Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Extra Credit Assignment

I entered McDonald’s last night at Times Square and began my extra credit assignment. I walked up to the register looked at the cashier with a smirk on my face and asked for a plain hamburger with 4 pickles and small french fries without any salt. When my order was entered into the register he looked at me with a grin on his face like I was the strangest person in the world. The cashier hooked me up because there were no dollar fries on the Dollar Menu and put in the register as though I was ordering a parfait. The cashier then proceeded to turn to the people cooking and putting the food together and told them a plain hamburger with 4 pickles and had to repeat 4 pickles on the hamburger. I started to laugh at that and did not think that they would be able to do it. It was quick though; before I knew it I had my order in my hand and thanked the man. The entire process took about 7 minutes from the time I placed my order to receiving my food. It only took 3 people to complete my order: the cashier, the cook or person preparing the food, and the person preparing the french fries. I guess since it was 42nd street they really did not have any time to really ask or care why I had just ordered a plain hamburger with 4 pickles. The person preparing the food gave me some looks like “is this guy serious?” When I did receive the food and opened it up they had the french fries with no salt correct but the hamburger had 5 pickles on it as oppose to the 4 I had asked for. I thought that was hilarious because I would have thought that there would have been less than 4.
The management process that I had witnessed was very simple and basic. I feel that they were very sufficient because it was Times Square and they are constantly dealing with magnitudes of people. It is a very popular area and caters to tourists. I would rate the staff’s manufacturing (order preparation) an 8 because they got it done quickly but got my order wrong and gave me 5 pickles. The communication process I would rate a 9 because I spoke with the cashier and gave him my order, then he spoke to the person preparing the burger and the french fries. The coordination a 10 because I got my order within 4 minutes and there was no type of delay or arguing amongst the people working there because I think of the location of the store and they cater to large amounts of people all day and night. The customer service a 10 because he hooked me up and gave me the dollar fries and was very polite and did not ask too many questions about my order and only smirked about my 4 pickles.
If I was brought into McDonald’s as a consultant to help them improve their efficiency the only recommendation I would make to improve operations during special orders were to have it done correctly and maybe some type of pricing list for special orders. Because I was a little lost on whether pickles cost extra or fries without salt are extra as well. But overall the store I went to was very efficient and made everything very easy for me, maybe I would have had a different opinion if I had gone to another location.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Classify Myself

I feel like the test definitely gauged my management orientation really well but at the same time I already knew which category i would be classified under. I'm the D and a back up S. The test got it right because of the type of personality I am is very take charge and try to lead by example. I definitely don't wish I was anything else because being a D has gotten me this far so no point in changing now and I get along with everyone.

Personally I think it is very helpful to determine people's management "type" to better understand people and better group people to be more efficient in work settings and it could definitely help out with personal settings...... especially dating. Save a whole lot of time!!!!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Power of Vision

Three personal goals I wish to accomplish within the next 5 years are:
1. To finish and graduate from Baruch College
2. establish and start my own event planning company
3. own a home

The actions I'm taking to accomplishing my goals are that I'm here even now as I type this in Baruch taking classes and researching what classes to take next semester. The goal is to finish within the next year and a half. Which is very realistic and reasonable.

For establishing and starting my own event planning company I've been working and doing events on my own for almost 3 years now and doing internships with PR and event planning companies. So I've built a large database of contacts, and connections, and resources that I can use once I've finished school.

The actions I'm taking to owning my own home is just saving....saving.....saving.....and more saving money. I make sure that my credit score is great every month. I only own one credit card and try not to use it for just any old thing. I'm also researching where I would like to own a home. So far I'm looking at the Jersey City, Long Island, New Jersey. Bronx, and Manhattan(if affordable)