My encounter today at McDonalds

[CrystalGeezer]

So sometimes I like to eat McDonalds food in order to get in touch with evil, you gotta eat it to suppress it kinda thing. I only go at breakfast time because you can get an egg mcmuffin without meat. So today I went through the drivethru and got my usual, a sausage mcmuffin with no sausage combo. I drive a few miles to the pet store where I have to run an errand and sit in the parking lot to eat it, only to find that it has meat in it. So I eat the hash brown and feed the sandwich to the two dogs sitting in the backseat since they can eat meat. So I go back to mcdonalds, to the drivethru again, ( it's now NOT breakfast time,) and I ask for my money back on the sandwich since it wasnt prepared the way I asked and knowing they won't make me another one since it;s lunch time. They said they had to have the sandwich back to give me my money back. I told them the sandwich was inedible to me, asked them to please be reasonable under the circumstances, blah, blah, she said "No sandwich, no money back." So I gave them the bag with the wrappers, she said no. So I cut the engine. I parked in the drive thru. Wouldn't budge. She came out with a pen and paper and took down my license and said she was calling the police, I said give me back my $2.50 and you can avoid involving public service. She screamed at her employees, "DON'T TALK TO HER!" over and over after they asked for me to move forward to accomodate the cars piling up behind me. THey got the people in the cars involved, a man stepped out and said "Mam can you move your car, I have kids in my car." Really? So having children makes your power steering not work and disables you from turning your wheel and driving around me? Nice lie, bozo.

I left and am concocting a plan.

[Black Cloud]

Are you forming an e-posse?
Can I please join?

[Jackie London]

No CG, I'm sorry but I disagree with you on this one. I work with service so I know what it's like. Sometimes mistakes happend, which it did in this case. Personally I wouldn't go back, I'm to lazy to care if it's so little money involved. But, I don't think you can demand your money back unless you can prove what you're saying, in this case by bringing the food back. Generally people think "well, why would I be saying that unles if it was true?" because most people are honest. But everyone else aren't, you wouldn't believe me if I told you what some of our guests have tried to pull off. So no, I don't think you were entitled to your money back, you have to bring the food back. And if it gets out that they give you your money back without being able to prove anything, you wouldn't believe how much trouble they would get in with people systematically using them.
But I think they overeacted a little bit, it's important to have a good relationship with the customers even if they aren't happy at all times. Their reaction was maybe a bit unneccesary.

[CrystalGeezer]

I was thinking of gagging the food up from my dogs.

[Worm]

So sometimes I like to eat McDonalds food in order to get in touch with evil, you gotta eat it to suppress it kinda thing. I only go at breakfast time because you can get an egg mcmuffin without meat. So today I went through the drivethru and got my usual, a sausage mcmuffin with no sausage combo. I drive a few miles to the pet store where I have to run an errand and sit in the parking lot to eat it, only to find that it has meat in it. So I eat the hash brown and feed the sandwich to the two dogs sitting in the backseat since they can eat meat. So I go back to mcdonalds, to the drivethru again, ( it's now NOT breakfast time,) and I ask for my money back on the sandwich since it wasnt prepared the way I asked and knowing they won't make me another one since it;s lunch time. They said they had to have the sandwich back to give me my money back. I told them the sandwich was inedible to me, asked them to please be reasonable under the circumstances, blah, blah, she said "No sandwich, no money back." So I gave them the bag with the wrappers, she said no. So I cut the engine. I parked in the drive thru. Wouldn't budge. She came out with a pen and paper and took down my license and said she was calling the police, I said give me back my $2.50 and you can avoid involving public service. She screamed at her employees, "DON'T TALK TO HER!" over and over after they asked for me to move forward to accomodate the cars piling up behind me. THey got the people in the cars involved, a man stepped out and said "Mam can you move your car, I have kids in my car." Really? So having children makes your power steering not work and disables you from turning your wheel and driving around me? Nice lie, bozo.

I left and am concocting a plan.

When she asked for the sandwich, you should have said, "Sure, I have it right here-- what's this...? Oh my God, I've been hamburgled!"

[CrystalGeezer]

[Emotional Guide Dog]

The dog ate the food. The product was used for it's purpose.

Just not by you!

[CrystalGeezer]

The dog ate the food. The product was used for it's purpose.

Just not by you!

It wasn't what I ordered. They gave me the wrong product. I was inconvenienced.

