When Henry Ford developed the automotive assembly line he created a line mentality that has carried over into the lives of almost every Detroiter. Known around the world as a culture of people that love to wait in lines, especially single lines, Michiganders have a global reputation. But what happened at McDonald’s drive-through Friday afternoon takes the line mentality to a new level.
A lady with a young child in her car pulled up directly to th pay window, by-passing the line queued from the customer order display. The employee at the window refused to serve her and asked her to move away from the window and get in the line.
She refused.
What happened next is beyond belief.
The lady continued to refuse to move and the crew member continued to refuse to take the order. Police were called but it is unclear if it was the restaurant or a customer or both that placed the call.
Twenty minutes later, drive-through still blocked, the police pulled out the Taser to take the lady into custody for trespassing and taking the child into protective custody. The drive through remained closed for the investigation,
Surprisingly it happened in North Carolina, not Michigan.
Sales, Customer Service, or Enforcement?
There are three ways to look at this from McDonald’s perspective, as a profitability issue, a customer service issue, or a line enforcement issue.
As a business profitability issue it would have been best to simply take and fill the lady’s order – especially once she had dug in and refused to move.
From a customer service perspective they should have followed the business profitability path and then explained the situation to the customers behind her if they complained.
From an enforcement standpoint it totally doesn’t matter because they are in the restaurant business, not in the rule enforcement business.
The average time it would have taken to serve the out-of-line customer was under two minutes. At McDonald’s in Rochester Hills, Michigan, orders are typically filled in around 90 seconds from point of order until food is delivered. By following the enforcement path they lost a half-hour’s worth of drive-through business which, according to a spokesperson at the Rochester Hills, Michigan, McDonald’s accounts for more than half of the total sales.
Summary
Employees need to be trained to take a customer service perspective on all customer issues – and that perspective needs to be anchored in the business profitability world.
Additional resources for you:
- The Culture Quiz: A fun, free way to learn about global cultures.
- Cultural Faux Pas: Learning from the mistakes of others
- Cultural Bridges – free information about more than 20 cultures.
- Employment Diversity in Michigan – a Linked In group for Human Resources professionals in Michigan.
- The Anecdotal Leader, a leadership blog
- Life’s Leadership Lessons 53 anecdotal leadership lessons. Paperback, e-book, Kindle.
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