MGT 3120 with Professor Kurpis Was the strangest and the most soul and nerve touching class I have ever taken.
I don’t know how I managed to learn so much of management theory along the way. Now it is all piled up in my head into a mountain of studies, structures, and graphs. Hopefully, I will manage to sort them out by next Monday.
There are things; however, that I will never have to struggle to recall. The memories of team projects, class discussions, the DISC test, blog posts, and the journey to McDonald’s, unlike the graphs and strudies, will stay with me for years to come.
I started the class with indifference. It was just another requirement to fulfill. As the semester progressed I lived through a lot of feelings of wide veriety. And I know that today I am supposed to be happy that the class is over but I am not.
One reason why I liked blogging was that it provided a two-way communication. For the first time in school I had a chance to read what other people had to say on the same subject, read their comments, and post mine. I really liked that. Usually what happens with writing assignments is that you keep on boiling in your own juice without a single chance to see a problems from a different angle.
Reading various points of view on the same topic was intellectually stimulating. When I think about it, some really great ideas could never be heard if not for the blogs! Actually, there were blogs that I would go to just to read what those people had to say.
Besides that, I think that blogging regularly helped me improve my writing (or at least I hope so). Sometimes I would go to leave comments and notice how nicely someone managed to put together an idea or a thought I was struggling with. Also, the fact that my classmates would read my posts made me spend more time thinking, writing, and editing than I would if I was writing to no one in particular.
As far as the 20% of the grade control goes, I never thought about the blog in that way. Maybe because being too calculating would spoil the fun. Blogging was not difficult but it was not stress-free either. I never knew if I would be evaluated on the quality of the posts. But then again, in my book "stress-free" means "care-free," so class assignments can't be stress-free by definition.
I am not sure whether I will be continuing to blog after the class. I am a very private person and prefer to keep the events of my life to myself. Why? Simply because I don't believe people really care about other people except for close relatives. And secondly, if I plan to become a president to the United States, I must be very careful about what I am publishing ("paranoia" it's called) JUST KIDDING.
Overall, I really enjoyed blogging for this class. It was an enriching experience.
Would I ever think that one day I would be shopping at McDonald’s for a hamburger with exactly four pickles and unsalted fries? Not in my wildest dreams. I was glad, however, that I was not driven by hunger and unusual dietary preferences but rather by the desire to earn extra points for the class, and I needed the receipt more than the food. Plus, the idea of placing a special order in a conveyer-like McDonald's was an interesting one. So, the scientific purpose of the mission gave me the needed strength. My first attempts, however, didn’t go well. Since I decided to get a hamburger, all McDonald's seemed to disappear from the face of the city. When I finally found a store around my house it turned out that I couldn’t order a burger before 11 am. "So, I can't have a hamburger for breakfast?" I asked in disbelieve. "We start serving hamburgers after 11 am," said a lady at the counter. By the apologetic expression on her face I could tell she was not used to saying "no" to a customer. That was a good sign, and I began to believe that I would get my receipt with four pickles on it.
Finally, one Wednesday evening I got a chance to check out McDonald's commitment to customer service and special order processing skills.
There was no line so I went straight to the register. I took my time to read the menu and felt lucky that I knew exactly what I had to order because the word "hamburger" was nowhere to be found on the “Dollar Menu.”
The lady at the register took the order of a "dollar hamburger with 4 pickles and French fries with no salt" without a twitch. That worried me because I thought she didn't hear my request for 4 pickles. "Four pickles," I said again. "Ok," she said. Her calmness was annoying and disappointing. After all, she was not supposed to have register buttons to ring up extra pickles!
The counter lady yelled out my fries without salt to the person at the fries’ station and looked at the order screen above the kitchen table. Pointing at the screen she talked to the person right next to her and yelled something to someone I could not see. "Aha, the pickles problem," I thought with some relief. The counter lady came back to the register and gave me my receipt. I took it anxiously. Pickles were NOT on it! "I will also need four pickles, please," I said still hoping she just didn't hear me the first two times. "They will give you the pickles but I can't ring them up because they are free. We don't charge for pickles," said the counter lady and yelled, "Next customer, please."
What a disaster! Ok, moving on to plan B. "Excuse me," I said, "In that case, would you please have a manager to write in the four pickles and sign my receipt?" Finally, I managed to squeeze a drop of amusement out of the counter lady. She looked at me, blinked, and went for a manager.
Store manager Nick was not available, so his right hand Amelia emerged from the depths of the kitchen. She smiled at me and asked what exactly I was looking for. I told her that I could not leave until I had my "4 pickles" on the receipt. "No problem," said Amelia and scratched "#4 Pickles" next to "1 Hamburger". "Would you sign that please," I asked politely. Amelia hesitated but signed. "Would you date that too?" I pushed some more. "The date is right on the receipt," protested Amelia, "and I don't know what you are going to use this receipt for." By then, other three employees were watching me and Amelia conversing. They nodded in approval of Amelia's statement. Amelia's words made sense and I decided not to argue. "Ok," I said, "Let me just check if the pickles are in my bag and the fries is without salt." I went on unwrapping the doggy bag imagining Amelia rolling her eyes. Amelia didn’t roll her eyes but she wasn’t enthusiastic about the situation either.
The four pickles were in place and the fries looked unsalted. I thanked Amelia for the help and left the store with a warm bag and my precious receipt with four pickles and Amelia's signature on it.
Conclusion and suggestions:
Communication between the staff members was good, order processing efficient, and the "pickles problem" was resolved fast and without casualties. It seemed that the managerial decision of the "pickle" caliber was not big enough for the store manager to get involved. I think that even the counter lady could sign the receipt but I asked for the manager. I conclude that low level employees have a power over simple day-to-day decisions. That is good for process efficiency but only as long as employees understand the company's position on customer satisfaction.
If I am to suggest some improvements, I think having a "special order" button would not be a bad idea. I noticed that communication between the register and the kitchen happens through a computer. The order is being rung up at the counter and it pops up on the kitchen screen/s. It could be helpful and convenient for the personnel to have "free extras" or "specials" button to hit. This way a complete order would appear on the kitchen screens and there would be no need for a cashier to walk to the kitchen. A "special order" function would also provide a better control of where those "extra" pickles go.
Technically I did receive what I asked for but I did not enjoy the atmosphere. I think McDonald’s personnel could use some customer sensitivity training. They were polite but SO impersonal. I felt that I was a trouble. At some point I even felt like a lunatic they were trying to get rid off in the nicest way possible. I understand that "we'll make you feel like home" is not one of McDonald's slogans but they do promise to make me smile. So far, I was the one who made them smile but not the other way around.
