11 insider facts about McDonald's employees know and most customers don't
People can get pretty invested in their food
"I was amazed at how furious people could get over food," a Reddit user who said they worked at McDonald's wrote. "I was a swing manager for a while, and one time I took a call from an angry guy — it seems that even though he asked for no mustard on his burgers, he got mustard."
The Reddit user said the man claimed to have a spreadsheet that recorded every time a McDonald's employee had made a mistake with his food. He yelled at the McDonald's employee and kept demanding to speak to the store owner.
The Reddit user wrote that the store owner ended up taking a call from the man and promptly hung up on him after telling him to find "somewhere else to eat in the future."
There's a trick to getting a fresh egg on your McGriddle
McDonald's employee and Quora user Mackenzie Shelton offered up a hack for getting a "fresh from the carton" egg on your McGriddle.
Request a "round egg," she suggested. "It's the best egg we have and definitely real," Shelton wrote.
Serious Eats confirmed that this specialized order will allow you to swap out the usual "folded egg patty with a real egg, free of charge."
Former McDonald's employee and Quora user Chuck Chan wrote that you'll be getting the same type of eggs that's used to make McMuffins.
Employees get some unusual requests sometimes
Sometimes, customers come up with some rather unusual requests for McDonald's employees to tackle.
One woman asked for a McDLT with no meat, according to McDonald's employee and Quora user Mike Bowerbank.
McDLTs are a discontinued McDonald's menu item. The sandwich consisted of a cheeseburger that had been split in two and placed on two sides of a specialized Styrofoam container so hot and cold ingredients didn't meet. One half contained a bun topped with a patty and cheese, the hot side. The other have was a bun topped with vegetables and sauce, the cold side.
"For some odd reason, this seemed to be the funniest thing the girl behind the counter had ever heard, and she started laughing," Bowerbank wrote. "And she couldn't stop. The assistant manager had to step in, apologize, and put in the order for her."
Quora user and McDonald's employee Ganesh Satyanarayana wrote that he used to work the closing shift at a UK-based McDonald's. One night, just before closing, he said he encountered a "visibly pregnant" customer.
"She quietly asks me, 'Are you still open? Because I'm craving a sandwich and none of the other McDonald’s were open,'" Satyanarayana wrote. "My heart immediately melted and I let them in and told them that it would take a while as I had already finished cleaning the oil vats and the grill. She said: 'Oh, I don't want any meat on my sandwich, I just want pickles on a toasted bun.' I swear to God, I thought she was joking."
And not all of the requests revolve around food.
Former McDonald's employee and Quora user Arthur Adams described having customers ask him to tell them a joke or sell them his McDonald's hat.
Custom orders are sometimes a pain to make
In a 2017 Reddit AMA, a McDonald's employee wrote that custom orders can be a pain to make.
"We label it as 'special request' when we take the order" the employee wrote. "So the employees filling the orders have to literally stop working just to come over and ask what the special request is."
They added that requesting "something fresh" counts as a "custom" order. So do "weird" requests, like asking that the ketchup be specifically squirted between burger patties and being specific about the placement of the cheese in the sandwich.
The employee gave the examples of a sandwich that substitutes the bun for lettuce and ordering just a single pancake instead of the standard three."
"It gets weirdly specific," the employee wrote.
McDonald's employees in the UK will be more attentive at certain times — and customers can use this to their advantage
In the UK, McDonald's employees are especially attentive at certain times of the day.
Former McDonald's employee and Quora user Kamran Adnan wrote that 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. are called "gapbuster times," or times when paid mystery shoppers may visit McDonald's restaurants and rate their experience.
"It is easy to spot a gapbuster because they always ask for a receipt, so they can get their food costs reimbursed by the company employing them," Adnan wrote.
"So, if you ask for a receipt in that time, everyone will be immediately alerted that you could be a potential gapbuster, and they'll make sure to serve you the freshest burger and fries and give you priority over everyone else," Adnan wrote.
There are several different types of managers
Managers at McDonald's can perform a variety of tasks, depending on their level.
A Reddit user who'd worked at McDonald's for five years broke down the chain of command at the store.
• The owner or operator is at the helm.
• The restaurant manager oversees the whole store and "everything from procedures to scheduling to administration to HR."
