Hey Burger King, You're Getting Timed for a Reason!
This post may contain affiliate links and/or codes. You won't pay anything extra, but I might make a commission.
Something weird happened at the Burger King drive-thru, and I finally figured out why.
Last night, on the way home from camp, the kids and I went through the Burger King drive-thru. When we were next in line for the window I noticed that the guy in front of me had his reverse lights on, so I stayed back about 10 feet-I can't tell you how many times I've seen people back up for something, forget they're in reverse, then hit the gas.
When it was my turn at the window, the BK cashier asked me to pull forward and then back up. I was so surprised and busy processing what she was saying and trying not to back up into the window with my mirror and asking for salt and checking the orders that I didn't get a chance to ask her why. But I guessed that she had asked the guy in front of me to do the same thing. As I was leaving, I looked in the review mirror and saw that the guy behind me was doing the same thing as well. WTF?
It bothered me for the rest of the day that I couldn't figure out what the purpose was. I went back in my mind to my days working at McDonald's and Arby's, but at both places I mostly made the food. I worked the registers occasionally, but I rarely worked the drive-thru (and when I did, I got overwhelmed easily-it's the hardest job in any fast food restaurant that has only one drive-thru window).
Then, finally, it hit me: I've seen big timers in some restaurants, timing how long each Drive-Through order was taking. There must be a sensor somewhere that stops the clock and starts timing the next order! Was she asking each car to stop the clock on their order so that the restaurant's stats would look good?
I went back this morning in the interest of investigation, not because I was dying for a Croissan'wich (OK, I was-they're really good!). Once again, when I got to the window, I was asked to pull forward and back up. I said "Why? Are you trying to stop the timer?" She said yes. I said something to the effect of "But that's cheating. How will the process get any faster if they think you're already really fast?"
I know enough about fast food restaurants to know that they really study this stuff. There are systems that figure out when you should drop fries based on how many cars are in the drive-thru lines. There are McDonald's that have outsourced their drive-thru order-taking jobs to call centers. Corporate sure as hell wants to know for how long people are sitting in the drive-thru.
The BK worker admitted that yes, it was cheating, but that the restaurant is given time goals each week and they're not meeting them. So I said something like, "But how will the times get faster if you don't acknowledge that there's a problem?" She told me I didn't have to pull forward if I didn't want to. I'm not really sure it was necessary for her to tell me that. Was the alternative for her to hold my food hostage until I pulled forward?
When I go through a drive-thru, I want the process to be fast. And more often than not here in Brooklyn, the process is anything but. So as a customer, it is absolutely not in my best interest to help Burger King trick corporate into thinking that they're already speedy. I'm insulted that they'd ask.
2024 EDIT: Wow. I just found this post and read it for the first time in a very long time. I come off as very bitchy. If I'd written this today, I would be called a Karen.
I still stand by the principle of the post: circumventing systems meant to make things faster doesn't help anybody in the long-run.
But first of all, I absolutely should not have talked to that employee about it. I mean, seriously, dick move. I'd had those types of jobs, you would think that would have kept me from being so uptight about somebody just trying to get through her minimum-wage shift.
And second of all, I didn't do a good job (either to that employee, or in the post) of explaining that the problem I had was with the system that corporate had set up, because ultimately I'm sure their goal was to do less with more. To drive their employees as hard as they could.
And in my naive little mind, my thinking was that if you could just show the bosses the real numbers, you could convince them that the system they'd set up was doomed to fail, because they were giving the employees impossibly high goals. That cheating, by asking me to back up, was really cheating the employees out of a chance to improve things for themselves.
I'll bet that when I wrote this, I actually believed that. Because that's the way I want the world to work. (But of course, that all kind of falls apart in the last paragraph, when I make it about me getting my food faster. I'm guessing I thought that that was a "strong" way to close.)
But of course, we all know that that's not how things work. Most companies don't care even a little bit about their employees' well being. They care about profits. It was bad then, and it's gotten worse now. And yes, I'm just stating the obvious here, I know. But the post makes it seem like I don't care about the employees at all, just the rules.
Hopefully my writing has gotten better since then, and I can now get my points across better. I know that my empathy has grown, although there is always room for more.
I completely forgot- I found this page because I did go to "BK" tonight (yikes, right?) and had the same experience. Normally they have limited it to asking me to pull around and park, but tonight they surprised me and asked me to actually back up and pull forward, when there was a car at the speaker who could pull forward at any time. It's not a safe situation and the parking there is terrible. It's a 5 or 6 year old strip mall parking lot in a neighboring town and all of the (very limited) parking in front is taken up by the employees themselves. Obviously they can't guess which car mine is when I am forced to park in another store's spaces, so I am then forced to either get out of the car or drive back over to them after sitting in a parking space for 15 seconds. It's a waste of gas and time, and it creates a dangerous situation. Around here there are a ton of school children on foot and customers walking to the Starbucks and such, and it's a risk every time you turn a corner or pull into a parking spot. I'm not usually this inhuman, but I'm starting to hope someone gets hurt while a customer is helping them cheat, just so corporate HAS to address the problem. Yeah, that's mean, oh well.
