It's a roll of the dice going here... usually it is fine, but sometimes it is a total waste of time. I got there around seven at night, a few days ago, ordered five tacos and a cinnamon twist. The amount was right (This is my usual order) and as I pulled up, the odd-hair-colored young woman glared at me, and didn't say a thing when I said "Hello". I get that working a drive-thru gets really difficult to do (I worked one for years), people driving through with expectations all day long, never letting up, but I never just glared at someone as if they were some sort of awful person. She gave me my order, and I said thanks, and she said nothing.
I let all of that go. She's young, and it's a tough job. I got home to discover that my cinnamon twists weren't in the bag. The tacos were okay, nothing great. A few months ago I was there, and had to wait around twenty minutes in the drive-thru. Felt like longer than that.
The tacos are usually devoid of meat on both ends, definitely not as advertised, where the photo shows it overflowing with ingredients.
A few weeks ago, they didn't have any cinnamon twists, for some reason. A few years ago, they didn't have anything that required meat, so I had to just order something I'd never had before, I forget what it was.
I didn't go there for a few years, because of stuff like this. I've been going there every other week for a few months now, just because I want something other than a burger, but the burger places are far more reliable than this place.
There was one time recently where the guy working the drive through was great, and I think this had to be the owner. He was too invested in the job, too nice to be a regular worker. I can't imagine how tough it must be to staff these places.
Other than him, the drive-thru staff is usually very dismissive and not friendly.
HOWEVER. I do know that in fast food drive-thru, there are going to be some really frustrating customers, making a tough job much harder to have a good attitude at. Maybe this girl that glared at me, not saying a word, had had a few of these customers earlier, as the rush hour had just dissipated. Then, I come along, and wonder why she's not even close to being reasonably amicable to someone who is contributing to her paycheck. I'm not kidding, she glared at me as if I'd killed her pet or stolen her car or something. Hatred.
That said, it is also really disturbing to have someone who doesn't even find you worthy enough of a "Hello", hand you your food. We trust them. If they are having a bad day, there's nothing stopping them from doing something awful to the food. And with the kind of attitude she had, and the other women in that drive thru as well, I'm going to have to take another few years off from Taco Bell. It's like having a dentist or doctor who is rude or won't talk to you... would you trust them to do a good job?
Also, we are fortunate to be able to get food without even leaving our cars, but still. I've had plenty of tough jobs, and although I wasn't always happy all the time, I never treated customers like this. I wasn't on my way home on this trip, I'd made a special effort to get through the heavy traffic to have some Taco Bell, to pay the higher and higher prices, only to have a rude employee experience, and not get my cinnamon twists.
It is also sad that the corporation and franchisee put so much into the advertising, building, and running of the business, which looks great, all to be derailed by the only people they can get to work there doing a really bad job. They are the weak link in the chain.
So, to sum up, for years and years, this Taco Bell, although it's had a great remodel, is really spotty and the customer service is going to be bad. When I need to get some fast food, I'm going to just get burgers. And that's too bad, because they are right there, close to being a great place to get fast food, but the low-quality employees ruin everything.
I want to like the place, I don't expect anybody to blow my mind with good service, but there is a point where the service is too unprofessional to trust. I can't trust these people with a simple order. And it's not just about getting the items in the bag, but I can't trust them, based on their horrible attitude, to get me what I paid for... and really feel okay eating it. What did they do to it? Who knows.
I wish the owners there the best of luck in automating that place, or finding some people with a good work ethic to work there. It's just too bad. If you want to give it a shot, it's not always a disaster, but it isn't consistently good, either.
I keep forgetting that there is a Chick-Fil-A in Arvada now, and although it is a bit of a drive for me, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get treated like this there. They are now going to be my go-to for fast food. I should have been going there anyway. read more