I ordered a milkshake one hot hazy day and instead of being handed a chocolate shake, the clerk on the other side of the window shoved a strawberry shake at me. The pink under the plastic lid was a dead giveaway that this person was not giving me the chocolate shake I ordered so I shook my head and said, “No, my order was for a chocolate shake.” The person on the other side of the window pulled the cup back and asked me to drive forward and someone would bring my order to me. Another time when this same thing happened, I pulled forward and waited 20+ minutes until the backup at the drive-through window calmed down and then someone brought my correct order to me.
This time, I put the solution/correction back into their lap. Knowing they would wait on me quicker because of wanting the line to move – after all, it was their mistake, not mine – I replied to the clerk at the window, “No thanks, I’ll wait right here.” The fast food employee went into a long explanation of how I needed to move forward so the other customers behind me can be serviced. I told this person, “Thank you for that explanation. I realize that you want me to move out of the way and I realize why. However, what you don’t seem to understand is that someone inside that window made a mistake on my order. If I pull forward, you will not correct the mistake until this line goes away and that is not acceptable to me because I have already paid for my food and I have already patiently waited my turn in line once. So I will stay right here while you guys figure it out for however long that may take and the customers behind me aren’t going anywhere – they will patiently wait their turn in line just like I did. Hopefully you’ll get their order correct and then you won’t have to repeat this conversation.”
Is it possible that if we all did this, fewer mistakes would be made? If not, at least the people making the mistakes will be the ones inconvenienced and not the other way around.
goldenrulechoices 