Wow. How is it possible there are so many dickheads worried about someone worried about drive-thrus?
You are going out of your way to bitch about someone going out of their way to bitch. It gives me chills. And no, I am not included because I am not telling YOU your comments are petty and a waste of time. I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy that should be obvious.
I completely agree with Amy on this. The system is NOT working if the number of doctored statistics is so much greater than the number of accurate statistics. You can bitch all you want about how she's wasting her time, but that's always going to be a waste of your own time. You haven't identified a problem nor proposed a solution. You instead seek to stop someone from voicing their concerns simply because you can only relate to the -other- side and not hers.
The bottom line is this: The customer didn't apply for a job there. It is the employee's JOB to adhere to the rules and stick to the system, and it falls under their responsibility to shoulder the blame when something goes wrong, even if there is a valid reason. It is NEVER ok to shoulder the problem onto the customer. Some more reputable establishments take this VERY seriously. I have worked in two fairly fancy restaurants and let me tell you, if you do something as petty as bringing food out 30 seconds too early (customer's salad plates have not been pulled by server or busser), you could lose a shift or worse.
Meanwhile fast food continues to lower the standards by which they operate, and for some reason their wage slaves feel they have to defend it, just because they were forced to work there. Sounds like Stockholm syndrome to me :)
P.S.- When your posts come across like they're from a high school dropout who works at a fast food joint- well, it's very convincing and all, but perhaps you could leave the debates to people with a larger vocabulary.
I went to the Macdonalds drivethru today. It was 11.15am and I was the only car there. I ordered my food - nothing complicated. The staff then politely said there is a short wait can you go over and park in the waiting space. I politely said I will if someone comes up behind me but as i am the only car here in the drive through i will wait here until the point comes that i hold someone up. The staff member then started this argument saying I had to move or i wouldn't get my food. I said well f##k you then give me my money back i'll go to BK. At which she disappeared and came back with my food within about 10 seconds - not even enough time to spit in it .
It begs the question - what would you prefer a 1 minute wait at Macdonalds with rude staff or a 5 minute wait at BK with polite staff.
I had this same issue at a burger king last weekend. It was midnight, and the employees were working EXTREMELY slow, it was by far the slowest drive through I've ever been to, there were 3 cars in front of me and it took over 20 minutes. There were enough employees in there that this should have taken maybe 3 minutes a car at most, but instead I waited there for 20 minutes. I find this inexcusable, these employees were trying to work half as slow and get credit for working at normal speed.
So annoying. Twenty minutes is just inexcusable.
Honestly, why are you screwing with these people? They make minimum wage. They are just trying to do their jobs. Maybe you should consider that the times they are asked to meet aren't realistic. Maybe you should consider that their managers don't give a crap if those times aren't realistic. They are serving you for a measly paycheck, and in an economy like this, I assure you that there are people there that would rather not be. Hell, I'm sure there are always people working there that wish they could be doing something better. But they are WORKING for a living. Don't make things harder for them. And honestly, what does it hurt you to back up and pull up to reset their timer? If you don't like it, don't do it or walk into the restaurant and stand in line. This blog should be called "Selfish Bitch." Shame on you.
@Jon - I'd like you to point to exactly where I claimed to be "mad" in my post. I claimed to be insulted, and I was. I was insulted that an employee in an industry where service standards have gone way down in my lifetime would ask me to be complicit in making the restaurant's numbers look good. Period. Then my post got picked up by Consumerist, and I've had days of entertainment watching people project feelings and even facts onto my post that simply aren't there. So I can't answer a question that isn't valid.
The thing that has stupefied me during this entire episode is how many people who work at fast food restaurants are defending a system that actually makes things harder for them. You're meeting the goals by cheating? Guess what? Those suits up in corporate that you hate so much are going to find ways to shave even more time off of the already unrealistic expectations. That doesn't help the workers or the customers.
I worked at a McDonald's and an Arby's but even if I didn't, I'd still be qualified to comment on what's going on, because I'm the customer. Frankly, the inner workings of the restaurant shouldn't even be apparent to a customer. When they are, then something has gone wrong.
As for asking what my husband and I do, I work online and my husband works in finance (a career that he ended up in after four years of a state school, a post-graduate degree that we're still paying for eleven years later, and no connections, just hard work). Before that, I worked in half a dozen restaurants as either a food preparer (fast food) or a waitress (two different Perkins, a Bob Evans) and a hostess (a hotel restaurant). I also worked the front desk and concierge lounge in a hotel for three years, had several office jobs, including in a law firm and a state agency, a lifeguard, a public safety dispatcher, and a few years of extra work in film and television. And I spent a couple of years entertaining at kids' birthday parties. And probably others that I'm forgetting, since I worked up until the time I had kids. So there you go.
Now a question for you: what does that have to do with this discussion? Are you going to try to claim that I'm some out of touch spoiled mom who has no right to criticize people who have real jobs? If you are, don't waste your time. I have slaved over the grill at McDonald's. I have cleaned the disgusting bathrooms at several restaurants where I worked, without complaint, because I knew that it would be part of the job when I was hired. I've dealt with rich ten-year-olds who called me names and have cleaned vomit out of pools. I've put up with thousands of customers who ranged from polite to completely obnoxious. I've had great bosses and terrible bosses. And when I've come up against a policy that I thought was asinine I've spoken up. And I worked hard. And I respected the customers. And I advanced and got raises and got better jobs so that I was no longer merely "surviving."
