Regarding techman's moral judgements:
I am an old man (sort of) and in my real world, standing in a long line or sitting in a long line in my automobile are experiences I avoid like I do the flu.
So when I am in McDonalds (very infrequently in real life because I worked in fine full service restaurants for about 20 years and find fast food for the most part (my opinion ONLY) disgusting) I seek the fastest in and out situations I can.
I emphasize this is ONLY MY OPINION.
I know that there are at least some older age folks that do the same.
The only right approach I can find in this matter is if McDonalds is fine with either way then either approach is good to go.

Regarding techman's moral judgements:

nevercoldinhouston, the operative word is "if" and, personally, I don't believe the client is paying the MSC to measure artificially-manipulated timings. I think McDonald's is paying the MSC to measure an actual customer's experience.

An actual customer would not park and wait for the line to diminish at the drive-through and then join the line. An actual customer would either choose to go inside or would leave and drive to another restaurant.

An actual customer would not walk in the restaurant and stand to the side, waiting for the line to diminish. They would choose the shortest line, just as the guidelines state.

The only reason I am responding is not that I care what aggiejim thinks, because it's obvious that his intent is only to post misinformation and to rile up the forum members; it's because you think what he espouses is ethically okay to do.

It is not.

(heart)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2014 09:21PM by stilllearning.

Still learning, and now you have taken the liberty to make my reply state what you want it to state.
I DID NOT endorse or negatively confront the other fellows opinion. It is his and he does have a right to believe what he wants as do I.
Did you read MY OPINION.
I presented my opinion regarding MY REAL WORLD.
What phraseology did I use to state my PRECISE agreement with aggiejim.
I said I purposefully would shop Mcdonalds like I do when I go there in my real life.
Your judgement is that "actual customers" only behave in what you have arrogantly determined to be proper conduct.
Your "only reason I am responding" is a perversion of honorable educated human logic.
I like how YOU underline your pronouncement of what you consider to be my ethical judgement.
Unless you are the creator of the heavens and the earth, your opinions are simply self centered foolishness.

I did not create the heavens and the earth. My "opinions are simply self centered foolishness". Carry on and good luck to you.

(heart)

nevercoldinhouston, your claim only backs up what I said
and stilllearning said. If you waited off to the side, that
would increase your time on site, and you clearly said
you would not want to do that so therefore you would
get in line and get out as quickly as possible.

Is it worth it?

Sure it is. To the client -- at the low fees they start at.

Just SuperSize me.

Is the shop easy? Totally depends on the shopper and circumstances. It is not a shop that I would recommend for a beginner, due to the required timings.

I wouldn't perform a shop subjectively, unless guidelines directed. I have not seen guidelines or contracts requiring me to watch and wait for no crowd, so that I could submit a favorable report; or adversely, to wait for a crowd in order to submit an unfavorable report, again using my judgment. Who's to say that if I waited in a line of four, the crew and timings would not meet standards? More than once I have gotten the why did it take so long question when there were no customers in front of me. The client wants to know how the crew performs when they're slow, moderately busy, or slammed. Excellence, or room for improvement, is measured, regardless of volume.

No, I have never eaten the entire meal. I could maybe eat the entire snack wrap, except that I remove excess tortilla, and pick out the shredded cheese. The fries, minus one or two, always get dumped. Drive-thru, is the burger, and I do it last, taking it home to someone appreciative.

I believe the client wants the real customer experience. A real customer wouldn't sit and wait until there was no line, they would just get in line along with everyone else.

techman01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is
> why
> Howie Mandel only fist bumps and that is why I do
> the same.


According to The View the other morning fist bumps spread more bugs than a handshake does.

Also don't ask.

first mistake was believing anything on the view

McD's is one of the few mystery shops I do...I prefer to stick with merchandising assignment and audits.
The first one I did was for $9, walk-in only. It was my first mystery-type shop, and I was a little intimidated at the thought of the timings. However, I loved that you can use elapsed times instead of actual times, so I used a voice recorder, and gave a little cough at each of my timing points. I still do that.

When I did that first one, I decided even though I found it easy, I decided against doing any more. Not because of the assignment, I just really dislike the food. Never say never, right? A few weeks later, I got a call to do one for $12 on a day I had a lot of assignments scheduled, and would have to eat out anyway. So, I relented. Now, I get the $15 calls, which make it worth it for me. They are simple enough that I would do them for less if I liked the food.

