Dreams, drive-thru's and modern technology
September 10th 2010 04:13
More static and the voice sounded again. “Can I take your order?”
Oh, that’s right. I’m not dreaming. I’m sitting in the drive-thru trying desperately to hear over the lousy piece of metal they call a loudspeaker.
What is it about every take away joint’s drive-thru speaker’s complete inability to relay a simple conversation clearly from three metres away? Then on top of that, the sound of your own car engine – or even worse, the sound of the supply truck parked right next to the order station, unloading – making it even harder to hear what they are saying to you?
A recent focus group was conducted to find out what customers wanted most when it came to drive-thru service. They found that the top three things people wanted were quick service, hot food, and friendly staff.
Here’s my suggestion. Instead of spending money on things like focus groups, let’s spend that money on better speaker systems, for the customer. I mean, the people inside are wearing a headset, for Pete’s sake! That’s why they’re getting frustrated with us out there in noisy Queue Land; they can hear us just fine.
And think about it. A better speaker out there where the customer is means quicker understanding of orders, which then turns to quicker service – and better service since they are no longer frustrated with us – which then means we get our food hot!
But until the powers that be decide to fix this problem, there’s really nothing we can do but continue to repeat our order, minus the frustration we may feel, since showing that may just change your order to a cheeseburger, hold the cheese with extra hair
So even though I’m pretty sure I can hear the girl rolling her eyes as I repeat my order for the third time, I try to remember how much my children’s faces light up when they see that two-cent plastic toy sitting astride their chicken nuggets, and I take another deep breath.
image credit: Really Long Link
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