Call me stupid and foolish for returning to a restaurant where I know I'm going to constantly receive the worst service of any fast-food restaurant in America, and you would be correct in saying so. I usually avoid this restaurant unless I am in a hurry and desparate, but today was my last visit to this ticking time-bomb of a brick & mortar lawsuit waiting to happen. EVER. I would rather get my ass kicked by a homeless man in a dispute over a 3-day old soggy half-eaten fly-infested cheeseburger fished out of a urinal in the dirtiest truck stop in America than to eat here ever again.
Every single time I've ever visited the Burger King in Marseilles, Illinois, its the same disgusting story. And when I say "every time" I don't mean usually, or most of the time. I mean EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. It's more certain than the sun rising in the east every morning. Ask anyone who has been there, and they'll tell you the same.
I love Burger King, but every time I visit this corporate-forsaken pitiful excuse for an establishment in Marseilles, its the same routine. First, they are almost never busy except at lunch time. That doesn't matter though, when you pull up to the menu/intercom they tell you to wait. They say "we'll be with you in just a moment", but it sounds like they're saying "what the h*ll do you want? hold on a d*mn friggin minute!" (If they're not busy taking orders, what are they doing in there?) After waiting for a minute, they finally take my order and I pull around. Just as I expected - no cars were ahead of me. What was the wait? So they take my money and give me my change. Now the real fun begins.
Invariably, the drive-thru employee asks me to "pull forward and we'll bring your order out to you". Every time. Again, this is not "usually" or "most of the time". Its every time. Its like standard protocol at this store or something. I glance behind me, and there are no cars waiting. Why do they need me to pull up? Now, for those who have never worked in fast-food and don't understand the reasoning behind it, its simple. They are on a timer, which has a sensor that detects the presence of a car at the drive thru window, and it keeps a log of the time it takes for employees to fulfill the order. This is to ensure that employees are getting orders out in a timely fashion (its fast-food, remember?) instead of goofing off in the kitchen. These times are reported to the management every day with the "longest wait time" and "average wait time". I happen to know this because I worked at a Burger King for 2 years, and I know what it takes to run the kitchen. For the record, I used to run the kitchen by myself in a very busy location. Really - its not that difficult. But I digress.
Now, I used to pull ahead without thinking much about it. No big deal, right? But after countless visits where I've had to go back into the store after waiting for 10-15 minutes because they forgot an order of fries, or a chicken sandwich, or the straws, or I didn't go inside but left unsatisfied because they forgot napkins, or the sandwiches looked like they were sat on or just put together so sloppily I forgot my appetite completely and threw it in the trash, I decided enough was ENOUGH.
I've called to complain to the manager twice, to no avail. The manager seems completely uninterested in the seriousness of such chronically poor service, and I got no justice. Not even reassurance that there would be improvements. The last few times I visited that store (yes, stupid me) I politely declined to pull ahead, because I was hoping that someone higher-up in the establishment might take notice of the poor service, since my calls and comments seemed to have no effect. My refusal to pull ahead was, before today, met simply with a disgusted look and a slamming of the drive thru windows. Today, when I again politely declined to pull forward, I remarked that there were no cars behind me, hence no reason to pull ahead. All should be well. Again, a disgusted look. Then someone else came to the window. "Sir, could you please pull forward and we'll bring the order right to you?" Me: "No thanks, I'm fine to wait here. Besides, there are no cars waiting behind me." Employee: Could you please pull forward?" Me: "What for?" Another disgusted look, and she walks away. Now the (manager?) comes to the window. "Sir, could you please pull forward? We're on a timer." Me: "But isn't the timer there for a reason? The timer doesn't mean anything to me, and there are no cars waiting behind me. Besides, when I pull forward you guys seem to forget all about me. And I don't want to have to come inside or drive back around when you forget part of my order." Manager: "Sir, the timer is there so we get the orders out in 2 1/2 minutes, but when we need to prepare a sandwich fresh it takes longer - please pull forward and we will bring your order out to you when it is ready." Me: "No". Why should I further enable them to be dishonest and continue to provide severely sub-standard service? Another disgusted, angry look and the window is slammed shut. 5-10 minutes later I get my order, and I pull forward to check my order. This time I have to make sure no one spit in my food. No spit, I even checked under the cheese to be sure. But its just as sloppy and carelessly prepared as I expected. NOTHING like the picture in the menu. It may has well have been assembled with a blender. Or a drunken monkey. At least they met the poor standards I've come to expect from this location.
Like I said, that was my last visit to that location. And I'm digging for the number(s) to their corporate offices and customer service lines. I will strongly suggest that they send out secret shoppers to that location, and maybe a few suits to clean house and get things up to code. Even if that manages to happen, I will never return to that store, not even 30 years from now. I'll gladly drive 15 miles out of my way to get excellent service, and to be treated like an appreciated customer rather than a nuisance to be ridden of.
Like I said, I love Burger King, but The King should be ashamed of himself for allowing this location to continue desecrating his good name.