I never considered waiting until a restaurant was less busy to do my shop. I suppose I just assumed that I was supposed to provide my report based on what a normal customer would experience. I did one shop last week for a chicken place where there were 6 cars between mine and the menu board, and had to wait over 30 minutes just to place my order. How I wished the timings included that!

Oh, and on my last McD's breakfast shop, I paid $8.67 for a sausage McGriddle, hash brown and small orange juice. The MSC called me to ask what I had ordered extra, lol.

@textman - I never said I believed The View, I said according to The View.

They are pretty easy to do. You have two timing points to record for each portion, the walk-in and the drive-through. These days, I use a digital voice recorder app on my phone, rather than a stopwatch or timer app. This keeps my times very accurate, and I'm not fumbling with my phone or a watch the second I reach those timing points. When I leave the restaurant after my time inside, I leave by the doors located near the restrooms hallway/register, and call out "Thanks again, have a nice day!" to the employee at the register. When I playback, when entering my shop, this helps me be able to record my exit time very accurately.

When I arrive at the restaurant, that's when I decide whether to do my walk-in portion or drive-through portion first. If there are an insane amount of cars in the drive-through line, I'll do my walk-in first, then my drive-through. For my walk-in wait time, I normally bring my tablet, and read a chapter or two on my Kindle app while waiting. I would never use my wait-time to enter my shop, since the site shows up really small on my tablet, and I have to keep maximizing the screen. The McDonald's locations I go to always have employees cleaning up the dining area, and I guess I just don't want to risk being identified. I'm just not ballsy enough for that, I suppose.

The end-of-the-month and overdue/flake bonuses are nice, and make the shops worth it. I've even gotten phone calls for a few oddball tight window shops with some pretty fat bonuses, where I only have to perform the drive-through part, and it needs to be performed at a really specific time, like 6:15-6:45 am.

I've done hundreds of arches shops. I used to use a digital voice recorder but now an app on my android phone works just fine. I do the drive thru first then park on the other side of the building. I pull out my iPad and fill in the report for the drive thru portion. That insured five minutes between pick up and going inside. I then go in and go check the restroom. If it's dirty I sit where I can see if it gets cleaned in fifteen minutes. Then I join the shortest line and time the dine in portion. I take my food to a table and sit down to pretend to eat. I pull out my iPad, careful not to let my screen be seen by anyone and finish my report. It insures that I'm there for fifteen minutes. I check the restroom again submit the report and even upload the receipts (allowing myself two minutes as my checkout time before I hit submit. Reports are nearly always finished by the time I leave the shop

iblessyah Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I then go in and go check the restroom. If it's
> dirty I sit where I can see if it gets cleaned in
> fifteen minutes.

Great idea to check the bathroom first. Thanx for the tip.

You're not sitting for 15 minutes to see if the restroom gets clean before you get in line are you? I'm sure you're not but the way you posted sounded as if you did.

I don't understand checking the restroom twice. Checking it right before you leave determines whether or not it's clean.

Mantis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't understand checking the restroom twice.
> Checking it right before you leave determines
> whether or not it's clean.


I think this may be suggested, but not required, in the guidelines from the MSC that you check it when you first arrive. If it is dirty and you see someone go in there to clean, you have to check it again. If you check as you leave and it is dirty, then you get a bunch of questions about where you sat and if you ever saw anybody cleaning or going into the restroom. Checking at the beginning of the visit and then sitting where you can see the bathroom is a way of validating that the restroom isn't being cleaned if it is dirty when you get there, I guess. I still visit at the end. I prefer to go at the end, but I still have to sit where I can see the bathroom, just in case it is dirty. I just don't want to have to check it twice if an employee went in there, I suppose.

I did not see any mcdonald shop lately in Los Angeles area, did you guys see it?

Normally I don't respond to stupidity but since I'm
in a web conference I have some time.

I get to mcdonald's at 1230pm Drive-thru line is 12
cars deep. It's too long, I think. I'll sit in the parking
lot waiting until the lines goes down. 1pm finally rolls
around, and the line is now only 2 cars deep, I decide,
great now is a good time to go in line. In and out of the
line in under 6 minutes.

Meanwhile between 1230p and 1p 30 cars went through
the line.

Makes perfect sense to me!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2014 05:47PM by techman01.

Techman,

I will sometimes pull over and shut my car off, when entering a fast food drive-through that has a long line.

I do this because when my car is idling for long periods, it idles rough and sounds like a jet engine when it's shut off. I'll use this time to catch up on emails or organize my schedule, call my husband, whatever. Longest I'll wait is about five minutes, though, before getting back into the line.

