Now I remember why I don't go to McDonald's

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
05/09/2018 at 08:57 • Filed to: None

Stopped by Micky D’s the other day and was reminded why I haven’t been there in ages. I tried a few days prior, but saw a huge line at the ordering screen at the drive through, but only one car at a time going up to the window which led me to believe it was amateur hour inside, unable to handle a steady stream of customers. I left.

A few days later, not having learned anything from the previous visit, I tried again. When I ordered the other day nobody seemed to get back to me with a total, and after a few minutes of waiting and calling for them I pulled up. Of course they tried to charge me for someone else’s order, so that needed to be corrected. Then, because mine was a special order I had to pull up and wait, sitting there whilst six vehicles that were behind me got their food. My special order? Yeah it was a complex one - no ketchup. I wonder how many attempts at making my burger it took to get that right.

When I got home I found a burnt bun, onions in the container but not on the burger, only one tiny pickle slice and no other condiments - I didn’t say I wanted it bone dry, I just said no ketchup, which means there should have at least been mustard. Two bites and I threw it out.

I’m not expecting a perfect gourmet burger here, but I’d like to see a modicum of effort put forth. You want to complain that you can’t make ends meet on that income? Work it out and don’t take it out on your customers. Fast food isn’t supposed to be a career unless perhaps you’re in management, but even then you need to do things correctly to get there. Sure, I’d love to see everyone making a living wage, but somehow I don’t think paying people who are doing a crappy job more money will fix their attitude for long.

/rant off

DISCUSSION (22)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 09:42

My local McDoo is pretty reliable on orders. It’s been worse. The food quality varies by item and shift a bit, but there are reliable go-tos, and nothing as bad as yours.

The fancypants burgers (that new line with guacamole/etc.), the Filet O Fish, nuggets, and Egg McMuffins are all reliably good, for example.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 09:43

Sounds like a crap location. Definitely a management issue there. We have a bunch of Mcds around us and they are generally able to get the orders out correctly and quickly. As a person who special orders a bunch, it’s better than 80% correct at most locations I’ve frequented. Sounds like a bad one there.

Chariotoflove > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 09:52

Wow. That definitely sucks. Sounds like an outlier. Whatever beef we could have with McDonalds, that’s usually not one of them.

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 09:53

They’re franchised, sounds like this one is badly mismanaged - if you *really* want McD’s, try another location.

Also, especially in the morning, it can be a HELL of a lot faster to park and go in to order instead of wait in the drive through, because America is too lazy to get out of the car.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
05/09/2018 at 09:57

They pretty much all seem to be bad around here. The other one nearby closes early without notice claiming it’s a high-crime neighborhood, won’t let you refill your infant-sized water cup by yourself lest you steal their soda (and is too bothered to do it for you), won’t accept most coupons, and freaks out if you have your own bottle of water.

I frequently have food get stuck in my throat and need plenty of liquids to eat. I don’t drink soda, so I just want water in a reasonable-sized cup I can refill myself. Sorry, I’m not going to pay them $2 for a bottle of Dasani, particularly when I have 40 bottles in my car from Costco that cost me less than $3. I don’t know if drinks are a big source of profit for them, but no other place I’ve been is so incredibly stingy and rude about a damn cup of water.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW
05/09/2018 at 10:06

I tend to go inside and eat on most occasions, but have found that fast food joints tend to prioritize drive through customers over those in the store. I walked out of another restaurant because there was a huge line of disgruntled customers that still hadn’t placed their orders. And the last time I went to Taco Hell I had to wait literally 30 minutes from order placement until I received my food, half of which I threw out since I had to get back to the office. And I mean literally: order placed at 12:11, food received at 12:41.

Maybe all of this is a grand plan to help me lose weight - twice out of the last three times I’ve ordered fast food I’ve thrown most of it away. That’s it - they’re not incompetent and understaffed, they’re just trying to help me...

