an hour in the drive-through

Fast food my foot...

Last night, my friend and I were going through the McDonald's drive-through at about a quarter after 1 in the morning. It was absolutely packed and we could tell the few people inside were swamped and getting stressed out. So we patiently waited our turn as we crept toward the second window. When we got there, the lady told us it was over $9. For a 6-piece nugget and a snack wrap? My friend corrected her, telling her our order (twice) and she came back with a different bag. As we pulled away, I opened the bag and found a chicken sandwich and fries.

It was past 1:30 am, I was tired, cranky, hadn't eaten all day, and I really wanted my chicken nuggets. So we got out of the car and walked up to the door. The manager said she couldn't open the door to let us in (which I understood--it was almost 2 in the morning after all) but that we would have to go back through the drive-through. It had taken us nearly 20 minutes to get through the first time, and now the line was even longer! So she took our order--again--and went (we assumed) to get our food for us. Fifteen minutes later, we were still standing outside with the wrong order in our hands, and no one would even acknowledge that we were there. I think they were waiting for us to just give up, take what we had and go home. Haha, try again. We were not leaving until they gave us our chicken! We got back in the car and went through the 20-minute drive-through once again.

After a total of one hour spent in and around the McDonald's drive-through, we finally got our chicken nuggets and snack wrap (both FRESH!), as well as a free order of french fries and a free chicken sandwich (hey, the lady didn't ask for it back...) AND an apology from the manager. Because they messed up our order, they gave us each a coupon for one FREE medium extra value meal. I've worked in the food service industry, so I know how irritating persistently picky customers can be, but I also know how embarrassing it is when it's YOUR mistake. Moral of the story: speak up when your order is wrong...and avoid the McDonald's drive-through after 1 am if possible.