The other night, I decided to go out for an ice cream with my wife. Of course this brings up the argument as to which place to go. It is a simple plan, we were to go out and get a dipped cone for my wife and I and bring home a small sundae for my mother-in-law that was watching our daughter. After a short drive, we went to Mc D's which has disappointed us two times before because they were always out of something which prevented us from getting ice cream. When we got to the counter, sure enough, they were out of cones. Ok, so now it's my wife's turn to choose where to go. A short drive later and we come to the next stop. In this ice cream shop, there is another couple standing there waiting for service but nobody behind the counter. Odd... We politely waited a couple more minutes and still nobody behind the counter. I noticed the discouragement on the other couples face, so I did what most people would do, (well , maybe not) I went behind the counter and went into the back storage room to go look for the crew. When I opened the door to the back room, one was on the phone and the other was sitting down reading a book. I could tell by the look on their face that I kinda surprised them. I asked if they were still open (a stupid question since it was only 7:30 PM), which they replied stunned. After making my way back out to the front, only one of the two girls came out to find 6 other people now waiting for service. Her excuse to them was, sorry the bell on the door doesn't work anymore. This didn't stop my wife from ordering, but by this time I was kinda irritated. Well, we were still needing a sundae to take home, so on our trip back we stopped by another drive thru and ordered a simple hot fudge sundae. Surely the worst of the night had pasted. When waiting in the drive thru you could see that the car in front of us had a dog in the lap of the driver. When the girl in the drive thru past the food out of the window she stuck her head into the car and loved on the dog with kisses and petting. Don't get me wrong I am a dog lover, but this was a little bit strange to see. Of course as we were pulling into the window, my wife made a comment "I hope she washed her hands after that". rolling up to the window, you could see her in the distance making the Sundae, which meant that there was no way that she had time to wash her hands before doing that. This was the kicker, while walking towards the window she sneezed with the lid in one hand and the sundae in the other (can you imagine which she used to cover her mouth). She showed no signs of knowing what she just did and greeted us with a great big smile. I noticed on her name tag that she was the Asst. Manager of that store which really disappointed me. Now This was not one place that all of these things happened, but a combination of three different places which leads me to believe that this happens to a lot of people, a lot of the time. I hope that as Managers, we can recognize these short comings in our competition and not allow these things to occur at the DQ. We will be trying to prove to the locals that we are where they want to bring their business and not be labeled as another nasty fast food joint. The only way that we will be able to do that is by not allowing things like what we experienced to happen with our service. It will be up to us as managers to control all of these issues like, guest services, having enough product, and hygiene. The owners are very clear about their expectations when it comes to hygiene, so let us work as a team and not disappoint them.