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 10:08

They care more about the cup than the drink that goes in it. Even the soda costs less than the cup itself. That seems to be a normal McD thing to get anal about cups, sauces, and other things that most other fast food places liberally give out.

deekster_caddy > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 10:16

I ate McD’s for dinner last week, first time in a long time. The food was decent, and they have added a fair amount of variety to the menu, but it seems to have tripled in price. At $8 for the sandwich I’d rather go to our local sub shop.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/09/2018 at 10:16

From what I understand, drink inventory is based on cup count. But most decent fast food joints have other cups for water for people like me. I don’t usually order combo meals because I rarely eat fries and I don’t want anything to drink but water, so paying for those is a waste in my case. I just never realized that I was being so difficult by wanting just a sandwich and some tap water.

And at Chick-Fil-A I had to give back half of the sauces they gave me. Do people really need six containers to eat three chicken straps? Yikes!

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
05/09/2018 at 10:20

A supervisor at my office is married to a manager at McDonald’s, and he tells me that the ones near me, here in the city, are run by cheap, incompetent boneheads. But I’m rarely out in the ‘burbs to try what a good McDonald’s is supposed to be like.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 10:37

Haha I feel you on that, I genuinely prefer water too. It’s not even that I am trying to be a cheapskate and get away with a “free drink”. I just want water and prefer tap water over Dasani junk anyways. Its a waste of a water bottle when I would rather just drink out of a cup. Ideally I would just refill my reusable water bottle but that is sure to send the McD into a hissy fit.

The best thing to try to see if you can make them mad is ask for No salt french fries and then ask for salt packets. It ensures you get fresh french fries since they will make them to order without salt and then you can add it yourself to get the balance right. But I am sure they would get mad!

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/09/2018 at 10:42

That fry trick - I used to do something similar at the Taco Bell we had at work (God, I miss the perks of an aerospace job): instead of taking one of the old tacos that had been sitting out, I’d order one without lettuce so it would be fresh, and they’d put more meat and cheese in it since it looked so empty without the lettuce as a space filler - win/win!

WilliamsSW > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 10:51

I wonder if there’s a labor shortage around you - sounds like they’re all struggling.

And eating somewhere else might be healthier, yea!

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > WilliamsSW
05/09/2018 at 10:56

I have been eating healthier, but that night I had a coupon and was feeling off from an adverse reaction to medication and didn’t feel like cooking. This franchise has pretty much always been garbage in the six years I’ve lived in this neighborhood, so I’m not terribly surprised by my experience.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 10:59

I’m a big fast food fan (read as: I’m fat as shit), and McDonalds is by far my least favorite. They never get my order right, and they take “ketchup only” to mean “a god damn ton of fucking ketchup, holy shit”. I started ordering no pickles instead, and twice in a row got my burger with only pickles. Taco Bell or GTFO.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 11:53

I haven’t been to a McDonald’s, or many other various fast food locations for 7 years now.

I have been clean and free of Taco Bell since March 2016.

Chick-Fil-A is life. With the occasional fast casual chain here or there.

His Stigness > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 11:55

I do love the fact that they want their minimum wage to go way up, yet they can’t even get a simple order right.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > WilliamsSW
05/09/2018 at 12:37

I do this everywhere and usually get in/out of places very quickly. Drive through windows are for stupid and/or morbidly obese people (or those that don’t want to take their kids out).

Went to a CFA the other day and used their app to order. Faster than waiting in line, which is far faster than the drive through (always a zoo). In and out in under 90 seconds.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 12:42

I like to order the exact opposite, since their meat doesn’t agree with me. I order “light” or “easy” meat, so they have to make them and they pack them more full of lettuce (which is the best carrier for sauce, in my opinion), which makes me happier.

Mind you, I go to a Taco Hell like once a year or less and usually regret it.

Kiltedpadre > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 13:10

That’s one of the things I don’t like about where I work. Our lunch options, if I don’t pack, are a McDs that rarely gets things right, Subway, or grabbing something from the small town grocery.

I give a lot of business to that grocery store.

ttyymmnn > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 17:11

I had a “new” Royale with Cheese the other day and it really wasn’t half bad. Which means that was slightly more than half good, and that is an improvement. On the other hand, I had a Whopper the a while back and it tasted like bread, fake smoke and mayonnaise. It was awful, and it used to be my go-to FF burger.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/09/2018 at 17:18

Yeah, I’m in the burbs, so that explains it. It’s tough to find good help in certain areas.