• At large McDonald's locations, secondary managers or salary managers take on some of the responsibilities of restaurant managers.
• Swing and shift managers work on the floor with the rest of the employees.
Some employees use the kitchen to make their own meals
Some employees chow on Big Macs during their lunch break.
Quora user and McDonald's employee Jasmine Nathaniel said that others opt for a bit more variety.
"Sometimes we got creative in the kitchen and would whip up our own meals," she wrote. "I have made many quesadillas and grilled cheese bacon sandwiches in my time."
Some customers can be pretty condescending
It's no secret that some people make a point of looking down on fast food workers.
McDonald's employee Mike Waite addressed some of this condescension in a viral Facebook post.
"Yes, I work at McDonald's and do it nearly 50 hours a week," Waite wrote. "Why? Not because I have no aspiration, motivation or intelligence ... but for the opposite ... because in a few months time, like a great number of people I work with, I will be going back into higher education."
He wrote that he aspired to be like his colleagues at the chain.
"In the past, I have known and worked with very rich folks in very high end jobs, and a few of them could never match the resilience and work ethic of some of the current lads/lassies," he wrote.
A Reddit user who said they once worked as a part-time McDonald's employee described one uncomfortable situation while wiping tables when she overheard a customer speaking with her children.
"I hear the mother say to her kids, 'Remember, if you don't do well in school, that's how you'll turn out,'" the Reddit user wrote. "It took all my effort not to turn and berate her for her ignorance. Not only are half the employees I work with in full-time education like me, but the other half were all up-standing, good individuals — in their own ways — who I respected as much as they respected me."
Asking for fries with no salt is a good way to annoy employees, and you may be better off just directly asking for fresh fries
One popular McDonald's hack that's currently circulating on the internet is that asking for fries without salt will allow you to snag fresh fries.
"Buddy, there's a 90% chance that you read some 'life hack' on Reddit, or Imgur, or what have you, that says to get fresh fries just ask for no salt," a Reddit user who said they were a McDonald's employee wrote. "Do you realize you can just ask us for 'fresh' fries, and we're more likely to give them to you, right?"
"I understand that some people genuinely have to limit their salt intake as much as possible — McDonald's isn't really the best place to practice that sort of diet, but hey, not my life — but for me, at least, it's easy to tell who genuinely needs it salt free and who's just trying to get the freshest fries they can," another Reddit user responded.
Chan wrote that, while it's true that asking for fries sans salt will get you fresh fries, preparing the order is a nuisance for employees.
"The fry person will need to wipe down the station, the fry scoop, and clear the area for the new batch to keep salt from contaminating the new batch," Chan said. "The fry person might not even fill up your container as full due to this fuss. And if any fries fall out of the bag/container, they won't put more in because the rest of the fries may have already been salted."
He recommended instead just asking for "fresh" fries.
Ask for the budget version of the Big Mac
Shelton offered up a hack for people who are trying to cut costs and "craving a Big Mac."
Ask for a McDouble "dressed like a Big Mac" — hold the ketchup and mustard, with Mac sauce and added lettuce.
"You'll save a few bucks and I've heard they taste great, too," she wrote.
It's hard to get rid of the smell of French fries
Have you ever grabbed a McDonald's meal at the drive-thru and then noticed that your car smells like French fries for days afterwards?
Well, McDonald's employees say they have to live with that every day.
A Reddit user who said they used to work the grill at McDonald's wrote that showering the second you get home is key, adding, "Don't expose your regular clothes to your work clothes. Wash separately."
Another Reddit user who said they worked as a cashier, cook, and drive-thru worker at the chain said, "I smell like french fries until I shower."
One Redditor asked the site's McDonald's Reddit forum for help.
"I am employed at a McDonald's, and, since I am frequently on the grill and fried products, my uniform always smells like grease," the Reddit user wrote. "I can't get it out. The shirt is 100% polyester, so I think that may be why it still does. Does anyone know how to get out the smell?"
"Just don't worry about it," another person who said they were a McDonald's employee responded. "It's your uniform. It's bound to smell that way. It's not like you're going to wear it to a party or something."
Some quotes have been edited for clarity.
Are you a McDonald's employee with a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com.
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