High School diploma not required

When you're driving long distances, any fast food sounds like good food. Yesterday I was driving home from northern california and about 2pm my stomach did not hesitate to let me know that I had not stopped for a proper lunch 2 hours previous. For some odd reason, and this doesn't happen very often, McDonald's seemed to be the fast food restaurant of choice. I was being lazy and did not want to get out of the car and I wanted a menu that I knew. I wanted chicken mcnuggets. So I got in the long line at the drive through and waited. The guy in front of me ordered "chicken selects." Not knowing what those were, I looked at the large menu screen looming in front of my vehicle and quickly scanned it for "selects" vs. "nuggets." Hmmm...looked like selects were a step up from nuggets in that they were more like "chicken strips" and had what looked like a spicy-seasoned breading on the outside. They looked good. So I decided to order them. Now anyone who knows McDonalds knows that nuggets have always come in the following increments: 6, 9, and 20. These "selects," however, come in 3, 5, and 10. Rather confusing for those of us who have grown up with the traditional nugget ordering system. Nevertheless, I made a quick mental note of it and drove up to the order window. I ordered "6 chicken selects, no fried, and a med drink, light ice." (My mom taught me the "light ice" part because these fast food joints are famous for giving us a little drink with our ice) They gave me the total and I proceeded towards the first window to pay. It sounded as if they had undercharged me, so I clarified my order at the window, only then realizing that I mixed up the increments with my "selects." I could not believe the reaction from the cashier. He acted as if the world had come to a screeching halt! He slammed his fists onto the register drawer in exasperation, and replied with an extremely over-dramatic, "Oh MAN!" Then he turns around and yells to the order taker that "She wants the 5 piece selects now!" This is where I got perturbed. This was the biggest, most blatant display of customer UN-service I had ever seen! He was making it MY FAULT that the order was incorrect. So I proceeded to correct him and yelled out that it wasn't that I wanted them NOW, but that they had not taken the order correctly the first time and clarified what I had wanted. They hadn't repeated my order back to me, nor had it shown up on the screen that they placed by the order window for the very purpose of "order accuracy!" Another waste of corporate dollars. I'm so glad they put the screen there so that I have something to look at while waiting in line at the drive through. I can repeatedly read, "Please read screen to verify order accuracy."

The cashier finally takes my money, but says that they will correct the order and the amount due at the next window. Once there, they girl asks me for $0.55 more and hands me my little bag and drink. I pull into the parking lot and arrange my food so that I can safely eat and drive. I open my little box of selects and am horrified to find....3 CHICKEN SELECTS!!! And very measily ones, at that. It wasn't even enough for a meal! it was like the CRUMB of a meal! That was it. I turned the car around, found the closest parking spot and marched into the McDonald's, incorrect order in hand. They guy at the register listens to my sad story and goes to get me the corrected order, but is stopped midway by the manager who has to put her nose into everything....isn't there anything called "empowerment???" After a brief interchange, she agrees to give me the 5-piece order and I happily walk out with my food. And it was oh, so good! But I couldn't help but to think about those sad people at the McDonald's. Do they not know how to do anything else but punch buttons on a register and spit out rehearsed lines like "do you want fries with that?" And then I couldn't help but to wonder why McDonald's would fill their restaurants with mindless workers, such as these. Then I remembered...they must not pay very much. I could not help but to get angry. Maybe if monster, corporations like McDonalds would pay their employees better, the employees would have a sense of purpose at their job and would desire to raise their standards of work ethic and go beyond the call of duty, even daring to do something without having to check with a manager!

And then I remembered....it is McDonald's.