This was back in about 1999 or 2000 when my family had been on the way home after a Hot Air Balloon event in Howell; we stopped at McD’s near Hartland, on Highland Rd next to US-23. It was late Sunday afternoon but it appeared the employees there were expecting a slow day and not what they ended up with that day.
There were only 3 visible crews, a manager running ragged, a cashier who looked like she was dragged out of bed (unkempt frayed hair, half done face make up, not a typical teenaged girl appearance), and a lone kitchen crew. In front of my family placing their food order was a rather large gathering of children in Soccer outfits. It was probably a local Soccer team and a few of their parents out to treat them post game.
First I needed to use the bathroom, but upon getting there I decided I was better off waiting because the toilet was full and about to overflow, the soap dispenser was empty, and toilet paper and assorted colored liquid decorated the floor.
That should have been a sign for us to consider a different restaurant, but we were hungry and it’s hard to find cheap local restaurants still open Sunday evening. When it was finally our turn to place the order, everything seemed to go OK except that we didn’t get iced tea because they had run out. The manager informed us it would be ready in a few minutes.
Food came and went. We found the pies were bad, they were like rubber wrapped in paper. They would have served better as rectangular hockey pucks or pot hole fillers than as food. Obviously they were too old and overdone so we complained. They didn’t have any more pies hot and ready. And worse, they STILL didn’t have the iced tea ready after almost 20 minutes. So we just left without waiting to hear any more excuses.
I sent a complaint to McD’s web site that night (including the very graphic detail of the bathroom) and they did respond initially but the follow up response never happened. That McD still owes us 2 large ice teas and 4 pies.
Tagged as:
fast food restaurant,
food & beverage issues,
hygiene,
restroom
This happened a long time ago but it is hard to forget this. An employee who can’t keep orders right is one thing, but what this employee at a B. Castle in Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area, Michigan did was very inexcusable.
Way back in about 1985 or ‘86 (back then this fast foods restaurant was only a few years old), my family ordered some burgers but when we got the order, it was all wrong. Another customer also had all wrong orders and it turns out that both orders got switched somehow.
So what does the employee do? He just switched the order back the way it should be but we refused to eat it because it was clear the other customer had been touching “our” food when he noticed it wasn’t his order. And the customer also demanded the order be remade because we had touched “his” food before we realized the mix-up.
The employee left the kitchen area and apparently stayed in the break room. He probably thought he shouldn’t be held responsible for the mix-up or that he shouldn’t have to redo the 2 entire orders. Since he was the only person working in the place, we couldn’t get anything else done so we left without eating the food, left a very strongly worded letter to the owner, and informed in detail the incident including the fact it could be a health violation allowing someone else not working for the Castle to touch the food, and how they should be shut down for allowing that sloppy slob to work there.
We got a full refund. I never heard anything about the other customer other than he also left his food untouched. My family never went back to that place for many years.
Tagged as:
fast food restaurant,
hygiene
A friend of mine and I are constantly swapping stories of weird and unusual things that happen to us at drive-thru’s. This story is just one of MANY that have occurred at various locations of the same fast food restaurant.
Let my begin by saying that I almost never eat fast food. About 90% of my fast food restaurant purchases are for beverages only (Iced Tea and Diet Coke – no Mocha Cappuccino Lattes for me.) How hard could it be to fill an order for a beverage? Well, apparently, it can be an epic saga for the person working at the pick-up window.
One beautiful summer evening, I was out running an errand and decided to get a nice cold Diet Coke, since it was so warm out. I pulled up to the drive-thru to place my order for one medium Diet Coke. I drove up to the pick-up window to get my mega-order and when I was handed the drink cup, I could tell immediately that there was no ice in the drink. Did I order it with no ice? Noooooo. I asked the young lady, who could not have been more than eight years old by the looks of her, if she could put ice in my drink. Well, no she couldn’t you see, because it’s “automated.”
Okay, so after giving her my most endearing quizzical look, I asked again. When I received no response I then asked if I could come inside and get ice. Why yes, yes I could. So, I parked my car and went inside. The manager was literally waiting at the door for me wondering what the problem was. When I told him, he just shook his head and proceeded to put ice in my drink. Gee, I always thought the whole idea behind the concept of the drive-thru was that you didn’t have to go inside. Silly me.
Tagged as:
fast food restaurant,
owner/manager
My wife and I pulled into an international burger restaurant on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands one night for dinner. We placed our orders at the speaker, and then pulled up to the window after waiting a while for the cars ahead of us to pick up their orders. We were asked by the young lady what we ordered. Thinking that she should know what we ordered, I recited our meal selections to her. “Let me see your receipt,” she firmly requested. After looking at the receipt, she emphatically said, “You’ll have to turn your car off.”
WTF?? “Turn off my car?,” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied. “Save some gas.”
“What about our orders?”
“They’re not ready. We want to make your food fresh.”
“How long will it take?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?!”
“Yes. Ten minutes.”
“Should we pull our car forward to let the cars behind us get their orders?”
“No. Turn off your car.”
“What about the people behind us?”
“They will have to wait,” she replied matter-of-factly.
Exasperated, we sat in our car and waited. Amazingly no one in the growing line of cars behind us blasted their horn as surely would have happened in the states. After about ten minutes our meals were handed to us. Never mind that they weren’t exactly what we ordered. We were in a hurry to catch some Fourth of July fireworks over the bay. Fortunately for us they were late too.
Tagged as:
fast food restaurant
