We work at McDonald’s — Here’s the 6 things customers should stop doing right now
A quick bite to eat at McDonald’s is usually because you want a fuss-free feed that will keep everyone happy.
But according to some employees at the popular fast-food eatery, our quirks when ordering, making our way through the drive-thru, or cleaning up after ourselves can sometimes kill their McVibe.
Just two months after @maccasworkeraddict took to TikTok to share that she ignores any impatient customer yelling “Hello?” the instant they arrive at the drive-thru speaker, other former McDonald’s employees have come out with a longer list of what irritates them the most about diners – and some of them might surprise even the most thoughtful person.
1. Don’t throw your pickles around if you don’t want them!
They get it, you don’t always like the pickles added to your burger, but the workers get absolutely fed up when teens get silly with the infamous condiment.
One worker, who spent two years serving at a NSW McDonald’s, said the pickle hate was hands down the worst thing about working at the fast food joint.
“They would throw pickles at the wall or on the table if they didn’t want them and then we’d have to clean up the mess,” the former employee, who preferred to remain unnamed, shared.
“Just put them with your rubbish or order without it.”
2. Don’t stack the trays for us
Thankfully, responsible diners walk among the pickle-throwers. But according to the workers, they can also be problematic.
If you’re one of those who tidy up the table by putting all of the garbage in the tray to “help” the employees, you need to stop doing that.
“It’s great that customers want to help keep the dining area clean, but stacking trays with leftover food and trash can make it harder for employees to clean up,” Norah Clark, who worked at McDonald’s for four years told Reader’s Digest.
And that includes putting the trays away near the bin too.
“It’s better to leave the trays and let the staff handle the clean-up, as they have a system in place for efficiently disposing of waste and sanitizing the trays,” Norah adds.
Ray Morrone, who also worked for McDonald’s for two years, agreed.
“Guests would thoughtfully throw their trash in a garbage bin, but often recyclable material would be mixed with food scraps. I would dig through half-eaten Big Macs and warm milkshakes to find anything recyclable,” he shared.
3. Going AWOL after you’ve ordered
We’ve all done it before – ordering the food and then scooting off to the bathroom or supervising the children in the play area while you wait for your order. But for the workers calling out your order number, this is a very irritating habit from customers because more often than not, they don’t actually hear the number called the first time, leaving the food to sit on the bench taking up space for future orders and confusing staff.
“There was always some confusion as to where the guest should wait for their food after paying,” Ray says. “But most guests would simply wait patiently for their order number to be called out.”
4. Making a McJoke
Emily, who worked at McDonald’s for a year in her late teens, said that she has lost count of how many times she encountered someone who thought they were “funny” by making a joke with “Mc” somewhere added in there.
“I’ll get a Big Mac with some McFries and some McNuggets with sweet and sour McSauce and a large McCoke thanks…
“I would always be like, yes, yes, I’ve heard it before. So what do you actually want? It was never funny,” she says.