A special order…

On Saturday November 29, around 5pm, I entered the 3rd avenue and 85th street Mc Donald’s and joined the line. When one of the girls handling the registers said “Can I help the next guest?” looking at me, I felt a little nervous and excited about what is going to happen in the next minutes as I knew that I was going to ask for something unusual.
“I would like one hamburger with four pickles and a small French fries without salt please” i said. As I placed my order I was very much on the defensive, because I did not know how she would react to it. But at my big surprise her reaction was pretty normal and gave me the impression that they have heard more out of the ordinary orders than mine. At this point, she has handled my order on her own, she went and drop a new basket of French fries and went to get my hamburger at the end of the line. I heard her talking to the lady who was making the burger and they were speaking Spanish which I do not know but I heard her mention the word “quarto” and making the sign with her fingers. From what I understand the lady just made the burger with randomly extra pickles and my cashier was specifying her that she needs to make another one with exactly four pickles, which she did a couple minutes later. By the time the cashier got back to the register and was about to take another order, i had read my receipt and noticed that it only said extra pickles not 4 pickles as I specified. So I told her that I needed the receipt to match my order and exactly say 4 pickles and fries with no salt. There, she got confused and called her manager, still being calm and nice to me. When the manager arrived from the back, before I said anything, the cashier explained to her my order in Spanish. The manager also very nicely and in a calm way punched a few buttons in the register while talking to the other girl, after a few seconds, a receipt printed, she handed it to me and explained that the receipt can only say “extra pickles,” but not specify the exact number. But she made it clear to me that she could get the receipt to say “no salt” though. I took the receipt and thanked her as she went back inside. At this point, about 6minutes had elapsed, and my hamburger with 4 pickles was ready in the paper bag, I had my receipt and was waiting on the French fries. As the cashier was taking another order, the fries were ready, she went and pulled them, and by reflex I suppose put some salt on them and made a small one for my order. As she approached me, she remembered and shouted “Oh I’m sorry, no salt for you, can you wait? I have to drop another batch!” Since I had no choice I agreed and after another four minutes wait, I could get my unsalted French fries carefully served with the tongue I saw her take in the back to spray the salt off it. Because I had to wait for a second batch of fries, it took me a little less than 15 minutes to get my order completed, and three persons were involved in the process of making it: the cashier, the line cook and the manager.
At my big surprise, my special order was handled with no frustration by the Mc Donald’s employees. The only thing I deplored and would advise them to change is that while handling a special order, the employees (in this case the cashier and manager) should speak a language that the customer understands to include him in the process and make him feel more comfortable. Also since no salt on the fries is unusual in the process, the Mc Donald employee should have made a note or a reminder by the French fries station to remind herself not to salt the fries, which would have gotten me out of the restaurant five minutes earlier.

Custom Made Managers: brought to you by the DISC Test

The results of the management type test conducted in our class revealed that i am a type I manager. I think that overall the result of the test did not totally match with my personality. Infarct i don't see myself as a type of leader who has a priority of shaping and influencing the environment and other people. Rather i see myself more as a type C manager(conscientiousness.) Not that I think this is good, but i think I am more of a conservative, diplomatic and concentrating on standards and accuracy type of manager. So it would have made more sense to me if the test had revealed that i was a C, even though the result was not completely wrong as i fit some of the I type description.

I also think that i could be a type S, since I have been often said to be a patient, helping and loyal person. I would not mind working in a stable, consistent, or routine environment. I know a lot of people would say that it could be boring, but also this type of environment minimizes stress and conflicts.

I definitely think that it is important to have managers take this type of tests. This type of test is very helpful in terms of matching the future managers with their work environment and future subordinates. And not only this type of test can determine the type of manager one is, but also what type of person one is, because I think that this test in nothing but a personality test.

Clear Visions

As we have seen in the film shown in class, it is very important to have a clear vision of our future. The goals I really want to reach in my life and have a clear vision for is to become a real estate developer and also teach mathematics in high school or college.

Infarct i have always been interested in architecture and home decoration. So I really want to become a real estate developer. I find it fascinating to transform an old building into a nicer modern one through renovation, or improve a parcel to make it more profitable. I am interested in real estate because it allows you to transform ideas and plans into real property.
So besides being a finance major which will help me understand how to get loans and attractive mortgages, I have been to several real estate seminars and plan on going to more in the near future. I also read a lot about it and work part time as a rental agent, which allows me to learn a lot about buildings an people's needs.

As i said earlier, I also have a passion for mathematics, and think it is a very interesting subject and the best mental exercise. So I want to also teach mathematics in the future, in high school or college. To reach that goal, I plan on taking some education courses, and also I plan on getting my PHD.

I also have in mind a personal goal of winning the NYC five borough marathon, which covers a distance of 26 miles. I have always been a running addict and love to run, but the five borough marathon is a very challenging one. I have participated a couple of times, but have never even been among the first 20 arrivals. To make possible that vision of winning that marathon some day, I train a lot and run six miles at least five times a week.