Epic KFC Fail

[sirwired]

On Sunday evening, I experienced the slowest ever KFC. Despite having six workers, I estimate they were clearing a single order for the entire restaurant once every three minutes, including drive-thru. (I could watch the drive-thru timers from the counter...)

After taking their own sweet time taking the order (abandoning the front counter several times), I paid and began to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Apparently, the fiendishly complex order of two buckets of chicken was an exercise of startling complexity. It involved:

1) Stare at the screen for a minute or so.
2) Obtain a bucket and make three pointless laps up and down the back.
3) Consult with a coworker.
4) Load the bucket with 8 pieces of fried chicken.
5) Upon discovering that one small bucket will not hold 14 pieces of chicken, consult the coworker again.
6) Get a big bucket, and slowly transfer the previously grabbed chicken into it, making sure to take enough time that my crispy chicken is now steamed.
7) Stare at the screen some more.
8) Consult extensively with your coworker as to the intricacies of picking six pieces of grilled chicken.
9) Pick the grilled chicken.
10) Put a lid on the bucket and stare at the screen some more.
11) Finally hand my chicken over the counter to me.

Total elapsed time, from the moment I entered the store: approx. 22 minutes. If I was not picking up the chicken for somebody else, I would have gotten my money back and walked out. It took about 10 minutes to get my order in, and 12 minutes to prepare it.

SirWired

[Kiwi]

The KFC's in my previous city were usually about a 30 minute wait, and that was if the place was empty. If there was a line then you were looking at 45-60 minute wait.

I only made that mistake twice.

[Gawdzillers]

Maybe it was the guy's first day?
On my first day at my old job, my "training" involved walking around and meeting employees, and then throwing me onto an already busy register on my own. Granted, bagging groceries is a simple concept, but it still scared the crap out of me, and it took forever for me to finally get the order of things.

[mikoyan29]

Maybe it was the guy's first day?
On my first day at my old job, my "training" involved walking around and meeting employees, and then throwing me onto an already busy register on my own. Granted, bagging groceries is a simple concept, but it still scared the crap out of me, and it took forever for me to finally get the order of things.

Bread and eggs go on the bottom, preferably under some cans or milk jugs. Make sure that the bags are really heavy and not double bagged. If you can get items that are condensating in paper bags all the better.

[blas]

The only thing worth waiting for at KFC are those orgasmic biscuits. But even then, they aren't worth waiting 15-20 minutes minimum.

[Sliceanddice]

The only thing worth waiting for at KFC are those orgasmic biscuits. But even then, they aren't worth waiting 15-20 minutes minimum.

you dont go to KFC for biscuits, thats what churches is for.
KFC has awesome chicken.

[EricKei]

I do dearly love KFC's chicken, but I don't car e much for their biscuits -- Popeye's biscuits, I LOVE when they're done right.

As for the service, time...well, yeah, I have found that that is par for the course in EVERY KFC I have ever been to, save for the ones with all-you-can-eat buffets. No thinking required for those -- plate, fork, napkins, that's it. Then again, you can reasonably expect there to be half an hour's wait time between refills of the bins of the most popular types of chicken, even when they have nothing but buffet orders (meaning very little would be "reserved" for to-go's)

[otakuneko]

If I was not picking up the chicken for somebody else, I would have gotten my money back and walked out.

I actually DID that once -- at a Taco Bueno. (Though I did run into a time where I thought about doing so at a KFC)

Now, this was a Bueno that I'd been stopping in every workday for months, so many of the cashiers and a couple of the managers knew me. I just explained to one of them hey, this has taken too long and now I don't have time to eat, and I got my money back. As I was walking to my car, sad and hungry and facing four hours of tech support calls on an empty stomach, one of the managers came running out crying "Wait!"

She had my order in hand. I rushed to work and wolfed it down in the cafeteria, managing to log in only about 7 minutes late.

I kept going there until I got fired.

At the KFC, they apologized for the wait, which I didn't really care about save for being hungry -- it was my lunch hour, not before work. They gave me one of their fried apple pie-ish things.

[Pagan]

Man, that sounds like the KFC my parents used to go to in Las Cruces! But....

As for the service, time...well, yeah, I have found that that is par for the course in EVERY KFC I have ever been to,

Actually, the one that I normally go to here is pretty good. Don't go there that often because of it being to much of a pain in the butt to get to. I've 3 that I could choose from and while they're only between 4-5 miles away, the streets I have to take to get to any of them are not fun.

[doogiej]

The KFC here is really slow too. We don't usually go there because of it. The last few times we've gone, they've been out of chicken too. That didn't help matters. I'm still confused about how a KFC can run out of chicken. You would think someone would notice they were running low on the main dish. And not just once. Apparently they didn't learn the first few times it happened.

[Stormraven]

I don't usually have a problem at KFC. The one up the road from where we live, I can usually get either a meal or a bucket within about 5-10 minutes.

I love KFC's chicken, but they're chintzy with their corn on the cob. Popeye's gives you a proper cob of corn. (At least around here.)

[EricKei]

I see the "Big 3" chicken place like this:

Popeyes -- I like their chicken the best, but they can be expensive. I have a need to get some of their biscuits in my bloodstream every so often

KFC -- Almost as good, but sloooow and nonchalant about it. Also badly overpriced combo meals until recently, when it occurred to them that "combo meals" should include a freakin' DRINK! That and they have $5 meals now

Church's -- Quick n' Dirty (sometimes literally). Pretty good chicken, MUCH cheaper on average. Biscuits and all of their sides except macaroni suck

--------------------

Side note -- There's a place that started in our state called Raising Cane's that just serves chicken fingers, fries, texas toast, drinks, and slaw. That's it. Kinda like how the PapaJohn's model was supposed to be -- very limited menu but do it WELL. Cane's actually succeeds, but I didn't include it in the list because it's not a national chain (tho according to their site, they're getting there)

Also, pretty much any local place here that makes its own chicken from scratch blows any of them out of the water in terms of taste ^_^ Well worth the 20 minutes or so it takes them to make it fresh.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm lucky. My local KFC is actually pretty darn quick. It might have something to do with being next to a Rally's, across from a cheap Chinese place and an El Pollo Loco, and just a block away from a Golden Burger, Popeye's, Jack in the Box, and McDonalds (all in different directions).

I love where I live. I can have any fast food chain that operates in my county within five minutes.

Actually, the only sucktacular service I've ever dealt with is a specific McDonalds. I already hate most of their food, so getting extraordinarily bad service from a staff that barely spoke any English and didn't even have tape in their registers (and didn't know how to change it, either), I'm never going back.

^-.-^

[tropicsgoddess]

The only thing worth waiting for at KFC are those orgasmic biscuits. But even then, they aren't worth waiting 15-20 minutes minimum.

Oh those biscuits are tasty!!! But I think Popeye's gives them a run for their money on both the chicken AND the biscuits. Although I do have to admit the grilled chicken from KFC was delicious.

[Pagan]

The KFC here is really slow too. We don't usually go there because of it. The last few times we've gone, they've been out of chicken too. That didn't help matters. I'm still confused about how a KFC can run out of chicken.

Heh. Went to the Mickey D's closest to me late one Saturday night and they were out of meat. We couldn't figure that one out....until I noticed that they had shut down completely in preparation for a remodel.