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Saturday, 11 February 2017

Reflection on Interpersonal Communication Problem

Unknown 12:29

Have you ever come across a situation where a simple food order can turn into a frustrating experience? 

On the 9th of February, I visited McDonald’s restaurant located close to my house for takeaways. To my surprise, there was a queue despite it being 1AM in the morning. When it was finally my turn to order, I noticed that the cashier, a middle-aged woman, named Wendy was acting rather confused, trying to figure out what to key in her POS device. That day, I had three different orders and each came with special requests. For instance, I do not like lettuce for my burger and would like to request for additional cheese. Wendy spent almost three minutes trying to find the “special request” option on the device and when she found it, she had forgotten what my request was. Hence, causing me to repeat my orders again. Five minutes later, Wendy managed to key in all the orders but when she repeated herself, it was all wrong.

I felt angry at that point of time and even wanted to cancel my order. Concurrently, Wendy felt annoyed and started being hostile. I repeated my order the third time and after she key in, she asked in an uninterested tone: “What else you want?”. My blood was boiling and I threw the money without saying any words.

While I was walking home, I felt guilty that I threw the money at Wendy.

How could I have done it better instead?

Unknown / Author & Editor

Has laoreet percipitur ad. Vide interesset in mei, no his legimus verterem. Et nostrum imperdiet appellantur usu, mnesarchum referrentur id vim.

16 comments :

  1. Brad Blackstone18 February 2017 at 22:32

    Thanks, Kevin, for the modification.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown25 February 2017 at 09:40

    Hey Kevin!
    To be honest, I will be upset if I am caught in the same situation as you. I feel that what could have been done better is for her to learn how to contain her anxiousness and to remain calm despite seeing a large crowd in the restaurant. In addition, she could have write down the special orders when you said it. She could also seek help from other colleagues if she really struggle with it so that time will not be wasted and to avoid guests from getting frustrated and impatient.

    Maybe you can say your special order one by one, after she has key in the first one then you say the second on and so on and so forth. This is to prevent yourself from repeating multiple times and this can help to reduce the built-up of unhappiness in you. It is understandable for you to be upset with her, but you can try to empathize with her. It might be her first day at work on that day.

    These are just two cents of my thoughts. Thank you for sharing so genuinely!:)
    Michelle Wong

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown26 February 2017 at 06:48

      Hey Mich. Thanks for reading my blog and I totally agreed with your solution proposed! If I ever encounter her as the cashier again (very high chance), I will follow what you proposed. Thank you once again.

      Delete
    2. Brad Blackstone27 February 2017 at 19:10

      excellent advice, Michelle

      Delete
  3. Tiffany yeopeifen26 February 2017 at 20:18

    Dear Kevin, It was indeed a frustrating experience. It was 1am in the morning and you were still very patient towards Wendy at the start. And i also agree with Michelle and how you should handle the situation.

    I would like to look into your perspective and Wendy's perspective as well. Firstly, from your perspective I understand that it was late at night and you just wanted to get your food as quickly as possible. On your side, you could be more understanding as well because Wendy is working early in the morning as well. Alternatively, you could have wrote it down for her as there is a quite a lot of special request. Or could should not have trouble her for the special request if you have found out that she is a very difficult staff. I understand that you were unhappy, but i felt that it is still wrong to throw the money at Wendy. However, in order that these situations don't happen to other customers, you could have feedback to the supervisors or someone with a higher authority.

    However, in Wendy's perspective, she could been very nervous as it might be a first few days of work and she might not be familiar with the function of the POS. If she was not sure, she should have seek assistance from her colleagues so that she does not make the customer wait impatiently. Furthermore, she should know that it is her fault for not getting the orders right and she should have felt more apologetic instead.

    Overall, thank you for sharing your experience!

    Warmest regards,
    Tiffany Yeo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Leon Ng27 February 2017 at 10:00

    Hello Kevin,

    I can certainly empathise with your situation, as I have been in the same situation several times as well.

    I would be that you could have placed your order one item at a time, as she may not be competent with operating the POS, and the special orders may have been rather difficult for her to remember as well. However, I believe that she should have been more apologetic as well, and not display a hostile front to you, as the root of the issue did lie with her.

    Even so, throwing the money at her was certainly not something appropriate, and it could have been better handled by providing feedback to her supervisors over her attitude towards you.

    I hope that you would not have to experience such an incident ever again, and thank you for truthfully narrating the entire incident in entirety.

    Regards,

    Leon

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown28 February 2017 at 00:21

    Hi Kevin,

    I can totally understand how frustrated you were at that time, especially when its 1am and the process should be quick.

    When you are faced with such situations again, you may want to place your orders one by one to avoid confusion since there are multiple special orders. Another way is to write on a piece of paper or flash your phone for her to view the orders visually.

    She may be a new staff and I think someone senior in the outlet can guide and supervise her. Some people are visual learners while some are audio or kinaesthetic learners. Well, we would not know which type they are on first encounter but we can prepare a list of orders by writing and we can show the cashier if she cannot catch the order. I think you should not throw money on the table even if you are angry as it may seem very rude and insulting to others.

    Thanks for sharing Kevin! :)

    Cheers,
    Jocelyn

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown28 February 2017 at 07:29

    Hi Kevin,

    It was indeed a poor experience, especially at 1 AM. Certainly, most of us have been caught up in such situations and all you felt was nothing but frustration.

    The middle-aged lady, Wendy, was probably someone new at work and had no idea how to utilise the system. With that being said, the company should have paired Wendy with a senior hence she would not have spent so much time on figuring out the system. As a customer, I will feel really frustrated like you with her hostile attitude. However, Wendy as well would definitely feel angered with an impatient reaction when she keyed wrongly.

    What you can actually do is to be patient and repeat your special orders clearly. When Wendy sensed that you are patiently repeating your orders, she would have felt less offended. Alternatively, you can utilise the self-service kiosks that MacDonald's provide in their fast-food restaurants. Customers are able to key in their special orders and quickly without having to wait for the cashiers to do it. Moreover, it ensures accuracy since you are the one typing in the requests. The usage of the self-service kiosks will definitely shorten your waiting time and eliminate your frustration.

    Last but not least, throwing money is undoubtedly the last thing you should do as it shows no respect to the other party at all. Although you are the paying customer, you should respect the cashier and communicate better to prevent situations like this from happening.

    I hope that it would not occur to you again. Thanks for sharing this story with us!

    Best regards,
    Szepei

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown1 March 2017 at 00:51

    She seem to be anxious when I approached her. This may due to the long queue which is stressing her. Since I am not rushing, I should have compromise to her. Speak slower for each of my order, let her key in the first order before I start to mention the next order. If she continue to struggle and looked stressed, I should have give her a solution instead of being angst. Solution such as request to ask her colleague to assist her.

    I should have empathized her as she might be a new employee or feeling tired at work because of late working hours. Things will be better if I have did what I mentioned above. I have learned my mistake and I would not make such an impulsive negatively behavior ever again.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Brad Blackstone1 March 2017 at 19:16

    Thanks very much, Kevin, for the fine debrief of the situation. You've clearly integrated your learning from the situation with some of our discussion points about communication principles. I appreciate your effort!

    ReplyDelete

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