Sunday, January 11, 2009

fast-food


Nice chicken


I am sure almost everybody patronised KFC for dinner before, and many would have the frustrating experience of waiting for a long time to order and collect their food. I went to KFC to takeaway dinner for my family today, and experienced this problem. McDonalds' then came to my mind. They used to have this system too, where the cashier have to double up to serve the customers food. This system is still effective at non-peak hours, where the crowd is not as large, and customers need not endure a long waiting time to get their food. But during peak hours like dinnertime, the plethora of customers would overwhelm the paucity of workers, leading to longer waiting time. Some workers might even panic and commit mistakes, like dropping the food or shortchanging the customer, which would not be good for the company. The former did happen to me

Evidently, their supply chain is failing them. For a start, they could adopt McDonalds' approach, where there is a cashier, and another co-worker packing the food for the customers. This could reduce the waiting time to make an order. The McDonalds' system do have some flaws. The supply of burgers to the worker packing the food is slower than the worker packing the food, hence resulting in a delay. This problem might not happen with KFC, where the workers would just pick up the fried chicken/burger/whatever from this heating shelf. This is a system where KFC can implement to better effect than McDonalds'.

Why is the shortening of queue time important to McDonalds', KFC or any fast food chain? They are labelled fast-food restaurants, and literally, are expected to deliver their food fast(but thats not the case). Decreasing the queue time could net potential customers, who were possibly put off by the long time spent queuing and as a result not patronising.

This is not a full-proof solution for the long queue time at fast-food outlets. Additional points to consider would be the pool of workers to carry out the suggested system, and the infrastructure in place in these restaurants, and the cost of implementing these 2 points. But the benefit of a better dining experience for customers and higher revenue for the firm would outweigh the cost. Customers would take some time to get use to any new system, as evident in the case of McDonalds'.

iduntellu at 8:47 PM

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

backache

I feel that i am of acceptable weight, but i feel fat. The extra weight i piled on accumulates around my stomach, making me look like Santa Claus. Maybe i am exaggerating, but i guess you do get the idea that i am not as lean and fit anymore. So thats where another one of my resolutions come in; to hopefully be able to run a marathon. I don't want to be as thin as before, but i definitely hope i would be a fitter person coming out from army.

Speaking of that, i attempted to solidify my case for ROD from the army today. I have a temporary PES E status, which means that if they discover there is nothing wrong with my heart, i have to up PES and go back to Tekong after July. I chaokenged and went for an orthopedic appointment today, in hope that i can down PES for back problems if there is nothing wrong with my heart. I do have chronic backaches, but i confess i inflated the seriousness of it. I am however, unsatisfied with the diagnosis of the specialist. He browsed through my X-ray and declared all clear for me, and that he would not need to see me again. I understand that that was the only conclusion he can draw from the X-ray. But perharps he could do more by referring me to another doctor for another procedure, like what they did for my heart, which can successfully diagnose the root of my pain. Maybe because the organisation does not deem back problems as fatal as heart problems, that they would not be required to bear any responsibilities if it does not involve a human life.

iduntellu at 9:49 PM

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Resolutions

1) To be able to better communicate my ideas through written and spoken english
2) To be more decisive
3) To have a clearer idea of what i want to do in the future
4) Run a marathon (maybe)
5) Lose his excess fats
6) To ROD successfully next year

Heres a short entry. And i need to book in again. This sucks.

iduntellu at 9:50 PM

Thursday, January 01, 2009

end of 2008

2008 had been a turning point in my life. Many incidents and events altered my perspective towards life. It had been a whirlwind year, where one had the feeling that it was just yesterday when you were training so hard for basketball, pouring through books for your exams.

One year has elapsed since i was jailed, and there is still one more year to go before i will be released. I had been thinking why do i hate this sentence all Singaporean males have to serve, and had another revelation towards it. That the one factor that induces people to be jailed willingly is the desire to protect their loved ones from external hostilities. The warden stressed that we should be kept on our toes in the event that a black swan occurs, that this tiny little prison which maintains good diplomatic ties with everyone is being attacked. What can this inmate who they deem weak and sickly and not allowed to partake in any physical training be of any help to defend the prison? He is being kept there to show the other inmates that the prison is being fair to everybody, that everybody has to serve their time, including weak and sick ones. He is being made an example, a bad one.

Ok, enough of prisons. We all know that our friendly neighbourhood watchdog in blues cant even keep a man with a slight limp in his left leg from prison breaking. The government announced that they would bring forward this year's budget to 22th Jan. Their effort to come up with something for the ongoing recession must be applauded. But why 22th Jan? Why not leave it to sometime in February like the previous years? I feel that it is strategic of the government to bring forward the budget. This would show that the government is concerned about the well being of its people, and doing all it can to help them tide over the tough times. But why don't they choose to have one ASAP(like coming up with one over the weekends) so that the effects of the recession can be mitigated. It would be Stalin-like to demand them to come up with something in a few weeks. Our civil servants used to the slow pace of work in the government would definitely gather at Hong Lim park grumbling about the sudden corporate work pace. Any cowboy, maverick, heroic style of bill drafted in an astonishingly short period of time(like our counterparts across the pacific) would be deemed "Ad-Hoc" and not achieve its purpose of trying to reassure the mass.

iduntellu at 10:13 PM