Posted on 05/16/2014 8:28:54 AM PDT by Baynative
The touch screens will only accept debit or credit cards, adding to the slow death knell of cash and coins. This all goes along with an overall revamp of McDonald's restaurants worldwide aimed at projecting a modern image as opposed to the old-fashioned golden arches with a slightly creepy (to my taste anyway) clown guy hanging around the french fries.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
We see the same here in N Californicator land, and we have never been charge to sit down and eat. They probably should have when our offspring were young, and when we took grandkids and nieces/nephews in to eat.
“My experience has been just the opposite. McDonalds has always had the highest standards of cleanliness.
Maybe it’s different in other areas?”
FOX just showed Panera planning this kind of thing, replacing all workers with “kiosks” to order and pay.
This is tied in with many other “automated” or should I say, DIY, “services”. Including the grocery stores now.
The grandfather of it all? Which we take for granted but have not once mentioned in this thread? GAS STATIONS.
Service disappeared long ago. Then some 15 years ago they started putting in CC options, which I balked at. Now, while I am fine with it per se, I prefer to pay up cash but am using the CC why? Because we are low on money! I’m relying on credit now! When I get a job again, I’ll probably go back to cash unless it is crucial to run out of there.
Sorry for rambling, but this gets me going. It’s good to offer MORE ways of doing things, but we have lost a lot of instant help by automating. Believe me, many times one needs help that no machine can offer. And sometimes even causes.
“Maybe it’s different in other areas?”
Some McDonald’s do seem to be better managed than others, but the problems with getting orders filled as requested, the all too frequent problem of finding a clean table even when you are the only or almost the only customers in the restaurant, and the microwave soybean burger improvements are all too common. I remember the days in the 1950s when a McDonald’s Cheeseburger was all meat and actually resembled a real cheeseburger on a sesame seed bun that was delivered to your car window by the car hop. By 1970 the food had already deteriorated to the point of being a pale shadow of a decent burger. It is sad so few people in the present day no longer understand what it means to have decent fast food, servers who can count change and memorize an order properly, and maintain clean restrooms. Today it doesn’t matter whether the McDonalds is in new York City, Los Angeles, over the expressway in Chicago, on the plains along Interstate 70 in Topeka, outside San Antonio, or on the northside of Seattle. They all have some serious problems with service, cleanliness, and the ability to handle a simple order.
If you want to see how to run a fast food restaurant serving burgers and fries, pickup some good food at the old style In’n’Out drive-thru stands. They are much more like what McDonalds used to be or better, when a burger was still a burger and not some kind of Soylent Green experiment.
And while I’m at it with the venting of my disgust, let me also put in a reminder of what Coca Cola and PepsiCo have done to ruin the restaurant experience for a lifetime now. There used to be a time when customers could actually buy a wide assortment of soft drinks at reasonable prices from a variety of different bottling companies. Everything From Dad’s Root Beer, Nehi Grape Soda, Pineapple Soda, and 7-Up to a variety of local types you’ve never heard about. Now customers are dictated to what they can and cannot drink at prices equal to the entire meals for four people. There are still fond memories of our favorite stopover on our long trips where we could buy a brown paper sack with eight real beef cheeseburgers for $1.00 and a choice from over two dozen ice cold soft drinks for 10 cents each. Ever since Coca Cola and PepsiCo managed to “persuade” a court to hand them monopolies of the restaurant market, customers have suffered under their pricey cartel system.
What amazes me, almost every time:
“Can I have a #3 with small coke and fries”
“ok, a #3, is that large?”
“no, small”
“ok, what do you want to drink with that?”
“COKE!”
“ok, is that with fries or onion rings?”
“FRIES!!”
ugh...I’ve given up on “no pickles” or whatever, they rarely get it right.
“charged an extra fee to dine in”
What? I don’t believe it. Are you in a high-density city, like NY or SF?
I’ve never heard such a thing for any fast food place, and I’ve been around a bit.
BTW, if you want GREAT service of all stripes in fast food, you must go to Chick-Fil-A. Not to mention the food is heavenly.
