped it back up really sloppily)

The second incident was today. Didn't feel like cooking so I went to popular drive-in. This chain has fries and tater tots and a variety of drink combos. I always get a cheeseburger with mayo, no pickles and no tomatoes with fries and a root beer with orange flavoring (yes weird I know but I love it and always get it when I go to this chain). That's what I ordered today, but wanted large fries and a large drink. After I told the person taking orders my order, she then proceeded to ask if I wanted fries or tater tots and if i wanted mayo or mustard AFTER I had already told her everything I wanted and how I wanted it. I sat there thinking *Seriously did you not just hear a word I said?!?* They gave me a medium combo instead of large, and when I got my order, I told the carhop that I wanted a large, but not to worry about it. I didn't want to inconvenience her, but I just hoped maybe she'd relay that back to the person taking orders and they'd maybe pay more attention.

Bonus story: This was from about a month ago and also is about getting a screwed up order. They didn't take the wrong order because they repeated back to me what I asked for. Instead, I was handed the wrong order TWICE. After the second time, I just asked for my money back.

I try to be as nice and polite as possible and unless they screw up majorly, I just take the screw ups in stride. It's just annoying and frustrating when people don't want to listen.

[DeltaSierra]

I feel for you - hubby and I were just talking about this tonight. Years ago, the very last time he went to the Golden Arches restaurant, he had asked for a cheeseburger, NO PICKLES (he's allergic.)

Attempt #1 - pickles - burger returned
Attempt #2 - still had pickles - burger returned
Attempt #3 - asked for a manager. Explained the situation. Manager said "No problem - I'll personally make the burger myself so its right. Burger had pickles. Hubby asked for his $ back and has never gone back to this fast food chain (this was about 5-6 years ago.)

[PepperElf]

Didn't feel like cooking so I went to popular drive-in.

I think I know that chain. I've made them go "... you want WHAT?" with my drink order. I think it might have been some kind of chocolate/orange combination or something like that. But hey they made it and I loved it.


For the most part though, mistakes aren't that common here. I suspect it's because there's a lot of competition. In my city alone we have 16 fast food choices and a new one opening up by the end of next month. Plus the next state is about 30 miles away where we have even more choices.

Mistakes I remember
1) Plain double cheeseburger arrives with condiments. This one has happened several times, however it's not usually a big deal cos it's the dog's burger anyway. We just wipe the condiments onto the bun & then eat the bread. It's not as if the dog's gonna complain if there's a trace of ketchup on her burger patty.

2) Got the wrong kind of chicken nugget things. My BF was more annoyed than I was. The place replaced it though.

3) This was actually the first time I saw an issue here. The guy on the drive-through speaker sounded like he was still asleep. So I made a point of checking the order ... yep, he got one of the drinks wrong. I went inside and they fixed it.

[pltkcelestial18]

I think I know that chain. I've made them go "... you want WHAT?" with my drink order. I think it might have been some kind of chocolate/orange combination or something like that. But hey they made it and I loved it.

When people bring out my orange root beer and hand it to me, they tell me what an odd combo that is. It's something that stems from when I was in high school. I had some cousins over one summer and we were at the Arches right by my house and I was getting some root beer. I had accidentally put a little orange soda in but didn't dump it out and then just add root beer on top.

For the most part though, mistakes aren't that common here. I suspect it's because there's a lot of competition. In my city alone we have 16 fast food choices and a new one opening up by the end of next month. Plus the next state is about 30 miles away where we have even more choices.

I live in a big metropolitan area in Texas so there are a massive amount of choices. There are so many restaurants just within a 10 mile radius, even different ones of the same chains, so I'm not sure how much these places worry about competition.

The place I got my sausage and biscuits, they're close to where I work and are usually pretty good about getting stuff right, so I didn't want to make a big fuss. I get that people make mistakes, but to me it seems like if it's your job to take orders, you'd try to make especially sure to listen.

[EricKei]

If the place with the neat drinks is what I think it is -- I love 'em. I'm afraid my drink choices are more mundane, tho, such as Dr Pepper with extra cherry added. Heaven. I don't go there much because it's a tad pricey, but it is GOOD.

