I wish the order taker (this is true of all drive thrus not just McD) would actually listen to what it is I want instead of trying to upsell me.

I can't remember the last time I was displeased by the service (or wait time) in any McDs anywhere.

1. Increasingly true in some parts of the country. My first quandary is deciding whether my Spanish is as good/bad as his/her English.

2. Some McDs now have a couple of reserved parking places, and attempt to move cars waiting for complex/time consuming orders to them. Aggravating the wait are customers who insist on "re-working'/completing their order after arrival at the pick up window.

No little contributor to the problem as specific to McDs, the menu, once short and fixed, has grown long and dynamic. Back when the world was young, McD's total menu ran to little more than 10 items, including beverages. Now?

In Orlando, we dined at the World's Largest and Unique MacDonalds. It was late so the bistro part of the restaurant was not open.. although we were able to get desserts and ice cream from the desk.

I couldn't imagine the stress workers at this MacDonalds must endure. The menu items are so much more than any MacDonalds I've ever seen. Food was all over the place and left on the tables.. Major cleanup job around 2nd floor games areas and around the fountain on the main floor.

The bad thing about McDonalds and Burger King in general is complaining does NO GOOD! These places are armpits that will hand you hard as rock fries a cold hamburger and a drink with two pieces of ice in it and tell you "HERE" as the only thing spoken when they hand you the order. I just stick with Yelp and Urbanspoon and find good local food while traveling and avoid this garbage at any time possible.

I don't have high expectations of McD's anyway.

Tolerated? What other choice is there? You want cheap(ish) food in a few minutes, the help makes $7/hr, they give you bad service, and so what? They are fired? What are they replaced with? More eager employees will be hired to provide you with Ritz Carlton Service at $7/hr and no tips. If I owned such a place, I'd be thrilled with an employee who showed up 90%+ on time, didn't flick boogers in the food, and got 90%+ of the orders right, and served within company time standards.

In other news, the last time I had a burger at the golden arches was 1982. The last time I made a highway stop for the #1 room was substantially after 1982. :p I made my "choice" a long long time ago!

Dining and McDonald's should not be used in the same sentence w/out the word NOT !

Folks, if you have comments about moderation or thread placement, feel free to discuss privately via PM. Thanks.

cblaisd
Moderator, Dining Buzz

As earlier mentioned, I put some of the blame for slow service on the current ever expanding/changing menu.

McD's, early 60s:

Hamburger
Cheeseburger
Big Mac
Fish sandwich
FFs, 2 sizes.
Fried pie
Soft Drinks (small selection, usually no more than Coke, 7Up, maybe DP, Diet Coke and 7UP? (Advent year of diet drinks?)

Quarter pounder came later!

Breakfast was a late arrival, at first only an Egg McMuffin (bacon, ham or sausage?)

Compare with today's choices

Actually the Big Mac wasn't introduces until 1968. They did have "shakes" though in 1962 and perhaps earlier.

Well, there's also a negative stigma about working at McD's let alone "flipping burgers" for a living. With that kind of social pressure, I can't imagine people being too thrilled to be working a minimum wage job that people generally frown upon, so I'm not surprised the numbers are the way they are. On the flipside, I also don't walk into a McD's expecting 5 star service.

This is about how I feel. I think most of the people working at fast food places in the US (perhaps with the exception of Chick-fil-A) are teenagers working their first job or people who are just entering the workplace as a transition from welfare to work, people who aren't able to obtain jobs elsewhere for various reasons, etc. I don't think they're thrilled to be there.

I also agree about the expectation of service there. If I go to McDonald's, I expect tolerable food, served fast, with tolerable service. I'm not going there to be dazzled by their service.

The way to promote quality customer service is through incentives and fast food restaurants with typically high turnover are not going to provide this. Their minimum wage, mainly high school employees are notoriously unreliable.

The only way to fight poor service is to stop patronizing the restaurant. There is a Burger King nearly across the street from our offices that has had horrific service forever. Recently they hired a new manager and it appears service has improved. She even reached out to local companies so the store knew there were issues.

McDs in Bangkok is pretty good , since English is spoken at least some by all the young counter workers, and an ice creme cone is only 8 baht - 30 US cents :)