I remember taking AGES to make up my mind :3

But, now that I don't eat out at fastfood places I don't have to deal with little kids taking their time to pic what will be the same thing they get every other time they go there :D

As I recall we weren't given a choice, my Mom or Dad would order something and we kids would either eat what they had picked or not eat at all that meal.  Not that we had fast food all that often.

Going through the whole menu for your kid then waiting 5 minutes for them to pick something  while a line of 10 people waits is right up there with the woman in the dollar store the other day who let each of her 4 kids count coins to pay  for one package of candy each (she had the clerk ring each purchase individually) while there was a line up of about 15 people and only 1 till open.  I wanted to scream.

Reminds me of the sign on the counter of my favorite eatery

DAILY SPECIAL  Two Choices

1.  Take it.

2.  Leave it.

How about - don't eat that disgusting cancerous mass of chemicals period?

Also When going through the drive thu please ask your children to be quiet while you order.  I have a daughter that works at a fast food place she came home from work one day and said thank you for making us be quiet when we went through the drive thru she now new what it was like to be on the other side.  She had a child that was repeating everything the parent was ordering(this was not a small child) she wondered how the parent would have felt if she charged the parent for 2 of evrything. 

lol - I posted that Toronto Star story about the 142 day old Big Mac that looked exactly the same as a fresh one.  Ewwwwwww.

But I get the point.  And I agree wholeheartedly.  In fact, this thread seems to be following the 'line-up at the store' tack but if we don't want narcisstic little princesses and hard-headed jock boys, we shouldn't do this at home either. 

ie: " Lunch today is a tuna sandwich with carrots on the side.  Would you like veggie dip or not?  Milk or water?  Ok.  done."

"What colour shall we paint your room - this colour pink?  or this colour purple?"

Let them explore their pile of stories for a bedtime story, and let them wander about their toy room deciding what to play with.  And let them pick their jammies.  Barbara Colorso even says let them pick their own clothes, and make them a special button that says "I dressed myself today!!"   

but jeepers - they aren't running the planet yet.

While we're on the topic of food, there's really no need to say "no sugar" when you order a coffee from Timmys. If all you want is cream in it, just say "a (such and such) with cream." Saying "no sugar" just confuses us poor Tims workers and delays your order and those of people behind you. It's especially confusing for a new server.

Now as to the kids at MickeyD's thing, I agree with RevMatt. Why take them there to begin with.

While we're on the topic of food, there's really no need to say "no sugar" when you order a coffee from Timmys. If all you want is cream in it, just say "a (such and such) with cream." Saying "no sugar" just confuses us poor Tims workers and delays your order and those of people behind you. It's especially confusing for a new server.

Now as to the kids at MickeyD's thing, I agree with RevMatt. Why take them there to begin with.

Yes, but then there is the issue of too much or too little.  I have this problem constantly because I like big sized strong coffee.  I have tried "single" cream and then they look at me blankly.  Ah the rigors of North American domestic living --just for complaining about this I am going to donate to flood relief.  By the way--any of my fellow maritimers--did you notice that during Earl and the recent power outages, everyone flocked to the Timmy's?  It reminded me of Dawn of the Dead where all the living people end up at the mall....

Sorry, too much extraneous stuff.....

There is a social benefit in encouraging children, if they are old enough, to place their own orders in a restaurant.  they can learn by speaking up to the server, asking for what they want, stating clearly 'no gravy, please', and asking if there is chocolate milk. 

However, what they are going to order should be decided ahead of time, especially when lined up at the fast food place.  And I really don't believe that children benefit by a lot of choices.  Even I get confused when the waiter reels off 15 different flavours of ice cream, or a half dozen specials of the day.   So decide in advance:  hamburger or grilled cheese;  fries or mashed; chocolate or white milk.   

As a grandmother I've learned that it isn't necessary to have more than two kinds of cereal in the house at one time; no more than two choices of fruit, no more than two flavours of ice cream.

Wow.

What kind of place is that?

We get orders for "single" cream all the time and fill the order without hesitation. Some people also say "one cream."

???

I've had Tim-Hortons staff give me blank looks when I ask for them to go easy on the sauce on a sandwich, or if I ask them to leave the sauce off entirely.

We used to just stand outside of the line until my son knew what he wanted and then lined up.

One of my favorites, and what my son hates more than anything, is when I offer one of my famous "deals"

"Can I have (insert cheap toy or sugary treat here)?"

"I'll make you a deal.... no"

 Speaking of Tim Hortons, on 3 separate occasions I specifically asked for "a plain bagel with plain cream cheese" and got back a toasted one.  The next time I went in I asked them why I keep getting a toasted bagel.  She told me that unless I specify that I DON'T want it toasted, they assume I want it toasted!  Hmm.  Life's just too dang complicated sometimes!

