I went through the drive through at Regal Burger tonight. I was the only one in line, took my time making my order, and was cheerful to the window 1 clerk and proceeded to window 2. Got my milkshake handed to me in record time and was asked, “Would you move up beyond the blue gate, please?” Since I’m a compliant sort of fellow, I did as I was asked and then thought, “Why on earth did I have to move forward? I’m the only one in line!”
As my milkshake melted, it seemed odder and odder to me, so when the guy came out to give me my food, I mentioned that there was no one behind me. He sorta shrugged and spoke more than he ought to have.
“We’re rated on how much time you spend at the window.“
I responded, “So, me pulling up doesn’t count as time at the window.” He shrugged, nodded, apologized (not sure for what), and turned and ran off.
Since there was no delay for my food, I can’t say I was treated unfairly, but it sure is hard to feel good about what happened, and it’s pretty obvious who the workers are serving (themselves). Some thoughts:
- Metrics should matter to the consumer. Figure out what THEY want and give it to them. Measure the customer’s experience, not the worker’s.
- Measuring the wrong things will almost certainly lead to wrong behavior. In this case, a worker is (he thought) getting a reward for inconveniencing the customer — I’d bet the farm that’s NOT what the rule makers wanted.
- If you’re going to manipulate metrics to make yourself look good and make that obvious to the customer, you ought not to have a customer experience survey attached to the receipt and beg the customer to tell you how you’re doing.
Rule #1 is ALWAYS in play.
