Hungry Jacks Burger Time

We used to go to HJ’s because the food was better and fresher than McDonalds; however over the last 5 or so years depending on what you order I personally reckon that Maccas has improved considerably. You can still get the good old “McGrease burger” if you want it though.

The last few times that we have been to HJ’s the service however has been on a steady downward slide (particularly at the Smithfield HJ’s), to the point where it takes up to15 minutes to get served.

Last weekend was a perfect example of the previous description.
Jacinda had me go get two kids meals for Jade and Courtney and a Whopper value meal for herself; Matthew and I tend to have a preference for Maccas, so as they are right next door to each other this was no inconvenience.

On walking into HJ’s, there were from what I could see, about 5 or 6 people lined up waiting for their order, so I knew it wasn’t going to be a 5 minute wait. What I experienced though was a real eye opener; behind the counter I could see three girls who were serving. One had the drive through headset on; another was serving the counter and yet another was filling drinks. There were another 3 or so staff in the kitchen including the manager on duty.

The girl with the drive through headset on was busy chatting to the other girl who was supposed to be serving people at the counter. Both saw me standing there waiting to be served, but continued to wait on the orders that weren’t going to be out anywhere in the next few minutes and chatting. After about 5 minutes of standing at the counter, one of them came over and took my order.

While I was waiting for it, I observed more of the chatting and then noticed the girl who was filling drinks.

She was filling them alright, but filling them till they were overflowing into the drip tray underneath the cup and merrily chatting with the other two while she was doing it. Now it’s not rocket science to know that postmix drinks aren’t especially dear on a per serving basis hence why they offer free refills; the amount of wasted product I saw in the time I was waiting for my order though was ridiculous. For every three cups this girl filled I reckon that she wasted another two in overfill.

All up, I spent about 15 minutes after ordering in addition to the 5 minutes I stood waiting at the counter earlier to place my order. So that’s a total of 20 minutes at a fast food burger place to get 2 x kids meals and an adult burger meal.