McDonald's Restaurants

McDonald's Restaurants are the only place that I struggle to communicate my order with the staff on the tills. A cup of tea can see a cappuccino being served. Perhaps the problem is the way I put the sentence together eg..

"Could I have a regular fillet meal, no tartare sauce with coca cola please?"

The response varies but can be:

"A Big Mac?"

To which I might say:

"No, a fillet o fish regular meal, no tartare sauce with coca cola please."

Clearly, this is too difficult to comprehend and we start the order again. By this point I am getting a tad irrited as it is only McDonald's that is a problem and I go back to basics as perhaps giving the complete order is too much information and they like to follow the script and ask questions..

"A fillet meal please."

"Medium or Large?"

"Medium and no tartare sauce please."

"What drink would you like?"

I reply to the last question with whatever I feel like on the day be it tea, water or Coca Cola.

I am then asked if it is eat in or take out to which I reply take out. Lo and behold, when the order arrives it is handed on a tray to which I remind them that it is a take out. There is a flurry of activity whilst they get one of the egg carton type trays for the drinks and a paper bag. Every time you have to ask for a tomato sauce in the sachet because the DIY in the dispenser sees you juggling to get it all out of the store to the car without making a mess so now I just wait until the order eventually appears and ask for a tomato sauce.

I think a classic was the day that the order came to £10 and 20 pence. I didn't have a £10 note but stupidly thought that giving a £20 note and the 20 pence would make change giving easier. Not at all, in fact, it only served to fluster the person on the till and cause them to panic over the till not balancing later. Are my maths up the creek? How much change would you expect to received if the order costs £10 and 20 pence and you tender £20 and 20 pence? Clearly I am trying to pull a fast one because I expected a £10 note rather than a handful of change plus the obligatory copper coins that you invariably post into the charity box in front of you.

When getting a cup of tea you are rarely offered milk to go with it and the first time you get caught out when you trundle over to were the consumables are and find there are no milk portions and you have to rejoin the queue to get one. So, lesson learned I don't leave the counter until I get the milk.

As a final whinge, they don't give a receipt unless you pay by card or actually ask for it.

On a plus side, you can usually find a space to park.