If the line doesn't die down, I just go inside and order.

aggiejim72 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 57carol Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I've never done one, always been too afraid of
> the
> > intimidating timings, etc.
>
> 57carol the time points required are intimidating
> at first. The problem with the timings for
> McDonald shops is that performing the timings can
> cause you to not pay attention to what else is
> happening. But if you can get a digital voice
> recorder here is a good way to do a McDonald's
> shop. I did one this week.
>
> First, do the drive thru first. And wait until
> there is no line, because you want to give the
> employees a chance to meet McD's time to serve
> requirements. And if there are 6 cars in line at
> lunch then not only will you spend more time
> waiting but there is no way the location will get
> a good rating from corporate. McDonald's rates the
> performance on a 100 point scale. They have some
> formula where they take the report you make and
> assign scores. I know this because I shopped a
> McDonalds and just two days after my report was
> filed the location manager announced on a
> handwritten sign that she placed where anyone
> could read that the location got a "perfect 100
> score." I even took a picture of it. But what
> corporate didn't know is that when I got there to
> do the dine in a woman from a Latin American
> country did not know how to count USA money and
> the clerk was kind enough to spend 4-5 minutes
> counting her money for her, and she couldn't speak
> English. So wait until the line is short or
> non-existant if possible.
>
> Then, start your timings using your digital voice
> recorder. Just enter the line like the guidelines
> say and at that moment start your recorder. These
> recorders have built in clocks and they will keep
> track of the time for you. Then when you order
> your food hold the recorder so that it can't be
> seen but so it will catch what is said.
>
> Then as you proceed to the window to pay speak to
> yourself on the recorder--things like "Remember to
> get a receipt" because it's happened to me that I
> forgot to get the receipt and I had to go back
> through the line and buy another meal. Then as you
> approach the window and are ready to stop
> countdown 3, 2, 1, stop. Keep recording but now
> when you playback you'll know where to end
> Timepoint 1.
>
> You keep recording until you get your order at the
> pickup window. As soon as the order presenter is
> about to give you your food just turn the recorder
> off with one hand and take the order with the
> other. Now you have all the timings for the drive
> thru saved for when you play it back and get the
> times from the recorder.
>
> Pull over and take a picture of your drive thru
> receipt. One less thing on your mind. Taste the
> food and feed the fries to the birds that are
> always hanging out at McDonalds. I love feeding
> the fries and the buns to the birds.
>
> For the dine in section, drive your car to the
> other side of the McDonalds so the employees
> working the drive thru don't see you go inside.
> Now go up to the counter but again, wait until you
> see a register with nobody in front of you. Just
> act like you are looking at the menu from 10-15
> feet away until you see an opening. Because the
> better the employees do the easier the report will
> be and I think this MSC likes to submit good
> reports to this, their biggest client.
>
> Just start your recorder when you enter the line,
> and keep it out of the line of sight of the order
> taker by using the register to block their view of
> your hand with the recorder.
>
> Also, always take two $5 bills with you to
> McDonalds shops and order something that will cose
> $4 and some change, so that when they hand you the
> change you will be able to catch the coins in one
> hand and not have to fumble around with bills,
> like if you had paid with a $20 bill and got
> $15.43 back.
>
> Stop timing when you get your order. Make sure
> your time in and out of the location is synced
> with the timestamp on the receipt.
>
> Probably others have good tricks too.


To aggiejim72 : What make/model/size digital voice recorder are you using? Where did you purchase it? I do not have a fancy mobile phone and was thinking of purchasing a digital voice recorder with a digital camera in it...what would be your suggestion...how may GB needed, etc. I am a novice (just joined) so any details would be greatly appreciated by you any posters.

Thanks.

I want to do one but can't get over the dual shop. Can't help but think someone working there will see me, i.e. BUSTED.

Here's a great time calculator that helps do the math for the timings down to the second.
[www.easysurf.cc]

I must be the only one, but I quit accepting Mcd shops. In my area they only pay $7.50, not worth going through twice and buying two meals.

Then again, I never thought about asking for a bonus either! I may just have to shoot the scheduler an email! The two McD's in my town haven't been shopped all month!!

Am I the only one here who doesn't do these shops because their food makes my body sad??

Seriously though, it doesn't seem worth the fee.. I could do other food shops and not have to do so many timings and make more money..

You don't have to eat the food. Two bites, two fries. I make mine the world's smallest bites.

Even one bite makes my body grumpy. Although the ice creams are a nice treat.

Anyway, I did this shop once and gave the food to a bum.... Most people on here probably eat the food. "Free food" right?