KW
Katherine White
Sep 6, 2026
McDonald's has absolutely lost my business, over a $6 Happy Meal, of all things. I ordered to pick up in the drive-thru, went inside to use the restroom (which, as an aside, was not open for customer use at all- I checked with the TWO employees, both of whom had headsets, just outside the front door), came back out and headed to drive-thru to pick up a meal for my kiddo.
At the drive-thru, I was told I'd need to come inside. Went back around. Parked. Left kiddo (who is 17 and has anxiety) in the running car, and went inside. There were people standing around, no real lines that I could tell, so I made my way over to the pickup counter to pick up my kid's food. Waited behind a trio of older teens, and there was no issue...we were all just waiting to be helped. Everything seemed pretty copacetic.
Got up to the counter, and I told the older man behind it that I had a drive-thru code and was told I needed to come in. I showed him the code on my phone, and he said "Well, what's the code?!", so I looked at the phone, thinking maybe the screen had turned off, but it hadn't, so I told him, and then I tried to show him again. He walked away, came back, and said he didn't have an order with that code. I looked at the address and thought that maybe I had ordered to the wrong store, so I walked away and went outside, then I noticed the address over the door, and it was the correct store.
Went back inside, and he said, "Look, sweetheart, I don't know what to tell you, that order isn't here.". I told him to not call me "sweetheart", because I personally find that wildly inappropriate, and he said he was showing respect (????)...no. At the base of the matter was still the fact that they "couldn't" fix my $6 order... I couldn't figure out who to contact or how to contact anyone, so I requested a number for corporate. At THAT point, I then had a younger man, who had been taking orders, jump in and start yelling at me about escalating and being "slow" (and yes, he said that several times), and using the word "f**king" in yelling at me, which then, of course, upset the person he was supposed to be helping....after trying to explain what I was doing, and apparently failing, I began having a panic attack, so I went and sat to try to catch my breath. I couldn't.
I went out to the car after several minutes (and being laughed at by another customer), and, upon some small recovery, I decided to try going through the drive-thru again. I went, and I went straight to the first window. I tried again to explain to the employee there (one of the employees I had seen outside the front door) that I was just trying to get a Happy Meal for my kiddo, and I wanted to know how to reach out to someone who could help me, maybe the franchise owner or a corporate number. The employee said that there was nothing they could do and closed the window.
At that point, I was still in the midst of an anxiety attack. I had a fun trip to Dollar Tree planned with my kiddo, which I couldn't do because I was so beside myself.
Over a six dollar Happy Meal.
We have enjoyed many, many years of treats for the kids, birthday parties, quick meals, and we've even stayed in a RM House, so I've always tried to round up (which I had done in this case) but no more. We don't need McDonald's this badly.