KL
Kayla Lucas
Jun 16, 2026
*PLEASE READ THIS IF YOU CARE TO KNOW MY EXPERIENCE.
A young woman, five years out of college, faces job displacement and struggles through hardship, fighting to make it from one day to the next.
On June 16th, a few hours after June 15th, I had finally gathered the last amount I needed to pay for my home, leaving me with only $20 for gas and a meal. Grocery stores are closed now, and I'm saddened because I have to feed myself fast food that isn't the most nutritious.
In the drive-through, I ask for a 6-count McNugget & a small fry, & for them to please fry the fries fresh. The tall African American guy rang me up & gives my receipt at 1:03 AM. I received the food at 1:10 AM & drove over to QT. The QT is less than 1 min on the same shopping strip. On the quick drive over to QT, I'm happy & grateful because the fries are hot & taste great. At QT, I ask for $10 on pump 7. I pump the gas, which doesn't take long, I get in the car, sanitize my hands, and proceed to try the nuggets. Without looking, I take a bite & immediately feel frustrated because they are DRY & sorrowfully lukewarm. It didn't dawn on me to say FRESH nuggets & fries.
This is the first time in my life that I have ever felt inclined to go back to the restaurant &ask for the item to be remade.
This time around, the same tall African American guy hears me say the nuggets are dry as if they sat for a while, & asks if they could remake them. I received a blanket "ok" response that sounded as if he wasn't buying it, & was annoyed that I came back.
At 1:17 AM, I pull up to the first window and apologetically hand one of his colleagues the box of nuggets I originally had with the 1 nugget I bit, and I showed her before handing it over, so that they knew I wasn't just bringing back a majority eaten food item. This colleague didn't close the drive-through window all the way, which positioned me to hear the not-so-pleasant things that the tall African American guy had to say about my return, "that was 10 minutes ago," & later saying, "but it's the fact that she drove all the way back."
It wouldn't matter if I drove back from church, home, the mall, the fire station, the gas station, or wherever. The food items were dried up and not something I would give him to eat.
At a time like now, when everyone in the world is strapped for cash, struggling to make ends meet, and many are feeling like they want to give up, those comments were despicable and disgusting for him to make.
If I were younger and weak-minded, I might have driven off. Without kindness, I could have said hurtful things. As a believer in the commandment to "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR," I chose not to retaliate. The old me would have wanted to prove him wrong and show him the nuggets I returned, but he simply wasn't worth my time.
He came to the window at 1:23 AM to hand me the bag of food that had been remade. As he did, I mentioned, "Thank you for remaking the nuggets. I never would drive all the way back to get my food corrected, but the money I spent was my last after paying my rent late." Realizing he had heard me, he replied, "Oh, okay. Would you like any sauces?" At that moment, I felt mortified for speaking up, so I said, "No," and used the last bit of sweet &sour sauce I had already opened for my fries from earlier.
So what have we learned here?
Franchise owners should routinely conduct customer service attitude training? The workers should have been more empathetic? I should have had low expectations for McDonald's? NO. HIS time remark? hmm okay.
We learned that at this location, mistakes may happen, & if they do, they will likely be corrected—possibly with some conversation about you. However, the lesson is that we should extend grace in all situations, even to those who may not deserve it. If our order is wrong and we find ourselves being talked about, we should take the high road. It's not worth getting into an argument or justifying ourselves to the drive-through staff over the last amount of money we spent.
I drove off & sat at the light at 1:25 AM thinking, "I won't be back"