Anyone who hasn't felt like jumping over the counter at a fast food restaurant when you didn't get what you thought you ordered, can throw the first stone.
Michael Richards, a former associate attorney for the city of Bakersfield, apparently lost his temper and his job, after his anger got the better of him at the McDonald's on Niles last month.
Sheriff investigators say Richards placed an order in the drive-thru and didn't get what he wanted.
He headed inside, where the problem wasn't rectified to his satisfaction, when he hopped the counter, grabbed his original order and left.
Richards reportedly resigned following his arrest on a felony robbery charge.
All this over $6.44.
The case has been reduced to petty theft, with stupidity as an accessory.
I can't say I don't sympathize with him.
I've driven miles away from a fast food drive-thru before realizing what they handed me was the wrong order.
The problem has always existed, but I blame technology for shortening the fuse.
The cash registers that are linked by computer to monitors in the prep and bagging area's would seem to ensure that the right food is placed in the right bag.
But a person still has to make the order, then bag it and hand it to the person in the window or at the counter.
And herein lies the problem.
People are human.
People make mistakes.
Only it seems that hunger and the guilt at satisfying the craving with something you really shouldn't be eating, only intensifies the reaction.
I was at a fast food chain not long ago when the computers crashed and the employees were taking money and making change without the help of the high-tech calculator.
It took a hard stare and several attempts at air arithmetic before the cashier was able to give me change.
Then, he tried again and got it right.
When you consider the volume of traffic and food that people in the industry dish out on a daily basis, it's amazing this type of thing doesn't happen more often.
Richards will probably get let off with a fine, maybe community service.
How about making him work the counter at McDonald's for a month?!
1 comment:
How often have we gone to a service-oriented business to be confronted with a Generation-Y employee with poor manners and a bad attitude?
I once bought an ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins at the MarketPlace and as the "Gen-Y" employee behind the counter handed it to me she tilted it so that the ice cream spilled on to my shirt. Instead of handing me a napkin, she broke out into laughter and pointed me out to her fellow Gen-Y employees.
The McDonald's employees should have de-fused this situation by letting him have his corrected order AND his original order. Without happy customers they may soon find themselves unemployed.
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