Her smile, kind words make fast food fun for all

Gerri Morton takes pride and adds flair to work at Newmarket McDonald's

  • Judith Lowery/Daily Press McDonald's drive-thru cashier Gerri Morton is customer servive star at her store, 6100 Jefferson Ave. in Newport News.
Judith Lowery/Daily Press McDonald's drive-thru cashier Gerri… (Judith Lowery, Daily Press )
December 06, 2012|By Jennifer L. Williams, jwilliams@dailypress.com | 757-247-4644

NEWPORT NEWS—If you've been through the drive-through at McDonald's Newmarket, chances are you remember Gerri Morton.

Morton is the store's gregarious cashier with a kind word, warm smile and outgoing flair. She has quite a following among customers and is considered the standard for customer service at the store, according to management.

"I told her if I could clone her, we would have 60 employees like her," said Denise Kenney, director of operations for four local McDonald's restaurants.

Morton, 52, is a Peninsula native who lives in Newport News very close to the store. She has worked for McDonald's for a little more than two years, all at the same location, and typically works the morning shift in the drive-through window.

She prides herself on projecting a positive attitude designed to uplift even the grumpiest customer, saying it makes the day go better for her as well as everybody else.

"You have a lot of customers that they're just in a bad mood or something just went wrong with their morning," Morton said. "I'll take their order over the speaker and by the time they get to me, they're going to have a good day."

Morton knows some of her regulars so well she has a running conversation with them, and was out in the dining room hugging a customer on his way out on a recent morning. She likes the fact that her efforts have stood out to so many people.

"I feel really good about it," Morton said. "It just excites me with the customers. I live for the customers. I do."

There are customers who come in just to see her, ask where she is on her days off and one even wrote a letter of thanks to management. Morton's attitude carries over to motivating her coworkers as well, and her presence is palpable in the restaurant, Kenney said.

"Gerri is truly one in a million," Kenney said. "We have customers every single day that specifically look for Gerri. I don't have another employee that quite matches her talent when it comes to customer service.

"She could make the most upset customer have the most pleasant day."

Mornings are busy, and Morton said holiday time is especially brisk.

"We really leave her in the drive-through as much as possible because she touches hundreds of people a day," Kenney said. "She's super at the front counter, too, but we wait on more customers through the drive-through on a typical day. So we try to leave Gerri in there because she is the image of McDonald's.

"She is McDonald's for Newmarket."

Morton is in the restaurant chain's manager trainee program as McDonald's tries to bottle what she's got and teach it to other employees.

"She truly, truly represents the McDonald's image," Kenney said. "And it's not because we pressure her. We do train, but Gerri just wants to make somebody's day and she's like that. Even with the employees, Gerri is just an individual who will say: 'Hey, let's get going, what's going on with you?' That type of thing.

"We really want to set ourselves apart from the average fast food competition. And we teach and train that every day, but Gerri has been a tremendous help in living that example."

Know of a customer service hero?

Do you have a customer service hero who always brightens your day with a kind word or warm smile? We're looking for those folks for a new feature in the Town Square section. Please email your suggestions to Daily Press staff writerJennifer Williams at jwilliams@dailypress.com or give her a call at 247-4644.

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