Ok, I know what you’re thinking – ‘Not another one of those articles about how unhealthy McD’s food is‘. Nope, that’s not what this is. There are already a million blog posts dissecting the ingredients of McD’s food, analyzing every calorie and fat particle within each square inch of yummy cardboard they call a burger. I’m not going to even discuss the copious amounts of salt they add to their limp, hydrogenated soy bean oil fried goodness they call fries. (Which, I might add, make me sick every. time. I. eat. them, yet I ALWAYS grab a handful whenever anyone, anywhere is downing them within a mile radius of me. True story.)
I think this restaurant has been beat up enough over it’s menu choices, preparation practices, etc. This is not a blog post asking you to pick up your pitch forks and start chanting to take the company down. No, this is simply why I just don’t prefer them compared to other fast food chains, the ones that serve the very same greasy heaven wrapped in foil.
We’re going to ignore the fact that my husband and I are vegetarians, of course. That I love bragging about my organic, GMO-free CSA we belong to, how I prefer to spend twice as much on veggies that are organic, and how I I’d love to take my family into a generation with no processed foods. Hey, I try to do what’s best for my fam just as much as the next person, but when the discount store has Goldfish for .50 cents a bag, I cave. every. time. So, yeah, setting aside the fact that we normally don’t ‘do’ fast food at all (**fast food being the burger, fry joints – I don’t consider Subway fast food), there are times when I cave and we hit one of the plethora of places we have in our vicinity.
And here’s why McDonald’s is just not one of them.
I think my problem lies with the corporation itself, not just with the fact that they ignore evidence that their food is unhealthy, even when every other major fast food corp is sprinting to change that about themselves. But with how they treat customers, too. There’s something to be said for a company who goes out of it’s way to treat their customers right, and I’m not just talking about throwing a boat load of money to some charity a few times a year to make their image look good.
See, here’s one of my gripes. They don’t adjust their pricing. Now I know walking into a burger joint as a vegetarian is just not a cool idea. But I’ve got kids ya know, and even though they’ve seen every video available about how nasty chicken nuggets are, every once in a while, they just wanna eat ’em. They’re kids, right? But even the salads that are offered always contain meat, which then forces me to ask for the salad minus said animal product. And here’s what I’ve discovered. I always get charged the same.
‘Well, that’s your fault for asking them to leave off the meat’, you say. Yes, I hear you. BUT, if we drove across the parking lot and I asked for the very same thing at Wendy’s, guess what they do? They take money off my bill! Crazy, I know. And yes, maybe it’s only .60 freakin’ cents, but ya know what? At least it’s something. At least they acknowledge that fact that meat is stinkin’ expensive and if I – as the customer – am going to opt out on it, then I should see some savings. But not with McD’s. Nope. Nada.
This annoys me.
‘So?’ you say. ‘Get off your high vegetarian horse and get over it’. Well, it’s more than that. A few months back my daughters had earned something ‘special’ for doing something or other. (I don’t remember, so don’t ask. Just know they earned it.) I asked them what they’d like as a treat and they said McD’s shakes – which was surprising to me, since we hadn’t been there for shakes in years. ‘Ok’, I think. ‘I can do this. They’re just milkshakes.’
Except, when we got to the window and I asked for specific flavors, I was put on hold for about thirty seconds, which in the waiting-to-order-world feels like thirty minutes. Then a lady got on and said, ‘Ok, pull through’. When I got to the window – and after I’d paid – she announced they didn’t have my flavors, only strawberry, and would that be ok?
Ummm…. no. Actually, it would. not. be. ok. ‘Cause we wanted chocolate and vanilla, see. So, if you all didn’t have those flavors, why didn’t you tell me at the ordering box? And before I paid? I very politely declined (honestly, it was polite), and asked for a full refund. Of course, she had to get the manager, to whom I had to explain the situation (very politely, mind you) and to whom I again, asked for a refund. She sort of hesitated, then said, Ok, as if she wasn’t completely sure she wanted to do it but was being forced at gunpoint. (No, I don’t carry a gun.) I offered her my debit card back for the credit but she said she didn’t need it, she’d cancel the sale.
Yeah, except that when I went to balance my checkbook a week later, there was never any credit. There was only a sale. Of $6 dollars and some change (yeah, you’re saying to get over it, but hey – it’s the principle of the thing!) She was a manager and never credited my account. A giant, mogul restaurant chain that could likely pay off the national debt in the blink of an eye, just stole $6 freakin’ bucks from me. Yuck.
So yeah, we don’t do McD’s. And if you do, that’s fine. That’s your choice. And no, I’m not trying to complain and bash the restaurant any more than it already gets bashed. I just thought a new perspective should be brought to the table. Instead of talking about how unhealthy their food is, their questionable meat origins, etc, I thought we could discuss customer service. There are plenty of fast food joints out there and I’d rather give my business (however seldom it might be) to the ones that are actually kind to me. Not the ones that only see dollar signs in my eyes when I pull through the drive thru.
There you have it.
What are your thoughts on fast food? Have you had a particularly bad or even good experience you’d like to share? Are you a McD’s fan and would like to voice your opinion here? Feel free to leave a comment below!
Happy reading, friends!!
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