I was traveling late at night from Memphis toward Little Rock, so I had already been on the road for a long time. I was exhausted, getting sleepy, and extremely hungry. I needed to stop, get some food, wake myself up a little, and safely continue my drive.
This McDonald’s was one of the only places open for miles, which is exactly why I stopped here. It is advertised as being open 24/7.
I pulled into the drive-thru around 2–3 AM, waited at the speaker, said hello several times, and nobody answered. I drove around and could clearly see employees inside.
At first, I thought maybe the drive-thru speaker wasn’t working, so I went around again and tried the other lane. Same thing.
What made it obvious this was not just a technical issue was that the employees actually made eye contact with me and other customers through the windows. After realizing customers could see them, they would turn around, walk away from the windows, and move out of sight instead of helping anyone.
And this wasn’t just happening to me. I watched multiple cars go through the drive-thru and get ignored. Other customers tried getting their attention as well, and they were ignored too.
At that point, it appeared pretty clear that the employees simply did not want to take orders. They were inside the building, knew customers were waiting, and still chose not to serve them.
Yes, there is a Waffle House across the street, but it does not have a drive-thru. You have to get out of your vehicle and walk up to the restaurant. As someone traveling alone through a very small town in the middle of the night and unfamiliar with the area, I did not feel comfortable doing that. I imagine other travelers may feel the same way. That is one of the reasons having an actual 24-hour drive-thru matters.
The most frustrating part is that the building was technically open—the employees just weren’t serving anyone.
If the restaurant has to temporarily close for cleaning, maintenance, staffing issues, or anything else, that is completely understandable. Put up a sign or tell customers the drive-thru is temporarily unavailable. But having employees inside, making eye contact with customers, deliberately moving away from the windows, and ignoring car after car is unacceptable.
Management really needs to pay attention to what is happening during the overnight shift. The employees seemed way too comfortable doing this repeatedly, and it gave the impression that this may not be the first time.
I would give this experience 0 stars if Google allowed it. Unfortunately, 1 star is the lowest option.
UPDATE – McDonald’s Response:
McDonald’s responded to this review by directing me to their Customer Care feedback link. I attempted to use the link they provided, but it does not work. It takes me to a McDonald’s page stating, “Oops, something went wrong” and that the page does not exist.
That honestly makes this situation even more frustrating. I’ve noticed this appears to be a standard response McDonald’s gives to customer complaints, but if you’re going to direct customers to a link instead of actually addressing the complaint, the very least you can do is make sure the link works.
The original issue still has not been addressed. This location was advertised as open 24 hours, employees were visibly inside, multiple customers were waiting to be served, and employees appeared to deliberately avoid customers instead of taking orders or explaining that the drive-thru was unavailable.
I’m not considering this resolved because a generic response was posted under my review. If McDonald’s genuinely wants to address the issue, please provide a working way to contact Customer Care or have someone actually follow up