Why do I expect good service from places like McDonalds or Taco Bell?

I completely agree. I think if you have any job that involves working with the public, you should know how to be polite and courteous, especially when you're working with people's food.

As a restaurant manager of 12 years I can understand your frustration. I think there are generally two reasons for poor service in the fast-food industry. 1)The job market or area of town is such that finding caring, good quality employees is very, very difficult and sometimes, unfortunately, mangers just need Hot Bodies (people) to fill in shifts. 2)The fact that they are not providing good service could very well be the fault of the manager. If the manager does not care about the store or the employees it shows in every employee who works there. if customer service is not focused in on during training, many employees will not participate in good customer service. lastly, if the manager does not have a good support management staff underneath them all the positive efforts in the world could go out the door due to policies not being held up with the manager is not there. Most of the time I find it is a matter of training.

They are taxed on an 18% tip whether you leave it or not. While the service may not have been great, I did get service, I am not going to steal it. True the employer has to make up the difference so they are at least making min wage. However, half the time that means splitting the tips from all the other servers to ensure everyone at least made min wage. So, not only are you stealing the services from the server, but you are stealing from the other servers who are going to loose money to pay what you should have paid for. Also consider they are getting taxed on an 18% tip, but the employer is only required to make sure you gross reg min wage. So in some cases, even though the employer is making up the min wage difference, they could actually be LOOSING money by people who dont tip, or dont tip enough. That being said, I also feel bad for them sometimes. From someone who was worked various service industry jobs most customer service issues are wrapped around poor pay/benefits, poor training, poor support, poor management, and yes, at times, its nothing more than a customer throwing a fit to get something for free. It is not always their fault, even when it appears like it is. It would take some pretty bad service for me to not tip at all.

Well, Being a manager for a fast food chain I agree that I can't stand when I go into a fast food restaurant and get crummy service. I know what is expected and I know how they should behave.

HOWEVER! to all of you who have been saying things like "they are high school dropouts" and "blame the mananger on shift". You have obviously never worked for a fast food restaurant or you had a bad experience working for one. Most of the kids that we hire are STILL in school and most of them are trying to work and get good grades. Yes, I'll admit that we have some that are just there for the paycheck and we teach them to work in the kitchen not with the public. As for the manager issue, sometimes the manager in charge has no idea how that particular crew person has treated you. If you go to them and inform them that you were not treated well, it will open their eyes to a potential problem and more than likely the next time you visit that person will not be behind the register. If you have a complaint about your food also go to the manager, who in most cases, (in my store at least) will try to do everything possible to right the wrong.

We DO NOT deserve to be yelled at.

We DO NOT deserve to be cursed at,

and we definatly will not tolerate being made fun of or being called names.

I have a High School diploma and I am working on starting my own Buisness. Working at a Fast food restaurant has given me a well paying job (in my town at least) and the flexibility to work around my schedule. Some people expect 4 star Quality in our food and service and others think that we should have their food to them in 30 seconds.

Next time you visit do me a favor, look around. Are they all running around trying to serve everyone? Do they look shorthanded? Are they doing everything in their power to get you your food? Is there some Large Orders in front of yours? Sometimes the real world catches up with us trying to work back there and that endless supply of food you all think that we have runs out and we have to cook some more. sometimes we are running short 3 or 4 people because they called out or simply didn't show up for work. and other times we are really trying to stay on top of the orders and people coming through the doors but we lost our footing so to speak and we fell behind. Perhaps an event that wasn't known to us hit town and we did not prepare for the extra business. Or maybe whe have been having a hard time hiring some new faces. Are there NOW HIRING flyers every where you look?

Just some insight to my world.

It's probably because you have an unreasonble sense of entitlement that makes you think everyone else is here to just please you. People in other countries would feel priveleged just to be able to go to a Mcdonalds and be able to eat what we eat no matter what the service was like. So it might not hurt for you to try to put things in perspective. Also, taking resposability for the situations you find yourself in might not be a bad idea either.

What do you expect? A McDonald's employee usually makes minimum wage! These are people that couldn't even graduate from high school. If you made that much and were ignorant and uneducated, you would probably act the same way. Think about what sucky lives most of those people lead! Just feel sorry for them and don't have such high standards. You get what you pay for.

the attitude is not the majority problem with me it's getting the order right 95% of the time my order is short and somebody gets left out. this happens to me over and over at all the top fast foods like Mcdonalds, wendys burger king etc.....

If we are paying for good service, that is what we deserve to get. The other side of the coin is that the employees deserve courteous treatment.

Whatever you do be extra nice when ordering at the drive-thru because my brother used to work at Carl's Jr and the stories he used to tell about the rude customers at the drive-thru were just wrong...let's just say they got a little extra in their burgers!!!

yeah i do i agree with you. but i still love to go get me some fast food. i just love it. yeah sometimes i dont get what i orderd. or sometimes they act stupid. i guess that you get what you pay for. and im ok with that. and i do keep in mind that these are teenagers that are gettin minimum wage and that are uneducated.