Speak clearly and slowly please

Yesterday, I had early lunch at the fast-food outlet L**. I was greeted by this friendly young gentleman. But I realised that front-line staff not only has to be friendly, he/she needs to speak clearly and slowly.

The young gentleman must have thought that it was cool to talk rapidly. It may mistakenly seem. But it did not serve the customer much good.

I gave my order, but the order was something new from the special menu, as such I did not know that instead of being served with regular coke, I would be given a free small cup of coke. The young gentleman spoke so fast that he sounded as if he was muttering to me. It was probably my fault, I was distracted by the music played at the outlet. As such, I could hardly catch what he was saying. In addition, I was not in the mood to strain my ears to pay attention to what he said. So, I ended up patronising him by saying "yes" to whatever he said.

Then I realised that instead of getting the smallest possible size of the coke (because I try not to drink too much cold soft-drinks), I got myself the regular size one. And I end up paying more for the coke which I would not drink much. In fact, I only drank 1/8 of the coke. I felt I must have been the most wasteful coke-drinkers around?

It took quite a while for the food to be served. I won't have mind waiting, but I was puzzled if L** has converted itself from a fast-food outlet to a food outlet. Also, the staff did not remember that I have asked to have tartar sauce by the side. But I did not pursue further for I decided that I did not need the tartar sauce. I wonder whether in his attempts to serve customers at the fastest pace possible, he left out being attentive to customers' needs?

It must have been a dilemma of customer service. In a fast-paced society, people expects things to be done fast, but perhaps one may compromise attentiveness for speed? How does one find the balance?

Next thought on my mind: Maybe I would have paid more attention to what he has said if he had talked clearly and slowly? I think I would have.

So maybe the moral of the story, it is more cool to speak clearly and slowly. Second moral of the story, faster is not necessary better.