Dear Moscow Jack in the Box,

The following is something that I am seriously contemplating sending to the Moscow Jack in the Box. For those of you who don't know, I may have inherited this from my dad, who to my knowledge has taken on Micron and Skipper's of Idaho Falls. Also, I might add, while this has Sandi's name in the bottom, I don't think that she agrees with everything wholesale, and her disclaimers are at the bottom

Dear Moscow Jack in the Box,

This short note is to inform you that we are no longer going to be customers at your store. Why you ask? Let me tell you. On Saturday, October 11, 2008, my wife and I decided to grab a quick bite to eat. We had a busy schedule with a limited time frame, and Jack in the Box sounded appetizing. Then I had the following experience, which ruined any appetite for your store in the future. Were we not so forgiving, this wouldn't have happened at all, because we have been repeatedly disappointed with the service at your store. So much, in fact, that we should have stopped coming back a long time ago.

On that Saturday, we ordered 2 Jumbo Jacks (without cheese) and a medium fry. This amazingly complicated and difficult order took 25 MINUTES to be completed. I have nothing but empathy for fast food workers, having been one myself, but seriously, is this the best you can do? I understand how quickly things can get out of hand and you are overwhelmed, but the amount of time it took just scratches the surface. When we first arrived we were treated by your employees with nothing but disdain. When the woman who took our order was less than cordial, that should have tipped us off. But, our bad adventure did not end there. The dining area was filthy and unkempt from the Coke machines to the bulk of the tables. It was hard to find a decently clean table to eat our quick meal. But, as I already stated, the meal was anything but quick. As the minutes passed without our food, our frustrations grew. These frustrations were compounded by the fact that during the time we (and the other customers) were not getting our food, the management in the kitchen let someone go home. The employee sat at a table for the majority of the time we were there, not caring about the situation of her co-workers and just biding her time until her ride picked her up. I do not completely fault the employee, but every employee should understand that if things get busy, you might have to stay a little longer. The nature of the business is to allow flexibility in your staffs so you can adequately serve your guests. The complete and utter apathy of the crew was apparent. After 20 minutes, and being passed by on our order by those who ordered after us (but with very similar orders), we decided to go and ask for a refund and go somewhere else. We didn't get that far. The single employee putting together and handing out orders was overwhelmed by a system that he clearly didn't understand or didn't have enough training in. As he called our order, we didn't even get a simple apology for the wait, just more disdain for a presence in the store. 2 Jumbo Jacks and one fry and 25 minutes of our time. (This doesn't even consider the orders that were still ahead of us that hadn't received their food). Alas, the order we received was not right. We got a jumbo jack and another Jumbo Jack with twice the cheese, and semi-cold fries. This visit to your store will be our last, notwithstanding the fine products you usually serve. However, there are better alternatives in Moscow that are more considerate of our time and more appreciative or our limited spending dollars.

They say that customers who have a bad experience will tell, on average, ten other people. While we don't consider our influence expansive, we hate to consider ourselves as just average. Consider yourself warned.

Sincerely,

Mike and Sandi Archibald

What do you think? Is it worth the time? Even if I don't end up sending it, I enjoyed writing something not involved with school and maybe this could be a start of a regular "Mike and Sandi review random crap." type of post. In case you were wondering, Moscow Jack in the Box rating is now a 0/10.

*Sandi's Note: Things not mentioned by Mike...
1. The water tasted really weird, even after dumping it out and getting new.
2. The employee that was just sitting there was drinking a shake, I don't know why that makes it worse but it just does.
3. The employee handing out the food just stood there looking from screen to screen for at least thirty seconds at a time...like a deer caught in the headlights.
4. Last but perhaps more importantly...I am the one that really doesn't like the cheese at all, Mike can at least tolerate it....Well, he had already eaten a good 3rd of his Jumbo Jack by the time I had opened mine only to realize that it was not right. So Mike, being the kind and loving husband that he is, offered to exchange. So we switched because I really don't like that processed cheese, but the point is, I only got 2/3 of my Jumbo Jack because of it.