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"...two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun..."
McDonald's has lost its way.I never thought I'd say this. Always, since my first 15-cent burger, I have counted on McDonald's. Not for health reasons, not for a good date meal, not a place to feed the family--at least, not very often--and not because that burger was the best one anywhere. It never was. Never claimed to be.
But I used a lot of McDonald's free internet over the years. I drank a lot of their coffee, ate more McDoubles and Filet of Fish sandwiches than were good for me, and used to go through the drive-through and get an ice cream cone just because I wanted ice cream. Like the burgers, the cones weren't the best around, but they were cheap and easy and a treat that warmed a broken heart and cooled the heat of anger when you needed it.
One time I left a purse in a McDonald's and an associate found it when she cleaned the table. When we drove back to get it, it and its contents were intact and everyone was nearly as pleased by my gratitude as I was by their honesty.
The restaurants themselves used to have personality. Remember when Peru's had a circus theme?
The drive-throughs were time-savers, especially during Covid. I am grateful to everyone who had drive-through windows or people who would bring meals to your car for pickup. It was a way we took care of each other, wasn't it? Restaurants needed the revenue and many of us needed food we didn't have to cook.
But I'm not grateful for what's happened to McDonald's, arguably the biggest and most successful of the available-at-every-exit food chains.
We were on vacation for a week, which meant several drive-through coffees and the occasional fast-food fix.
At one McDonald's, we waited in the drive-through line for 20 minutes. No one else was open and we were hungry. We gave up and had gas station food instead, where the cashier said sadly that she knew McDonald's had some issues, but she'd never heard of that happening. When we went past, there were still cars in the drive-through lanes and the line had lengthened.
We went to another MickyD's and went inside. I hadn't been inside for a few years and was surprised to find that the interior had all the charm of a storage room in a basement. I was greeted by a kiosk I didn't know how to work and didn't want to. "Can we order from you?" we asked the young woman at the counter.
"Yes!" she said. "Always." She nodded toward the kiosk. "We don't like them, either. They're taking our jobs."
The service was great there. The coffee and my Filet of Fish were good. The dining room looked like...yeah, a storage room, but it was clean. It was nice, Other than its bland looks, it was the McDonald's of old. No 15-cent burgers, no families eating lunch together, but all else was good.
At the next one, we had to order at the kiosk. It didn't give us the receipt it was supposed to, so that someone had to come from the back and look up the order with enough irritation that I felt embarrassed by something I'm pretty sure wasn't my fault. When he gave us the order, we said Thank You and left without further communication. Including You're Welcome. Certainly no hope that we'd have a nice day. No napkins, either.
It had become a "let's see what happens" kind of thing by now, so on Friday morning, we stopped at one final McDonald's for coffee and burritos. The burritos were pretty good. When we found a good place, we stopped and poured the coffee out. It was beyond awful. I thought maybe it had been sent by the store in another state where we'd waited 20+ minutes--it was certainly stale enough.
I'm not--at least I hope I'm not--one of the people who longs for the "good old days." I don't think they were so great (except for 1960s music, of course) or that we were smarter or harder working. I think we did a great job as parents, because the generations that have followed ours have done and will do great things.
But someone's screwed up McDonald's, and I really wish they'd go back and fix it.
Have a good week. Be nice to somebody.
Seems as though Fast Food has concentrated more on Fast and less on Food lately...
ReplyDeleteSadly enough, not always much Fast, either.
DeleteI feel your Micky D's pain! When we came back from a mini road trip recently, I went in to get a drink and there, standing before me, like Hal in 2001 a Space Odyssey, was a terrifying kiosk. Oh, for those good ol' days (there, I said it!), when I ate Big Macs without them ruining my 17 year-old figure, while sitting next to my newest boyfriend, and the Eagles played "Take It to the Limit" over the car's push button FM radio. Ahhh....
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved Big Macs. And, frankly, the kiosks are fairly easy ones; they're also someone's job, and I just resent that, I guess. I do love your memories, my friend.