If you sleep in a hotel room and during the night the nextdoor neighbors are heard drunk and fucking through the walls, you call the frontdesk. They tell the people to shut up. THen the next morning for your inconvenience and to insure good customer relations, they give you a discount. Just because you slept in the room doesn;t mean you slept in the room to the standards which you were promised. McDonalds is a ginormous monopolistic company who can afford to not bend to the customer's need even if it's the right thing to do, they just want to HOLD ONTO YOUR MONEY and bank on their monopoly to insure that they will reign supreme, this needs to stop.

[Jackie London]

It wasn't what I ordered. They gave me the wrong product. I was inconvenienced.

If you sleep in a hotel room and during the night the nextdoor neighbors are heard drunk and fucking through the walls, you call the frontdesk. They tell the people to shut up. THen the next morning for your inconvenience and to insure good customer relations, they give you a discount. Just because you slept in the room doesn;t mean you slept in the room to the standards which you were promised. McDonalds is a ginormous monopolistic company who can afford to not bend to the customer's need even if it's the right thing to do, they just want to HOLD ONTO YOUR MONEY and bank on their monopoly to insure that they will reign supreme, this needs to stop.

Yes, but the difference is that you can prove it happend. You bring them up to your room and they can hear it by themselfes. If you had told them the next morning without anyone else hearing of it they probably wouldn't give you a discount. The thing is that you have to prove that there's something wrong with the product or the service you paid for.

[CrystalGeezer]

Yes, but the difference is that you can prove it happend. You bring them up to your room and they can hear it by themselfes. If you had told them the next morning without anyone else hearing of it they probably wouldn't give you a discount. The thing is that you have to prove that there's something wrong with the product or the service you paid for.

But they knew. The girl at the window said something like "Oh yeah" when I first told the story because she bagged the wrong sandwich probably and when I drove away, she was stuck with a sausageless Mcmuffin. But by the time her superior, her manager said NO, she was powerless to refute the fact I was honest in front of her boss. They KNEW what they were doing was wrong, but it was a hardened rule that in order to give money back on a transaction, a sandWITCH had to be produced.

[Jackie London]

But they knew. The girl at the window said something like "Oh yeah" when I first told the story because she bagged the wrong sandwich probably and when I drove away, she was stuck with a sausageless Mcmuffin. But by the time her superior, her manager said NO, she was powerless to refute the fact I was honest in front of her boss. They KNEW what they were doing was wrong, but it was a hardened rule that in order to give money back on a transaction, a sandWITCH had to be produced.

But it still doesn't change the fact that you couldn't prove that you got the wrong sandwitch : ) I mean if you buy a pair of jeans, or a shirt or something with a hole on it and go back with the tags still there, the receipt and everything and then you can change it or get your money back. But if you have used it or the tags aren't there, they won't give you your money back since then you can't really prove that something was wrong with the product when you bought it. You have to bring it back in basically the same shape as you bought it in, and why would it be different with food? If you get the wrong or a damaged product you have to return it as soon as you can, you can't use it after you've discovered the fault no matter what product it is.

[CrystalGeezer]

But it still doesn't change the fact that you couldn't prove that you got the wrong sandwitch : ) I mean if you buy a pair of jeans, or a shirt or something with a hole on it and go back with the tags still there, the receipt and everything and then you can change it or get your money back. But if you have used it or the tags aren't there, they won't give you your money back since then you can't really prove that something was wrong with the product when you bought it. You have to bring it back in basically the same shape as you bought it in, and why would it be different with food? If you get the wrong or a damaged product you have to return it as soon as you can, you can't use it after you've discovered the fault no matter what product it is.

McDonalds isn't retail, Jackie. McDonald's is what is known as a giant in the hospitality industry. Wiki describes in it's article that,

Very important is also the characteristics of the personnel working in direct contact with the customers. The authenticity, professionalism, and actual concern for the happiness and well-being of the customers that is communicated by successful organizations is a clear competitive advantage.

So I drive through the drive thru after 30 minutes and tell them I didn't receive what I paid for, that it was useless to me and I made due by giving it to the dogs just to stop touching it. Despite the fact that I could not produce the sandwich in question, and I agree that's an arguable point, did they make ANY attempt to accommodate my needs as a human? NONE. Why? Because they didn't have to. Because they are so huge, they only have to answer to themselves, not a broader standard of decency. Because bottom line is more important than ethics or what's right.

[Jackie London]

McDonalds isn't retail, Jackie. McDonald's is what is known as a giant in the hospitality industry. Wiki describes in it's article that,



So I drive through the drive thru after 30 minutes and tell them I didn't receive what I paid for, that it was useless to me and I made due by giving it to the dogs just to stop touching it. Despite the fact that I could not produce the sandwich in question, and I agree that's an arguable point, did they make ANY attempt to accommodate my needs as a human? NONE. Why? Because they didn't have to. Because they are so huge, they only have to answer to themselves, not a broader standard of decency. Because bottom line is more important than ethics or what's right.

