A popular myth circulating on the internet is that you can snag fresh fries by asking for fries with no salt.
"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 person who says they were a McDonald's employee wrote on Reddit. "Do you realize you can just ASK us for 'fresh,' and we're more likely to give them to you, right?"
Another Reddit user responded: "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."
Chuck Chan wrote on Quora that while it's true that asking for fries with no salt will get you fresh fries, preparing the order is a nuisance.
"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.