DeletePlease! Send this to corporate they might listen to a famous author.
ReplyDeleteLol. I doubt that, but I might send it to corporate. I hope others do.
DeleteKiosks drive me crazy. I won't use them. I don't self check out at the grocery store or Home Depot or anywhere. It is someone's job.
ReplyDeleteI don't use them unless there's no alternative or I'm in a hurry. I just so, so hate that corporate America finds its employees and its consumers so expendable.
DeleteI've been trying to give the fast food places a break as they're so short staffed, but there's no reason for rudeness. I was annoyed at an Olive Garden recently when I sat at the bar alone, waiting for my girlfriends, and made eye contact 4 different times, with 3 different people, and no one came to get my drink order. I think they heard me complaining to my girlfriend, though, because they comped our dessert. Most of the time I give people grace, though, even when they're rude. Who knows what they may be going through personally? But somedays I'm having a bad day, too, and then my patience is as threadbare as theirs!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. Rudeness is a hard thing for me to excuse, although working with the public is...er...difficult at times. You still have to do your job and not punish all the good customers for the sins of the bad ones. :-)
DeleteI also am one who hits MickyD's only when traveling because they're everywhere. Once it was quick to get a coffee and an apple pie, hubby's favorite, at the drive through. Not now. The drive-through lines are long. If you go inside to get it faster, the kiosk has confused people standing around it. No receipt from the kiosk seems pretty standard. Sometimes the order doesn't go to the kitchen staff, and if you try to alter the order in any way, it gets messed up. Rudeness seems to be the order of the day in too many retail establishments. I usually go the opposite way and serve up as much patience and kindness as possible. If nothing else, it makes me proud that I took the high road.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked as a postal window clerk and having been called more names than I knew existed, I understand some of what they deal with; however, they should start with polite, clean, and helpful. And smiles are free. Thanks for coming by, Joan.
DeleteIt must have been a while since I was inside a McDonald's because I haven't seen the kiosks, but they sound frustrating. And now I have the Big Mac jingle running through my head.
ReplyDeleteLol. I love to share! The kiosks are actually very easy, but like anything else electronic, they're not as unflawed as the top of the corporate line at McDonald's would like to believe. Somewhere along the line, customer service dropped way down on their list of necessities.
DeleteWe were shopping and got hungry, so stopped at a Steak and Shake. We haven't been there since Covid, and hardly anyone else was in the restaurant. Same thing you encountered--no waitresses. Just kiosks. Really impersonal. (Judi Lynn)
ReplyDeleteI'd heard they went the kiosk way, but haven't been there. It makes me sad.
DeleteI haven't been inside a McDonald's in ages. They used to be inspected frequently by the franchise, so you could count on clean restrooms and smiling, polite staff. Somewhere along the line, the inspections deteriorated or stopped--I don't know which. One thing is that for many years, there was not much competition. Now that there are rows and rows of fast-food choices, they must be struggling to compete, but have chosen the wrong method. I think everyone should work with the public at some time in their early adult life. My first was at the candy counter at Sears--back when they had a candy counter. Like McDonalds, the measures Sears took to save money (in my opinion) destroyed their customer base and finances. First, to combat losses from theft, they cut down on personnel? This only increased pilfering, both from customers and back room employees. They franchised departments, which many stores do, but they increased the departments. It seems everything they did sent them downhill. It's such a shame when the people at corporate have not worked in the business. The old way of the boss having worked his way up made sense. Remember when JCPenny's almost crashed when corporate put a man from a grocery chain in charge? It all comes down to the same thing as writing--know your customer and treat them well. Sorry for the soap box, but you hit one of my hot buttons!
ReplyDeleteI think it's generational to a certain degree. So many people younger than us are annoyed by the very idea of counting back change or having personal contact with service people--I miss it! We share that hot button, Carolyn. JC Penney and Sears were my go-to places and I still miss them, too. I think they still exist, but nowhere around here. I've loved the feedback from this column--I wish McDonald's would see and heed it, too.
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