Several McDonald's staff members have taken to Reddit to share all the dirty little secrets
from behind the scenes of their restaurant.
It's said that ignorance is bliss and, in this case, that seems to be true.
The inside scoop these employees provide could very well ruin your favorite fast food joint
forever.
If you’re feeling brave, prepare yourself to learn about 10 McDonald's menu items that
even the staff won’t eat - part 2.
Smoothies and Milkshakes
Hopefully you’re not in the process of drinking a McDonald's smoothie or milkshake while watching
this.
If you are, you’re in for a bit of a shock, because we’re kicking things off with a
rough one.
Apparently, the machines that make smoothies and milkshakes can get pretty disgusting.
In fact, one Redditor commented that, as an employee at McDonald's, there were times when
the machines got so gross that they would actually tell customers that it had broken
and required maintenance because they felt guilty about serving them drinks from it.
The residue left behind by previously made drinks can build up and get pretty nasty.
The milkshake machines in particular have been said to get quite “crusty” if they’re
not cleaned often enough.
Which, allegedly, they aren’t.
This all sounds pretty bad, but, one staff member reported that the McDonald's where
they work, they do in fact clean the smoothie machines.
And it was somehow so much worse, because they claimed that glass-cleaner was used to
wipe it down.
That’s probably not what you want to use to clean things that hold your food.
We’re not doctors here, but it doesn’t sound like something you want to be ingesting.
Onions Have Layers
You’d think that, at the very least, the vegetables at McDonald's would be fresh.
The lesson here is that it’s best to never assume things.
Onions are a staple hamburger topping.
Many of McDonald's best burgers have them.
Turns out that, instead of getting their onions fresh from the supermarket, McDonald's buys
them dehydrated.
To get them looking the way they do on your burger, they first have to be submerged in
water.
Just like onions themselves have layers, so does the process through which they're prepared
at McDonald's.
This is one fact that can easily get blown out of proportion, as one McDonald's employee
was quoted as saying that the onions used in your favorite burger are actually made
from powder, which sounds a lot sketchier than the truth.
Learning they’re just dehydrated is boring when compared to the rumor that they’re
made from some weird, genetically modified, powdered concoction.
The reasoning behind using dehydrated onions instead of fresh ones is quite simple.
McDonald's chooses to use dehydrated onions because it means that they don’t have to
worry about them rotting.
That also means that you don’t have to worry about not getting a fresh onion on your burger.
Well, technically it’s not fresh-fresh, but... well, you get the point.
Size Matters
You know those small burger patties?
The ones in Big Macs and Double Cheeseburgers?
Well... if you’re a burger fan and prefer to remain in blissful ignorance, maybe skip
this entry.
Because, odds are, you’re not going to like what we have to say.
Before we get into the meat of it (pun intended), take note of the fact that some McDonald's
employees on Reddit claimed that this isn’t something that applies to their restaurants.
So, it’s not necessarily a widespread thing.
But, according to one employee, there’s a possibility that the patties you’re served
are undercooked.
Allegedly, they’re tossed on the grill, then quickly pulled off, still bloody.
Afterwards, they sit around for ages waiting to be served.
Even though this is an issue that probably doesn't occur at most McDonald's locations,
if you find yourself wanting to avoid the smaller hamburger patties as a precaution,
you might be out of luck.
Most of McDonald's burgers are prepared with the smaller 1.6-ounce patties.
Although you could kick it Pulp Fiction style and order a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, which
uses a 4.25-ounce patty.
Just don’t try to order it in France.
Skip the Sodas
You’ve probably heard the horror stories about the ice in McDonald's fountain drinks.
If you haven’t, apparently the ice machines can get pretty nasty, thanks to the fact that
they're not cleaned nearly as frequently as they should be.
If you’re familiar with that particular rumor, you probably thought you were playing
it safe by drinking your sodas at room temperature.
We’re sorry to break this to you: skipping the ice still isn't enough.
Like the milkshake and smoothie machines, the soda machines don’t seem to be getting
the tender love and care they need.
A McDonald's employee claimed that running cleaning cycles on the beverage machines every
two weeks is technically allowed.
That’s a pretty big window of opportunity for bacteria and who knows what else to accumulate.
Reportedly, if you were to disassemble a McDonald's fountain drink machine and take a look inside,
you’d be greeted with a buildup of old, partially solidified syrup.
Don’t Look Inside
You probably thought that condiments would be safe.
Getting ketchup from a McDonald's dispenser isn’t something anyone ever really thinks
about, it’s just something they do automatically.
However, this is a habit we could all probably do with breaking.
It’s not so much the condiment you have to worry about, but the dispenser itself.
McDonald's employees have admitted to not cleaning ketchup dispensers as regularly or
as thoroughly as they should.
Additionally, there’s no knowing how long it’s been since the bag of ketchup has been
changed.
Typically, you can expect the ketchup supply to be replenished only when it’s been emptied
to the point that it won’t dispense anymore.
Considering how much ketchup those things hold, chances are that’s not nearly as often
as you’d want.
While the outside of the dispenser gets wiped down enough to keep it looking presentable,
what’s going on inside might be enough to curb even the strongest appetite.
We’ll leave that up to your imaginations, though.
Instead of using the dispenser, grab some ketchup packets on your way out of the store.
