I have at least two that are recent. My son's friend likes to get the hamburger kids meal at McDonald's with nothing on it. We've had multiple cases of them putting cheese on it, even on the reorder. We get Five Guys about once/month. I order grilled onions and bellpeppers on mine while my oldest just gets cheese & ketchup. They have put a few remnants of mine on his burger about 3 times over a period of 3 yrs. Not often enough to stop going but annoying when it happens. They cook it up right in front of you so I guess might be safe to mention it when ordering. Or is that too risky?
You are dealing with people who have minimum wage jobs and poor working conditions. Teenagers with poor attitudes and short attention spans and people with no more education and drive than to work fast food service to try to earn a living. If they were skilled workers who worked hard at their craft, they wouldn't be fixing your burger for $7.25/hr. Their give a shit level is never going to be what it should. Lower your expectations, and feel grateful when the do get it right. Or go to the rare exception in the fast food industry, Chik Fil A, where they are better trained and held to a higher standard where they will always be courteous and get your order right.
Any time I drive to my parents house in Baton Rouge (Watson, really), I only make one stop during the trip, for restrooms and gas at the Natchitoches exit. My daughters, mainly because of tradition, have me stop at the McDonald's there while we are stopped. The folks that work at that particular McDonald's must be the dumbest people on earth. I generally will order just a quarter pounder with cheese, plain, and a small drink, no fries (because my mom is always cooking an amazing Cajun meal the first night we're at home.) 9 times out of 10, I will still get the fries because the workers cannot comprehend that a person may order a sandwich without the fries. They mess up a lot of orders while we're there waiting--always. Last year, my younger daughter, who was nine, whispered to me, "Kids, THIS is why you go to college, so you don't have to work at McDonalds." After we were in the car, headed back south, she thought further on that and made an interesting observation, "Of course, if EVERYONE went to college, who would work at McDonalds?"
I used to be picky as a kid, which likely means I should get used to it with my kids. I have no problem if my order is slightly messed but the littlest error with my kids requires a full audit before leaving the drive-thru.
I will add that Chuck FIL A workers are awesome. I can only hope that my kids will be worthy to work there one day.
Or make them get their own way through college. History shows when they go on daddy's dime, the results aren't near as good.
The trick is to find the places that can get it right. Someone already mentioned that you can't expect much from someone that has their name on their shirt. True story. The bad part for the consumer is you are at their mercy. You can't under any circumstances send it back, who the frick knows what they will send back to you. Sonic is huge here in Ok since it started here. I made the mistake of paying with my card before the order arrived once. Never again, now I will order, if it doesn't arrive in an acceptable amount of time I just drive off.
As for getting it wrong, there is a cafe I have had breakfast at a few times and asked for over medium on my eggs every time. They always come out just short of fried hard. Bullshit! Next time I will tell them over easy +30 seconds see if they can get it right
