My family went through the drive through of a local McDonalds recently. (Ok, it was last night) We were buying food for ourselves and a couple of friends who had recently gotten home after a couple of weeks away. They, for obvious reasons, wanted to just relax, and not have to cook, but were too happy to be home to go out. So, since we were already visiting, we offered to go and get some food. Subway was the first choice, but, it turns out, they were closed for Easter Sunday. So, McDonalds it was.
We went through the drive through, ordered our food ($40), and then waited while they made up the food. They were waiting on an fryer of chicken nuggets to finish up, so we even got to go to the special parking space that they have for cases like ours. A few minutes later, out comes one of the McD’s workers, with our bag, and happy meals. Awesome. We’re on our way.
All the way across town, we start opening bags, and divvying up the food. Cue disaster. You might think disaster is too strong of a word. But, if you have children who have their expectations set, and then those expectations are crushed, you know it is the right word. Funnily, the kids’ meals were the items that were the closest to right. We ordered four adult value meals. Two of them were identical except for one minor adjustment of having no onions. Using the convenient labels that they stick on the burger boxes, we gave those out, only to find that the labels were wrong. The burgers were right, they just had the labels crossed. The one order of chicken nuggets that we ordered (and waited for) had no sauces (or so we thought). Then, the kids opened their meals. Instead of caramel sauce for their apple dippers, they had honey mustard sauce. Well, that’s where the sauce went for the chicken nuggets! The biggest part that they messed up? There were no fries! None! And no straws, either. What a complete disaster of a trip.
Of course, having spent $40 on food, and only getting half the order right, I was a bit upset. But, then I got to thinking, did I get what I paid for? Well, in a more philosophical sense, not in a precise sense. Set aside the healthy-ness concerns of fast food. When it’s all said and done, should we expect that our orders won’t be right, the food won’t look like it does on the menu, and that we are just a dollar bill passing through to be collected and sent on our way? Just how much should we expect from our fast food exchanges?
Even though you tossed out health concerns, I still think this happens quite often – usually I ask for special things at wendys (The only one of those 3 I can eat at) so I know they are putting it together fresh when I order it. All in all, you probably got what you paid for.
You did not get what you paid for, someone did a sloppy job and that’s all there is to it. I think it’s best to check the meals before driving home to make sure all is in order.
True, you did know that you weren’t going to get treated like the President on a weekend to the Waldorf. However, you did spend a good amount of money on food and they are professional establishment. That was poor customer service on their part.
@Jeff That’s the worst part of it. Three of the four meals we ordered were special orders! They were correct, if mislabeled. It was the parts of the orders that were missing that was most disconcerting.
@BeatingtheIndex Yeah, we do wish we had checked the bags. That we didn’t is our fault. Of course, I do believe I should at least get the food I ordered, if not the quality of food…
@ImpulseSave Exactly. The drive-thru of McDonalds isn’t the place for luxury and pampering, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask for that I at least get the food I order.
I have found that the chances of my drive-thru order being incorrect greatly increase when I don’t check the order before leaving the premises. It is a corollary to Murphy’s Law kind of thing.
@Andy Lol. Isn’t that the truth!
Surprisingly I have not had too many occasions where my order was wrong, I have once found the cheese on my chicken sandwich to still have the paper attached to it and I almost bit into it.
I had McDonalds tonight at the DEMAND of the kids. Sometimes when I buy a dollar menu item, I also think to myself “should I be eating something that only cost one dollar?” I am, however, addicted to the frappes. … and I also own a few shares of their stock, so I guess I hope they do well!
There is nothing worse than ordering a bunch of food through the drive-thru at McDonalds! I still have nightmares about missing food 😀
Since you are paying for the service as well as the food, and they fell short on both, I definitely don’t think you got what you paid for!
When I used to get fast food more often, they ALWAYS screwed something up with my order. I eventually got into the habit of checking everything before I left the window.
Personally, I feel that if you pay for something, it needs to be what you paid for. I hope you got your order fixed. 🙂