This was such a weird experience that I'm still thinking about it. Ordered a chicken bowl in the app for pickup at 2:15. Got there at 2:18. App said my order was ready. The restaurant was practically empty. Two people eating at tables, nobody ordering at the counter. I figured I'd grab my bag and be out in 30 seconds. Nope. There were three employees working and all of them looked absolutely slammed. One was making mobile orders nonstop, another was moving between stations, and the third was trying to handle pickup customers while doing about five other things. After a few minutes I asked about my order. The guy checked the screen, apologized, and told me they had 22 orders backed up. TWENTY TWO. I ended up waiting another 18 minutes. The guy apologized twice more, which honestly made me feel bad because he was clearly working his ass off. Here's what gets me: from the customer's side, there's no indication that any of this is happening. You walk into an empty restaurant and assume there's no wait. Meanwhile the employees are dealing with a completely invisible line of people who ordered from their phones. And the app confidently tells you your food is ready when it isn't even being made yet. I wasn't upset about waiting. If the app had said 35 minutes, I would've ordered somewhere else or just shown up later. That's fine. But why send me into the restaurant to stand there and make some exhausted employee apologize for a pickup time he didn't choose? Does anyone's location actually handle this well? Because the whole system seems designed to make customers annoyed with the people doing the work.   submitted by   /u/Trantor_Anise1 [link]   [comments]