I purposely did not identify the employee or the restaurant, because I think it's the system that's at fault. So I would ask you: why are you defending a system that doesn't work in an industry that treats its employees horribly?
Why are you getting so mad over something that doesn't concern you? You have no idea how those employees are treated. Many of them are just trying to survive and are being constantly harassed with unrealistic goals and expectations, just like Brittany.
I'd just like to ask at this point, exactly how do you and/or your husband earn a living?
@Amy -
I'm not the one making petty complaints about fast food.
If you want a service where you can stuff your face with
food that takes under 2 minutes to get, then the least you
can do is take your foot off the brake and slide your car forward 6 feet.
@Brittany - I'm a vegetarian too, Brittany. Have been for more than 30 years. I worked the grill at McDonald's and sliced meat and assembled sandwiches at Arby's. And served meat as a waitress for years. As a matter of fact, I quit McDonald's largely because there was a corporate rule that the kitchen workers were only allowed to have drinks on their breaks. So I stood up myself, quit a shitty situation, and made sure that everyone from my boss to corporate knew why. I hope the rule has changed. The grill was a miserable place to work and something as simple as a cup of water would have made a world of difference.
But your attitude towards your job and your customers is disgusting. Perhaps if you didn't have such a terrible attitude you wouldn't be stuck in a job you obviously hate, merely surviving. Be pissed at me, the customers, or the world in general all you want, but you're the one who sounds miserable.
@Amy -
Good thing I don't live near Flagler either.
Besides, just because I work for the company doesn't
mean I'm not entitled to my own personal beliefs. BK
hired me knowing my beliefs.
And you know what, I do what I do because I need to survive.
Do you think a vegetarian wants to be in a 98 degree kitchen
10 hours a day, with meat splattering on my face, burning my
arms and fingers, making hardly minimum wage.
So save me your little threats, because an internet blog with some girl
named "Brittany" isn't going to get you very far.
@Brittany - Interesting. Someone who claims to work for Burger King calls the food "fattening, disgusting flame broiled carcass" and "diseased, factory farmed abused, heart attacks in a wrapper."
I certainly wouldn't want someone with that kind of attitude towards the food she's being paid to prepare getting anywhere near my food. Luckily I don't live anywhere near Flagler County, FL.
I know that people from Burger King corporate have been monitoring this thread. If you'd like any more information about "Brittany" please let me know.
Get a life and everyone knows that fast food is a horrible diet for your kids. So what, try to get someone fired for speaking truth about processed food. Wonder what your community thinks about you. That you feed your kids fast food cause to lazy to cook but you work at home. They must all laugh at you behind your back. There's a saying about people like you....you know the ones who put down others to make their self feel better. I bet you have no real friends, just internet comments lol. Someday your kids will work fast food cause it's the one job kids can do with no skills. I bet your kids are fat now lol.
Wow, thanks for reminding me about this incident that happened seven-and-a-half years ago. Good times.
Amy, you're a bitch. Give the kids a break, you can soak up your husbands money without giving honest hard working people a hard time. Seriously. Also, a blog titled "selfish mom" is not a job. It's not a career. Don't kid yourself. If you think you can do better, why not get a REAL job? Being a mom is easy, I'm a father of 3, my wife works too. Quit being a bitch and just help the kids out or ask for some free fries or something.
-I don't expect you to respond to this because you don't respond to any other of the people who are approaching you this way. Enjoy your little bubble of a world on the internet. Bitch.
I have to get back to WORK. Because I really do have a JOB.
Ok, I work at Burger King and I can tell you exactly why we do this.
Due to our horrible economy, BK as well as everywhere else has taken
major cutbacks, and its target is its employees.
On an average day it will be just me in the kitchen. An order will
come through and take about 45 seconds to decide what they want,
most people will order multiple sandwiches.An average order is 3 sandwiches
I'd say. Now if the person before you orders 3, person behind you gets 3, I'm looking at 9 things to make, run around to cook enough fries, maybe some one
gets onion rings.
Now I'm just one person, making all this food. It takes people roughly 40 seconds
to order, and additional 15 seconds to drive up the the window, probably about 10
seconds to scrounge up change.
The thing is, it isn't BK that is cheating, it is us getting tired of being hounded
by our managers that we are slow workers, when reality it is people driving through not knowing what they want to eat, being indecisive, talking on their phones, ordering $30+ of fattening, disgusting flame broiled carcass, driving to the window just to tell us "Oh can you add another triple whopper to that?"
By the time an order comes through, I have less than a minute to make it, even
if that person just ordered 4 sandwiches.
The bottom line is this, stop being a lazy selfish mom that feeds her kids diseased, factory farmed abused, heart attacks in a wrapper, and cook for
your own damn kids.
@mom101 - Stop that! :-)
Wow, who knew this many people would admit to eating fast food these days?