If you volunteered to grab lunch for yourself and 4 coworkers at a fast food restaurant, how would you coordinate it?

I would announce I was going out for ONE, specific, lunch item, like tacos, or burritos and if anyone wanted something to toss some cash my way. Then I would get the same items for everyone. 4 burritos, 4 tacos, done. I am not a masochist. LOL

In days of yore I would take orders and give everyone their total, like a waiter giving separate checks.

I work in a two person office now. But if I were in a larger place, I’d say “I’m getting tacos (or whatever), $5 per person, who wants some?”

But…tacos at Taco bell are only a dollar or so @Call_Me_Jay. I can only eat 2 at the most. :(

@Dutchess_III They keep giving me cold tacos. With the cheese unmelted. Fixed with the microwave.

Well..yeah. I mean they put the cheese on last on top of the lettuce which is cold. Of course it’s not melted.

Yeah, I’m not going to Taco Bell. Anyone who wants that is on their own.

I actually like Taco Bell OK for fast food, I eat there a few times a year. But if I’m organizing group lunch we’re getting something more interesting.

The taco place has to have good corn tortillas, not “taco shells”.

Well I’m just referring to an impromptu “I’m going to McD’s. Any one want something while I’m there?” Not a formal planned event.
How would you organize it if 5 coworkers took you up on it?

@Dutchess_III With pen and paper with a calculator.

When I do that (get lunch for 4–5 people) I order the stuff one by one at the window or in the fast food joint.

As in:

Person 1 – coke, hamburger, large fries

Person 2 – chicken sandwich, onion rings, no drink

Person 3 – two mini-dogs and large fries with sweet tea

and so on. That way they package the stuff that goes together, together. And it is itemized on the receipt.

I wouldn’t do the calculating. I’d let everyone calculate their own from the receipt.

I’d round up and keep the change, after all I’m the lunch Gopher, I deserve a little carrot for my time and thoughtfulness and effort. LOL

Yes I would hope people would pay a bit extra to tip me.

NEVER NEVER NEVER volunteer for any task involving the relaying of instructions from a group of individuals when the variables in ordering are virtually limitless. If forced to perform such a task, require the participants to write down their orders, and inform them that you will pass their note directly to whoever is fulfilling the order. Get separate receipts and staple them to the individual notes. And good luck with collecting the money.

Well if they didn’t pay up I’d never offer again!

I wouldn’t be caught volunteering for such an ordeal unless I was buying.

I remember when I started working at one of my jobs about 17 years ago. There was a deli down the street and we could go there to get coffee. The first day at work, I made the mistake of asking my coworkers “Anybody want anything from the deli?” About 8 people had various orders, specific orders like “I want toast with a little butter. I want the toast to be toasted dark gold. Just a little butter, like a schmear. I want coffee with two sugars and a lot of milk.” Someone else wanted this, someone else wanted that. This person had only a twenty dollar bill. This person had this change, this person had that change, this person had a five, this person had a ten. It was a disaster and I think I just paid for all of it and then let them give me whatever, and I probably lost out on the deal. It taught me a lesson, which was never volunteer for a task like that. I was sorry.

Now, if I’m going to the deli, I’ll ask people if they want anything and they usually say no, but if they said yes, I’d just pay for it and let them pay me if they wanted. I wouldn’t ask unless I had enough to cover it all. I usually carry around a decent amount of cash so I could handle that type of request if they wanted something big like a sandwich. If anything, the receptionist might ask for a buttered roll or a bagel and I just get it and front it, and she gets it back to me, or sometimes I say “no” and it’s a gift.

I want a….6” turkey (the thin sliced stuff, not the vomit chunks) and provolone cheese sandwich with extra cheese, toasted with lettuce, (MOAR CHEESE!) tomato and NOT low fat mayo. Got that sista?!
I would never do that to someone. Except you @jca. I would so do that to you!

Find a restaurant with online ordering, have everyone place their orders themselves, go pick them up.

And There is that!

Oh man..I used to have to deal with this daily since where I worked was five minutes from the food court at a mall. And I wasn’t given a fixed period of time for lunch. I would go away for two hours and nobody would notice or care. So I was frequently tasked with getting like 10 lunch orders at different places in the food court.

The only way to manage this was people writing down what they want and then handing the note over. If three crazy people wanted Sbarros then I would hand over three notes and everything would be bagged separately. And I was so down with the food court I knew what everything cost. Hand me the note. Oh two slices and a garlic roll that will be 4 bucks.

This was actually a fair chunk of my income at the time. I had deals set up with nearly everyone in the food court or they were my roomate. My best bud and roommate worked at Sbarro and I partied with the general manager a bit. Similar deal at Arbys, McD and so on. I barely ever paid for food. And my other roomate was banging a dude that worked in the coffee place. And it took a bit of graft but I scored the ultimate hook-up… So much Cinnabon.

That was a sweet deal. JP. ;-)

if someone was going out and asked if I wanted anything I’d say get me what your having or I’ll split a large one with you. I am food type type AB. I can accept any type of food and will enjoy it.
If i had to do a large order at McD I would have my coworkers write it down and put it in separate bags.
I’d also note who was generous and who tried to stiff me. That would help me deal with them in the future. It’s a data point. If you can’t trust them with something as petty as lunch how can you trust them with work?

People should write down what they want and have their cash ready.