 I have the problem that white tea seems to mean camomile tea to one of the workers.  At least that's better than the new guys who either give me a coffee or have me repeat my order 3 times (what, we have tea?).

 Oh!  And I often wonder why a lot of people who wait for buses at a bus stop aren't prepared to pay.  Instead, they'll rummage around in pockets or purses as though caught by surprise!

You want to see a confused face. Go to a McDonald's and order a Whopper.

Holy derailed/double personality threads Batman....

My kids love my announcement when an argument would start:  "You know I'm going to win this anyway, so do you want to do it my way, and we'll all just finish the job (usually cleaning room), or your way, and I guarantee youl'll be miserable."

After a couple of rounds of "their way", they changed their minds.  Somethings just aren't worth long drawn out whiny discussions & arguments.  I don't have time in my life for that crap.  

As they got older, the negotiations relatively improved, sometimes to where they convinced me of an alternative.  So I dont' think I was unfair ever.  I just skipped the wasting time part and got the job done.  Then, the issue was ended and we moved on to happier things.

She probably thought you wanted a plain bagel (no seeds, cheese, etc.) It is normative to toast them, it's how most people want them.

Wow, some of these outlets sound really awful. We are such pros where I work. One note: we don't actually sell white tea. Perhaps that's why you got chamomile.

Or go to a place that only sells Coke products and ask for a Pepsi. They're sure to ask something like, "Is Coke okay?" Your response: "No." Ha ha, what fun.

Yes, there used to be a blueberry white tea, and now it's a pomegranate white tea.  For a while in between there was both.  At least that's what the tea bag says.   If I order pomegranate white tea, one person always gets confused and gives me camomile.  If I'm on the side with the teas, I point, one side is far away from the tea though.

To demonstrate how advertisers confuse children, our next door neighbours five year old told my younger son they went to WENDY'S, and he had a BIG MAC.  Try that one at your local Wendy's.  I no longer eat beef anyway.  I wouldn't want Mad Mac disease.   A friend went up to the counter at Burger King and casually asked for the free whopper.  The clerk actually searched the menu for 'Free Whopper'.  Hilarious.

You're right now that I think of it, we did sell a pomegranate white tea. It was a promotion that ran at our location for a month, and we sold maybe a cup or two of it a day at best.

Speaking of teas, I wonder if this holds true across the country: the worst-selling tea at our location is Pumpkin Spice. On a very good month we might sell one cup of the stuff.

 But if I wanted the bagel toasted I would have said toasted.   Anyway, I gave up.  So now I say "Plain bagel with plain cream cheese, not toasted" and I still get it toasted sometimes!

My daughter's theory on this -- and she could very well be right about it -- is most people who work at Tim Hortons don't want to work at Tim Hortons and they're only putting in minimal effort because there is no motivation to do anything more than that.  What ever happened to pride in one's work?  *sigh*

I think that working at TH is a high stress job- people are cranky because they need their "fix" -coffee for the morning. And just think of all the details you have to remember in one order (only Subways is worse). It's usually a continuous line up, so you take all those different orders without getting a break inbetween.

If you then have a supervisor who spreads unhappyness by critizising every mistake you make or puts you down if your not fast enough, it directly affects your ability to manage in this fast paced environment.

Well, i disagree.

The choices are there....if there are rules, tell them the rules, and then, what fits within the classificaitons they can have.   Help them to understand, based on their age, etc, what is a valid choice, and also, what is a secondary choice.

The manner to handle the selection time is the root cause of the issue.  As adults or kids, if you are not ready to order, let the next person take the spot.

When the barista asks me if I want an expresso, I tell him/her I don't care how fast they do it.

 Was IS a barista, anyway?  It's the person who makes the coffee, right?  Well, then why don't we give the poor shmuck working at Timmies a cool title?  Any suggestions?  How about Horista?  Oops!  Maybe not that one. 

Interesting to hear what you all think. It is a high-speed job at times to be sure. Even if the current customer we're serving is okay about us taking our time, the ones in back may disagree so we always have to be speedy.

I don't think we need our "fix" though any more than any other kind of worker. Of the people I work with only a couple of us even drink coffee. The others prefer tea, and one favors decaf.

Yes, I imagine that could be true however an overly critical manager would make any kind of job difficult.

Hi Shaaron,

Why do you call Timmies workers poor shmucks? Why do you see us in that way?

Peace in Christ.

Probably a perception of hourly rate compared to work output

That could explain the "poor" part of it. Why the "schmuck"?