Day 1 of the class, Professor Kurpis talked about blogging for the class. I thought it would be rather annoying and time consuming, however, it didn’t turn out as bad as I expected. One of the most effective traits about these assignments was that I was able to remember what we actually did in class because I technically reviewed the material after class and wrote an evaluation on it. I loved the fact that it did not have to be too formal so there was freedom to really speak my mind. I also loved that it was easier to get 20% without studying or researching about dead people.
Honestly, I probably don’t even know who the people are that I commented on, but maybe that’s just me. I did enjoy the first and second assignment the most because I learned about other cultures and their experiences. I am an intended international marketing major so this stuff is really interesting to me.
I wished I read the Professor’s blog earlier than the last minute though because he has written some really relevant and interesting stuff, especially about time management and failure.
As much as I would love to keep blogging, I think it would be pointless if there weren’t people to comment on it because then I would feel as though I am talking to myself! I definitely think this should remain as a component of this course. It is perfect the way it is, if there were any more assignments, it’d become annoying, if there were any less, no one would pay attention to it. Thank you Professor for this opportunity!
The day our class was doing the DISC diagnostic, I was stuck in the elevator. When I came into class, everyone had already finished the test. My friend explained to later what had happened and after took the diagnostic; my result was that I am an I. I think to some extent it is true because I can be emotional, trusting, and convincing. But at the same time, I can become very demanding, egocentric, and aggressive, which is a D. I think with help and determination, you probably can become another type, people are always learning new things and changing; if you are the same person you were 10 years ago, that is a waste of the last 10 years. I think this test would help in understanding people because it gives you an insight on how they think and function.
McDonald’s is a fast food restaurant that every person living in America has come across quite a few times. It is one of the world’s largest fast food chains with over 32,000 restaurants in 117 countries. According to their mission statement, their goal is to "be our customers' favorite place and way to eat…We are committed to improving our operations and enhancing our customers' experience." Although they were quite accurate and prompt with my order, their customer service was terrible when faced with an unusual demand.
The first time I walked into McDonald’s with my order in mind, I knew this would be rather difficult and annoying, for both the staff there and me. After placing my order, I received my receipt that said, “Hamburger w/o meat, w/ extra pickles, extra pickles, extra pickles, and small fries.” When I asked for a receipt that said fries well done with no pickles, I finally got the reaction I originally expected; he gave me a dirty look and said that isn’t possible, I’d have to place a new order. When I insisted, he said the receipt had already been printed and the money collected so nothing could be done. My order was handed to me exactly how I asked for it, but the professor said I needed a proper receipt so I had to try again.
For my second attempt, I tried the same McDonald’s but at a different time, there was no one on line so I proceeded straight to the register and asked for “a hamburger without meat and eight pickles and small fries, well done, with no salt. Also, can you please print me a receipt with that exact order?” I looked at the cashier’s face and he seemed completely calm, as if it was an everyday order. Like the first time, there was no extra staff involved in completing the order or printing my receipt. The only difference was that the receipt was correctly printed this time.
With the order complete, the next step was telling the cooking staff the special order. My cashier went to the back and told them no meat and eight pickles. This was quick and clear. Next he prepared the fries by himself. Within five minutes, I had my hamburger and fries. This seemed like a reasonable amount of time for a fast food restaurant to complete an order. When I took the order to a table, it did in fact have 8 pickles that looked as if they were just thrown onto the bread, however I guess that is the norm in fast food restaurants. I tasted the fries and they were pretty dark and not salty. I had my friend with me that finished the food for me. The staff was fast and their communication was clear. They also did not seem too annoyed or bothered by my special request.
Based on this experience, if I were a consultant to McDonald’s, I’d probably advise them to train the staff to be more adaptable towards customers’ needs. I found it very annoying that I had to order twice because they couldn’t print me a proper receipt. Furthermore, they should try to improve their impression of being a cheap restaurant. Their colors and hard plastic seats are very tacky. They now offer wifi to their customers but it seems pointless because it is a pain to both my eyes because of the bright colors and my behind because of the hard plastic seats to stay in there for more than 10 minutes.
After our midterm, the professor assigned gave us an activity to decide what to do with that midterm and how to structure the next one. According to the slides, the professor had very low influence and the group had very high freedom. We were allowed to make the decide anything we want, within a certain limit. Professor Kurpis stayed in the back and has no role in the group’s deliberations. However, the group did not have strong communicating skills and people were pretty much throwing ideas around and disagreeing with each other. One student took a leading role and tried to organize the class our ideas, it helped a little but if we didn’t have a time limit to work under, I’m sure we would have been there for hours or until most students just quit. Most of the class was competing to win; they all felt their idea was the best and that was the way to go. The students that didn’t say much simply raised their hand to vote against.
If I were to decide, I would give both the leader and group moderate power so they can split into groups and present a more organized idea. This way they have a suggestion and can try to influence the rest of the class. I think it is very important to accommodate and collaborate in order to reach a decision in a professional manner. I am personally not satisfied with the outcome of the chaos, but I chose to compromise.
My group failed at making an effective egg protector, as I would say everyone else in the class did also. One of the groups outsmarted the rest of us and succeeded at protecting the egg but I cannot say that they were successful at making an egg protector, because it wasn’t that. We definitely did not have a clear plan on how to make the egg. We knew where we were going in the beginning; everyone had great input on what would work. However, we didn’t really take time into consideration and so we didn’t really leave ourselves any time to make the egg protector. Step 2 was there was skipped, however, we did make many alternate blueprints of protectors, but rejected each because there was some fault in each. Along with time, we didn’t realize that everyone besides one person was a guy in the group and with big fingers, none of us could really make something so small very fast, and so our protector wasn’t really finished when time was up. I would say my group did a very poor job with this assignment but we learned a lot and next time we would definitely pay more attention to our resources. I think if we had used our time more wisely, we could have made a more effective protector.
