• How are you accidentally annoying the crap out of your local McDonald’s worker?
How can you get a Big Mac for about a third the normal price?
From food hacks to pet peeves, we run down 15 things a McDonald’s employee would never
tell you themselves.
15 – Drive-Thru is the Top Priority • Let’s say you really want a Quarter
Pounder, and you’ve decided to dine in.
But just as you order yours, someone in the drive-thru orders one as well.
• If there’s only one left, guess who gets it?
Not you.
• You’re already in the store, which means you’re not in a big hurry.
They’re going to give it to the person waiting to hit the gas and go home.
14 – Shameless Child Marketing • A huge part of McDonalds’ business strategy
lies in getting kids to scream at their parents until they break down and buy them a Happy
Meal.
• It’s not even really a secret.
That’s the whole point of serving a Happy Meal with a toy, and advertising it during
cartoons.
• Speaking of which…
13 – Happy Meals are a Pain • It’s fast food, so it’s not like making
a Happy Meal is like asking them to build a house from scratch.
• But it’s easy enough to order a “number 1 meal with a Coke.”
They know exactly what to do.
• But you order a Happy Meal, and they have to know if you want a hamburger, cheeseburger
or nuggets?
French fries or apple slices?
What to drink?
Boy toy or girl toy?
• Once you have all that established, they get to build the special Happy Meal boxes
instead of just using a bag.
12 – Ordering “No Salt” Fries • If you order your fries with no salt,
the employees are going to look at you like you just shot them in the leg.
• They’ll do it, but it means they have to make a whole new batch of fries, just for
you.
They also have to clean off every single piece of equipment to do it, since it’s basically
all covered in salt.
• And it’s not just the employees that’ll hate you for it.
You’re probably delaying the orders of about a dozen other people while they do all that.
11 – Discount Big Macs • The Big Mac, the signature burger at McDonald’s
for decades, usually costs around 4 dollars.
• The McDouble, on the other hand, can usually be found on the value menu for about a dollar-fifty.
• Order your McDouble without ketchup or mustard, but add lettuce and Big Mac sauce.
Sometimes you might get charged a quarter for the substitution, but usually you don’t.
• What you now have is everything that comes on a Big Mac, except for the middle bun and
the sesame seeds.
Seriously, they’re identical sandwiches, and you saved two or three dollars.
10 – Figure Out Your Order Before You Order • This would technically be something McDonald’s
employees DO want you to know.
• What they DON’T want you to know is how annoyed they are by indecisive customers.
• When you wait in line only to get up to the counter and THEN start thinking about
what you want, you make everyone behind you wait longer.
• And then THEY will start getting snippy
with the employees.
9 – McDonald’s is Open on All Holidays • A few years ago, McDonald’s quietly
sent out a memo to all of its franchises to stay open on Christmas Day.
• That was the last thing keeping them from a full 365-day schedule.
• Worst part is, employees don’t even get paid extra for working on holidays.
8 – Lots of Stuff is Put in a Microwave • McDonald’s is adamant about telling
customers that their meat is grilled, not microwaved.
• But there are some things put in the “Q-ing” oven, which employees describe as a glorified
microwave.
• Buns were once one of these things, as are the eggs used in breakfast burritos, and
a number of other things.
7 – They HATE Serving All-Day Breakfast • Transitioning from breakfast food to lunch
food means basically transforming the entire kitchen.
• That’s why you weren’t able to get breakfast at 11:30 until recently.
• But now, some breakfast items are available all day… which means anytime you order a
McGriddle at 7 pm, they have to switch that stuff back over just to make you one thing.
• Or, more likely, they’ll just microwave it and not tell you.
6 – About “Meat Blending” • First things first, yes, McDonalds beef
is actually real beef.
Actual, real beef from real cows.
• But McDonald’s using blending techniques to make both their beef patties and chicken
nuggets, that basically throw a bunch of meat together and blend it up so that it’s uniform.
• Then they form it into whatever shapes they need.
• So the thing is, your burger probably has meat from about 100 different cows in
it.
5 – They Know About the Secret Menu • There are a bunch of secret menu concoctions
you can put together with the McDonald’s menu.
• And yes, the employees probably know about them and can do them.
They’ve tried a bunch of weird stuff themselves.
• But don’t go up to the counter and order a McGangBang.
Just buy a McChicken and a McDouble and put it together yourself.
4 – 30 Seconds from Frozen to Served • McDonald’s cares very much about the
“fast” element of “fast food.”
• They have a literal number of seconds it should take from the time you order food
to the time you get it.
• As a result, your beef patties go straight from the deep freeze to the grill, to in your
hands in burger form in about a minute flat.
The patties themselves take only about 30 seconds to cook from frozen to done.
• By the way, “flipping burgers at McDonald’s” isn’t a thing anymore.
Their grills cook on both sides simultaneously.
3 – “Healthy” Options are Worse For you
• A quick heads-up: just because something is called a “salad” doesn’t mean it’s
good for you.
• The Kale Caesar Salad with Crispy Chicken has more calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium
than a BIG MAC.
• Meanwhile, their oatmeal is loaded down with sugar and cream.
It has more calories and sugar than a full-size Snickers bar.
2 – Employees Get to Eat Leftovers - Sometimes • Most of the time, food can only hold for
so long before it has to be thrown in the trash can.
• The amount of perfectly good food wasted in a day at any given food establishment is
staggering.
• But sometimes, when the day is over and there’s a bunch left, employees can get
away with taking home some of the leftover stock.
1 – They Don’t Actually Mess with your Food…
Usually • Search Google right now, and you’ll
see countless stories of people getting caught spitting in customers’ food.
• But for every one of those, there are millions of others who simply don’t have
the time or the will to even think about it.
• If you’re a rude customer, all they want is to get rid of you as quickly as possible.
The worst you might get is a burger smashed down a little too much, or a little more ice
in your drink.