You’ll be doing yourself a favor.
America’s Favorite Dessert
McFlurries aside, no one has ever gone to a McDonald's for the explicit purpose of ordering
dessert.
Honestly, you might even have been surprised to learn that McDs even sells other desserts.
Well, they do.
In fact, they have an entire “bakery” line, including items like apple pie and chocolate
chip cookies.
After finishing your nuggets and fries, you might find yourself with room for dessert
and, upon seeing America’s favorite dessert listed on the menu, you just might order yourself
a nice, single-serving, apple pie.
And that would be a mistake.
You see, not very many people order apple pie from McDonald's, so they end up sitting
on the shelf all day long, just waiting to be eaten.
The updated version of McDonald's apple pie isn’t even supposed to be that good to begin
with, so it’s probably inedible after sitting out for hours.
The McRib
The McRib is an iconic sandwich.
A cult-classic, a thing of legend.
After a short run as an official menu item in the early eighties, it was pulled due to
poor sales.
Since then it's had several short rereleases that've occurred periodically over the years.
Its return to the menu is usually determined by lower pork prices and its removal by increasing
prices.
The McRib is something McDonald's employees cringe at the thought of.
They implore you to stay far, far away at all costs.
They say that before the sandwich is prepared, a sauce-free McRib couldn’t look less like
meat.
Someone actually went as far as to compare it to a “scab”.
The McRib gets a lot of hype, but it’s all talk.
Everyone’s heard of it and, yet, no one orders it.
This makes the McRib situation very similar to the apple pie conundrum.
It’s prepared at the start of the day, hot, fresh and ready to be purchased.
But, since so few people order the McRib, it waits around for hours before it’s sold.
By that point, it’s no longer hot and no longer fresh.
It’s Not Decaf
You might have already been warned off of McDonald's coffee because they don’t clean
the machines properly.
That’s a whole other issue that we’re not going to get into today.
This entry goes out to all of you who love the taste of coffee but who find yourself
wanting to avoid the caffeine rush that comes with it.
If you’ve ever ordered decaf at McDonald's to bypass the coffee jitters, you might be
in for a nasty surprise.
At fast food restaurants, the supply of filtered coffee tends to be refreshed every few hours.
During the morning rush, there’s no problem.
Pots of both regular and decaf coffee are made fresh, just like clockwork.
As the day goes on, less and less coffee is ordered.
Decaf, which was already in much lower demand during the busy morning hours, is hardly ever
asked for.
As a result, it’s made far less often than regular coffee.
This means that, if you happen to go into McDs and order a decaf coffee at the wrong
time, they might not have anything to give you.
It depends on the restaurant you’re at, but it’s happened that, instead of informing
the customer that they’re out of decaf, the employee has simply given them a cup of
regular instead.
So, while there’s nothing wrong with McDonald's decaf coffee, employees know better than to
order it, as they can’t be sure that that’s what they’ll actually be getting.
New or Limited-Edition Items
Like many other fast food chains, McDonald's is always coming out with new or limited-edition
items.
People go crazy over new food items, especially when they’re only going to be around for
a short period of time.
Oftentimes, they end up disappointed with these new products, not because they’re
inherently bad, but because they’re not made well, or are lacking certain ingredients.
This is because there’s a learning-curve that comes with adding new items to the menu
and, unfortunately, McDonald's employees aren’t always given the time they need to learn how
to make them.
The kitchens are fast-paced, stressful environments, and they don’t have the opportunity to slow
down and try to perfect the procedure.
It’s not fun for the employees, as trying to put together a burger they have no idea
how to make adds extra stress to their already hectic day.
Furthermore, it’s not fun for you.
Few things are worse than the sinking feeling of disappointment that comes from getting
back to your desk at work and pulling out the lunch you’ve been dreaming of since
nine in the morning, only to realize that it’s made completely wrong.
Make the lives of fast food workers easier and save yourself the sadness of having to
pay for and eat a meal you didn’t order and pass on the limited-edition items.
Mickey D Freshness Hack
On Reddit, several people who’ve worked at McDonald's posted about how food is left
out much longer than it should be.
Timers are set to signify that the food has been sitting out too long and needs to me
replaced.
Allegedly, employees just reset the timer when it goes off, instead of throwing out
the food like they’re supposed to.
That’s why the McDonald's employees on Reddit don’t recommend ordering from their restaurant
unless you can guarantee that the food you get is fresh.
However, they’ve got something to say about how you go about making sure of that.
“Life hacks” to help guarantee that your McDonald's order will be fresh can be found
all over the Internet.
The most popular is probably to order your fries without salt, since they’re usually
salted as soon as they come out of the deep fryer.
Other people will claim they have allergies, so their food has to be prepared fresh and
in a freshly cleaned area to avoid cross-contamination.
If you try out the former, the McDonald's employee serving you will likely know exactly
what you’re doing and probably be pretty annoyed that you couldn’t just be upfront
about what you want.
If you do the latter, you’re making a ton of extra work for the staff, because employees
take allergies very seriously.
You want to know the real life-hack for getting fresh food at McDonald's?
Just ask!
And then don’t complain about the long wait time.
The employees get it.
They know exactly how long the food sits out and are well aware that it tastes much better
when it’s fresh.
They’d just rather you ask them straight up than try to trick them into giving you
fresh food.
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