“And while I’m at it with the venting of my disgust, let me also put in a reminder of what Coca Cola and PepsiCo have done to ruin the restaurant experience for a lifetime now.”
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That’s easily solved——just drink water.
.
That does sound weird. What would stop someone from placing an order to go, then “deciding” to eat in instead?
LOL!!!
While I agree In N Out burgers taste better (especially with onions!), the McDonalds restaurants in the Phoenix area are clean, their service excellent. The drive-throughs move quickly (unlike In N Out), and the orders are correct almost every time.
Oh, and a large soda is a buck.
There is a McDonalds near me that has 2 parking spaces reserved for window service customers. I guess a lot of people like eating in their cars.
Needless to say these spaces have always got an empty car parked in them since they are so close to the door.
I find this quite funny——and ridiculous.
.
“I’ve thought for years fast food restaurants should install kiosks with queues. That way customers who know what they want don’t have to wait behind customers who don’t.”
I take it you haven’t gotten stuck behind a slow-poke at the grocery self-checkout lately?
The queues should be one single, general queue per restaurant, not a queue at each kiosk. When a kiosk opens up the next person gets it.
Couldn’t McDowell’s just as easily develop a free app where people could order from their drone phone?
Those spaces give people who place large orders or something that is still cooking a place to park and not block the line waiting. Their order is brought to the car when it’s done.
OK Mr. Not Sure
20 % discount for EBT ?
That’s from the new McDonald’s “Gibsmedat Menu”.
“Those spaces give people who place large orders or something that is still cooking a place to park and not block the line waiting. “
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I’ll be darned,I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.
.
While you’re at it, you can argue about it with some of these folks as well....
Raleigh, NC
Two things that annoy me when I “walk into” a restaurant. Dirty tables and to go bags.My biggest pet peeve is having 10 tables to choose from and not ONE of them has been cleaned off.
Tired of not having my orders done correctly or missing something!
Ok we all know that Mickey D’s food is very consistant in flavor. This location is constantly cold fries, cold food and ice filled almost to the top of the cup. I mean I know that we are all tight for money but can I get some coke with my ice? It’s pretty sad when your 4 year old says “these fries are yuck! “
http://www.bing.com/local/Details.aspx?lid=YN523x9163154
Phoenix, AZ
So I went to McDonalds last Wednesday. The drive thru was pretty busy, so I decided to go inside. Yeah, it’s dinner time and it seemed like the crew was more focused on the drive thru and could care less about guests @ the register! When we finally got our order taken, we had to wait, and wait and wait! The crew was still focused on the drive thru and guests in the dining room still had to wait to have their order taken & food handed out. When we got home the fries were cold and very salty. Blah!
So on Saturday, I figured I would try them again. I was certain it was their dinner time rush from my last visit . This time I was smart and went to the drive thru. I ordered double cheese burgers no pickles and french fries. The burgers still had pickles on them & the fries were cold and salty again!
The store may look nice and refreshed but I won’t be loving it at this places!
I usually don’t take the time to review fast food restaurants this one deserve it customer service is awful the food is awful the drinks as well are awful how can you mess with a drink I don’t know ask them. They are always busy but yet Lack customer service I don’t think I’ve ever gone to McDonalds that is as horrible as this one enough said will not return
So I went to McDonalds last Wednesday. The drive thru was pretty busy, so I decided to go inside. Yeah, it’s dinner time and it seemed like the crew was more focused on the drive thru and could care less about guests @ the register! When we finally got our order taken, we had to wait, and wait and wait! The crew was still focused on the drive thru and guests in the dining room still had to wait to have their order taken & food handed out. When we got home the fries were cold and very salty. Blah!
So on Saturday, I figured I would try them again. I was certain it was their dinner time rush from my last visit . This time I was smart and went to the drive thru. I ordered double cheese burgers no pickles and french fries. The burgers still had pickles on them & the fries were cold and salty again!
The store may look nice and refreshed but I won’t be loving it at this places!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mcdonalds-phoenix-33
Why go to McDs when there is Culver’s, In-N-Out, Five Guys, Whataburger, Smashburger, etc.
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