McDonald's Should Polish More Than Its Arches

Forbes.com ^ | 9/17/02 | Davide Dukcevich

[southern rock]

I said, "Well it didn't work. You're shirt's untucked. You're acting like a b*tch. And your manager is going to hear about it."

I'm sure she was quaking. I used to work retail, and you are the type of customer that always made us laugh. Nothing personal, I'm just stating the truth.

I don't know. Is there a work ethic with kids these days?

Approx. $6/hr. You try it, and let's see the attitude. You get what you pay for.

[HairOfTheDog]

McDonalds is great. It isn't gourmet food, its a quick lunch that is guaranteed to taste exactly the same no matter where you are in the world, for four dollars. As a bonus they have the best fries in the business...

What more do ya' want?

[RightOnline]

You'd have to hold a gun to my head to get me to go into one of those filthy joints (e.g. McDonald's) again. Morons behind the counter. CRAP for "food". What they pawn off as a "hamburger" should get 'em arrested. Dirty. Patrons you'd find in one of yer better inner-city, crumbling old K Marts. Overpriced.

No thanks.

[Dan Day]

The problem with McDonald's is summed up by their "Filet-o-Fish".

Leaving aside the issue that I always felt silly ordering it by that goofy name, when I was a kid (a few decades ago) the McDonald's fish sandwich was delicious. It was juicy, tasty, and wonderful. It tasted like, surprise surprise, fish.

Now, it's dry (it'd stick in your throat if it weren't lubricated by tartar sauce) and tastes like cardboard. The "meat" is also about half as thick as it used to be.

[HairOfTheDog]

I have never been in a McDonalds that wasn't clean.

[HairOfTheDog]

Minimum wage is plenty for a kid needing extra money in an entry level position. Minimum wage was never supposed to be a living wage for a family. It's movie and arcade money. It is the place to start.

[struwwelpeter]

McDonald's in Yalta isn't too bad, either.

[segis]

McD's milk shakes are pretty good. Other than that, everything else is pretty bad.

[southern rock]

Minimum wage is plenty for a kid needing extra money in an entry level position. Minimum wage was never supposed to be a living wage for a family. It's movie and arcade money. It is the place to start.

Economics is not dictated by what the employee is "supposed" to use their wages for. Economics is dictated by a balance between wages and labor. If their is imbalance in this system, there will be an imbalance in the quqlity of service. All talk of "work ethics" aside, there must be fair wage for fair labor. Crappy wage=crappy labor, all bellyaching aside. There is no such thing as a work ethic simply for work ethics' sake.

If you want better service, be prepared to pay $6 for your Big Mac. If you are not willing to pay that, than you can forget about service with a smile, and tucked in shirts.

Who cares about that anyway? I'll take the cheap food and not worry about the quality of employees that their pay scale attracts.

[Snerfling]

They lost my business when they put those jungle gyms in for the kids to play on...

but gained it from every other parent. Geez, we used to plan our weekend outings around locating a McDs. Get out of the house early, get the kids pooped out somewhere from hiking, playing, etc, hit McDs and let them nap on the way home.

I agree with one of the other posters, however - even our kids are starting to get sick of Micky Ds.

[HIDEK6]

You're right.

The point of my post was that the McDonald marketers decided whose business they wanted, and whose they did not.

I can't feel sorry for someone who disdained my business during the flush times and now wants my sympathy because their target market is not as lucrative nor as loyal as they thought it would be.

[southern rock]

I have never been in a McDonalds that wasn't clean.

I agree there. I see nothing wrong with McDonalds. The service is what it is because the pay is what it is. It also depends somewhat on the "community" a particular McD's is located in.

The food is decent and cheap. If you don't like an employee's attitude, what are you going to do? Try to get them fired? Oh my! There goes their new Mercades. LOL!

[Rocksalt]

I used to stop often for their pancakes,which were cheap,and fairly tastee,but as the place was right next to a highschool,the kids manners finally drove me nuts.At this one they prey on the kids since they are right across the street.Next I switched to Buger King for crossiant sanwiches,with ham and stuff.Pretty good,bit I finally realised I was driving my level of fats sky high.Stay away from fast food now,except local burrito chain,which is good.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think a part-time minimum wage paycheck is still a lot of money to a kid. Trouble is that the ones willing to take the jobs now seem to be in their mid-twenties. Folk are supposed to want more from life by then... If they are there though... It is not the job's fault. McDonalds should maybe have stuck to teenagers and retirees...

I don't get bad service at McDonalds, really... I mean, of course I have, but it has not been the rule. And the ones that forget? - I smile so broadly at them that they smile just out of surprise!

No matter what flaws they may have, their product is a science. Their food is exactly the same no matter where you go. I can't get peanut butter and jelly to taste the same twice.

We used to have a joke among my friends, that when the world seems upside-down and nothing seems right, you can always go to McDonalds. It never changes :~D

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Approx. $6/hr. You try it, and let's see the attitude. You get what you pay for."

I can agree with most of the points you have made except for the one above.

If a person accepts a job knowing what it pays, then they should perform that job.

Having to work a low wage job is no excuse for a bad attitude.

[CWRWinger]

Background music in some places is hard rock or similar style, or played much too loud.

My complaint also. Get indigestion with that McAfrica jive. It's absolutely obnoxious.

[apillar]

I'm one of those suckers the fast food industry must love. I have to try every new sandwich or other food item that comes along.

I went to Burger King and had to try the new Tacos. My wife and kids were snickering when I pulled this greasy, shriveled, pathetic looking taco out of the wrapper. Much to their suprise (and mine) it was the best taco I've eaten in years. It tastes exactly like the ones I use to get at a greasy spoon type bowling alley snack bar when I was a teenager. They have taco bell beat six ways to sunday.

[southern rock]

If a person accepts a job knowing what it pays, then they should perform that job.
Having to work a low wage job is no excuse for a bad attitude.

Morally and ethically, you are correct. Economicaly, that is not the way the world works. Either be willing to pay $6 for you Big Mac, or deal with it. You can't change the nature of the free market.

[oldtimer]

It must be very difficult to find anybody that can have the intelligence to even work for KFC or Mcdonalds after the NEA got through with dumbing down of our educational system in the US.

[Larry Lucido]

Actually, they are almost exactly like the Jack in the Box tacos I used to buy (and love) in Texas. Alas, there are no JITB's in Michigan. But then, there were no White Castles in Texas, either. :-)