[Teysa]

I get what you mean about order takers not listening. My husband likes his cheeseburgers with light ketchup, light mayo and lots of lettuce. Not all that difficult right? I can't count how many times the burger has come with half a container's worth of ketchup/mayo and maybe one pathetic little piece of lettuce. Bonus points if it has tomatoes, onions, or pickles on there.

[EricKei]

I'm picky about my burgers, but my dislikes are more global ^_^ I usually just ask for "ketchup only" (and cheese if it's already on there). 99% of the time, it works. The rest of the time, *almost* without exception, my request is on the receipt, but whoever made the burger just didn't read it.

[cindybubbles]

I can't have caffeine in the afternoon. Even my afternoon tea was replaced with cranberry juice. So it was a surprise that the barista at a Starbucks made me a White Hot Mocha when we ordered a White Hot Chocolate! I waited for someone to come and claim the mocha, and when nobody came, it was clear that it was made for me by mistake!

While she corrected the offer, I offered the mocha to her as a gift, but she refused and offered it back to us for free! Since I can't have caffeine, my friend drank it for me (and then continued to drink his own coffee afterward!).

[mjr]

Back when I worked at the King of Burgers, this guy I worked with made a drink that was "one of everything". He put a little of each type of soda into his cup. He called it a "suicide". A weird name for a drink, but I made myself one and it actually tasted pretty good. I doubt I could go through the drive through and say "Yeah, put a little of all of your drink options in my cup." I doubt they'd do that.

[pltkcelestial18]

Back when I worked at the King of Burgers, this guy I worked with made a drink that was "one of everything". He put a little of each type of soda into his cup. He called it a "suicide". A weird name for a drink, but I made myself one and it actually tasted pretty good. I doubt I could go through the drive through and say "Yeah, put a little of all of your drink options in my cup." I doubt they'd do that.

When I worked as a delivery driver/cook at the Hut, I'd get Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, and root beer together (can't remember if it was barqs or mugs, but it definitely wasn't A&W..ewww). It was really good. Doesn't seem to taste as good with Coke instead of Pepsi, so when I go to places with Coke, I just get Dr. Pepper and root beer.

[Cia]

Back when I worked at the King of Burgers, this guy I worked with made a drink that was "one of everything". He put a little of each type of soda into his cup. He called it a "suicide". A weird name for a drink, but I made myself one and it actually tasted pretty good. I doubt I could go through the drive through and say "Yeah, put a little of all of your drink options in my cup." I doubt they'd do that.

Suicides - yum. In junior high we'd go to the roller rink and order suicides all the time, just would have to mention not to include the orange and diet pops.

[jarcher77]

Back when I worked at the King of Burgers, this guy I worked with made a drink that was "one of everything". He put a little of each type of soda into his cup. He called it a "suicide". A weird name for a drink, but I made myself one and it actually tasted pretty good. I doubt I could go through the drive through and say "Yeah, put a little of all of your drink options in my cup." I doubt they'd do that.

Where I'm from, this kind of drink was popular with kids, especially after playing a hockey game. We called it "swamp water."

[Jetfire]

Where I'm from, this kind of drink was popular with kids, especially after playing a hockey game. We called it "swamp water."

That's what we called it too. I first heard about it when I was at some Scout Jamboree (back in the 80's).

Nowadays, I make a lighter swamp water, just coke and sprite mixed together.

[Caractacus_Potts]

My husband likes his cheeseburgers with light ketchup, light mayo and lots of lettuce.

Last time I went to BK I ordered a burger with no pickles. The first attempt had so much ketchup and mustard on it that most of it had squeezed out of the bun when they wrapped it...there was literally no way to pick up the burger because it was covered inside and out with ketchup and mustard.

I went back in and showed it to the manager and told him I just want a regular burger without pickles. Second attempt came out with no pickles...and no onion and no ketchup, just extra extra mustard and extra extra mayo. At that point I told the manager I hoped his grill crew enjoyed playing games instead of making food and that I would take my money back.

The manager was clearly upset as he gave me my refund. Not at his employees for goofing off and playing games with people food, at ME for getting angry about it!