McDonalds

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 12:00 AM

We rolled through the drive-through at McDonalds to grab breakfast on the way to drop Jeremy off at the airport for his flight to RailsConf. I hadn’t been to McDonalds in a while for a number of reasons. First I’ve been trying to eat healthier both for my own sake and to try to model better eating habits for Aidan. Second, we have been trying to help small businesses and the local economy by eating at local restaurants and avoiding big chains. Third, we have been eating out less in general to save money. But we were in a hurry so-what the heck. Jeremy was going to order a steak, egg, and cheese, bagel and two hash browns, which sounded good to me too. Since the sandwich alone costs $2.60 and a breakfast value meal, which is supposed to include hash browns and a drink, is $2.80 I figured I would order the meal (since hash browns alone cost $1). Jeremy insisted that he didn’t need a drink, and even though it would save on the total cost he still intended to order the sandwich and two hashbrowns instead of a meal (which also includes a drink) and ordering an additional hashbrown. He seemed annoyed that I planned to order a meal, stating that if I order a meal they will mess up our order and make us late.

I wouldn’t expect McDonalds employees to be the brightest people in the world. I would however, figure that with dozens, if not hundreds, of people ordering breakfast and regular value meals daily, the concept of a value meal including a sandwich, drink, and hashbrowns (for breakfast) or fries (for other times of the day) would not be an extremely challenging concept. I would have thought that ordering a value meal would actually be easier for the employees than ringing-up menu items individually. Apparently I would be dead wrong.

The order got terribly messed up-I think the guy in the drive-through window rang up two value meals plus two drinks and three hashbrowns. We tried to explain the order. He just wasn’t getting it. He got a manager who also seemed completely clueless. She couldn’t figure out our order either. It shouldn’t be that hard-really. In the end we were over-charged for two drinks-one of which should have been included in the value meal and a Coke that we didn’t order, but they threw in an extra hashbrown. The trip through the drive-through took way too long, but luckily we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare.

I’d like to claim that I will heed the advice of Eric Schlosser and Morgan Spurlock and avoid McDonalds from now on. I know that I probably should. I haven’t looked up the nutrition facts for the breakfast I ate today and probably don’t want to know the information. However, every once in a while I get a craving for a McDonalds double cheeseburger, McChicken, or hot fudge sundae and even though I know I shouldn’t, I give in to the guilty little pleasure. I’d probably be lying if I said I won’t go back to McDonalds ever, but I’m not planning on going back anytime soon!