You can argue that it's because McDonalds is large. But I deal with situations like this every day at work, and believe me, the place I work at isn't at all as large at McDonalds. And when situations like this occur at work I don't give the money back. And sometimes when people tells you that you helped them before you react as if you recognize the person even though you don't. To be honest, when you work at a place like that you meet to many people to recognize them all. I personally wouldn't have handled the situation like they did. I would have asked you to drive to the side and then stepped out to try to talk to you. But in the end I wouldn't have given the money back, because it is a matter of principe, you can't give the money back unless you bring the product back. And it's not a matter of me trusting the person or anything like that, it's simply a matter of the fact that you need a standard procedure for dealing with these situations. And you can't step away from it because everyone should be treated equally. If the person who sold you the sandwitch insured me that he or she was sure that they gave you the wrong sandwitch then it's a different thing. Ofcourse you always have to consider the circumstances, but the fact still remain that you can't expect the money back once you've allready used the product.
And to be honest, if you dislike McDonalds that much and think they are crap.....then why do you eat there?

[Worm]

Because they are so huge, they only have to answer to themselves, not a broader standard of decency. Because bottom line is more important than ethics or what's right.

You still sound slightly confused. Why? You'are answering your own questions here.

The solution was to avoid McDonald's in the first place. You called them evil in the first sentence of your post. It's not as if you didn't know better. Does reading symbols sometimes make you act counterintuitively? Was the evil of McDonald's too obvious?

[CrystalGeezer]

Real men don't boycott. They fight.

[Worm]

Real men don't boycott. They fight.

This phrase is so perfect the only thing I can follow it with is the little McDonald's jingle. Da-da-da-DA-dah!

[CrystalGeezer]

[CrystalGeezer]

This phrase is so perfect the only thing I can follow it with is the little McDonald's jingle. Da-da-da-DA-dah!

[Amy]

So sometimes I like to eat McDonalds food in order to get in touch with evil, you gotta eat it to suppress it kinda thing. I only go at breakfast time because you can get an egg mcmuffin without meat. So today I went through the drivethru and got my usual, a sausage mcmuffin with no sausage combo. I drive a few miles to the pet store where I have to run an errand and sit in the parking lot to eat it, only to find that it has meat in it. So I eat the hash brown and feed the sandwich to the two dogs sitting in the backseat since they can eat meat. So I go back to mcdonalds, to the drivethru again, ( it's now NOT breakfast time,) and I ask for my money back on the sandwich since it wasnt prepared the way I asked and knowing they won't make me another one since it;s lunch time. They said they had to have the sandwich back to give me my money back. I told them the sandwich was inedible to me, asked them to please be reasonable under the circumstances, blah, blah, she said "No sandwich, no money back." So I gave them the bag with the wrappers, she said no. So I cut the engine. I parked in the drive thru. Wouldn't budge. She came out with a pen and paper and took down my license and said she was calling the police, I said give me back my $2.50 and you can avoid involving public service. She screamed at her employees, "DON'T TALK TO HER!" over and over after they asked for me to move forward to accomodate the cars piling up behind me. THey got the people in the cars involved, a man stepped out and said "Mam can you move your car, I have kids in my car." Really? So having children makes your power steering not work and disables you from turning your wheel and driving around me? Nice lie, bozo.

I left and am concocting a plan.

Obvious question but - why didn't you take it back in as soon as you saw it had meat in it?

[CrystalGeezer]

Obvious question but - why didn't you take it back in as soon as you saw it had meat in it?

I was on the other side of town. So I ate the hash brown while driving to the other side of town, sat in the parking lot, opened the sandwich, saw it had meat, cut it in half and gave it to the dogs, ran inside and did my errand at Petco. (One of the many animal's I'm housesitting busted the flap on the catbox and I was looking to buy a new one, turns out it's cheaper to buy a new catbox so I took it home instead and fixed it with tape. I felt obliged to replace the flap because I think my dog may have broken it, sometimes he's gross and views cat turds as tasty mid-day candies, probably a bit like eating at McDonalds but he has his own battles to fight and I have mine.) So afterward I got to thinking that it was wrong that they served it with meat despite my adamant request for no meat, it was even on the order screen and receipt. Look, I realize this doesn't make logical sense, it just makes symbollic sense. In my little world these tiny battles are a lot like this: