Fun at McDonalds…Friday I stopped at the Mcdonalds restaurant on Woodward at 13 mile to grab a quick lunch. As you probably know you have to pick a lane for the carryout. I picked the inside lane. Normally the lanes alternate evenly but in this case my lane moved slower (probably because of longer food orders) and so the cars in the other lane were moving up two at a time instead of the usual rotation. So I sat there thinking that once again I had picked the wrong line to get into, when suddenly I found myself in front of the big menu board. A female voice came over the loud speaker and asked me if I would like some kind of special drink, to which I said “no” and then she asked what I would like to order.
I told her “I’d like two grilled chicken sandwiches with just mustard and a bottle of water.” She replied, “What number sandwich do you want?” I repeated, “I just want two grilled chicken sandwiches with mustard and a bottle of water.” She said, “You’ve got to tell me what number sandwich you want.” Again, I said “I don’t care about a numbered sandwich, I just want two grilled chicken sandwiches with mustard and a bottle of water.” “Okay,” she said, “You have to order sandwich #5, #6 or #7”. So I looked at the board and didn’t see that numbers 5, 6 or 7 had anything to do with what I wanted, except for number 5 which offered me the choice of having it grilled or crispy. So I said, “I’ll have two #5’s - grilled - but I don’t want the bacon, lettuce, mayo or tomato. I just want mustard. And a bottle of water.” She said okay, gave me my total and told me to pull around to the first window to pay. I did, then moved on to the second window to pick-up my order.
I waited at the second window for over a minute and during that time, two things occurred to me: One, this could be a good sign that they needed the extra time to make my special order. Or, two, they were confused and messing things up.
Being a glass is half full kind of guy, I decided to go with the former.
Finally, a man who had the aura of “manager” about him handed me my bag and bottle of water, and off I drove. As I headed out of the parking lot I pulled one of the sandwiches out of the bag and started eating. It was right on the money: A grilled chicken sandwich with mustard!
After consuming the sandwich I decided I was full and would save the second sandwich for later. That night, we were having a late dinner and I found myself hungry for a snack. Remembering my extra sandwich, I headed to the fridge and retrieved the McDonald’s bag. I took out the sandwich, unwrapped it and saw lettuce peaking out of the side of the bun. Further investigation revealed not only lettuce but tomato, mayonnaise and bacon on top of the chicken as well. Apparently I had been given the “Real #5”.
Why is it so often when you get a carry out from a restaurant they get it wrong? You are almost always short one item and of the ones you do get, the chances of at least one of them being different that what you ordered seem astronomical.
The whole incident reminded me of a great bit done on MAD TV that was a huge hit on the internet. I present it now for your viewing pleasure. Have a great day and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow.
-Dick