JS
Josh Salinas
Jun 7, 2026
I feel like I’m being robbed by having to include a single star in my rating. Tonight (around 9:15PM EST on June 6, 2026) was the worst McDonald’s experience I have ever had.
It began while my order was being received. The girl taking my order was among the least professional drive-thru team members I’ve ever encountered. With every set of requests I offered for customizing my order (I only asked for a #9 with no ketchup and a Hi-C), she became more annoyed, her voice elevated, and there were no greetings, order summaries, or totals given. When I got to the first window, she opened the window and stuck her hand out without saying a word to me, because she was in the midst of expressing her annoyance to the next poor soul, who got worst treatment than I did. My card was returned to me without a receipt, and the window was slammed shut in my face before I could ask for one. I was foolishly hoping that I would get my receipt at the pick up window. So, I rolled forward.
I noticed, as the car in front of me rolled away after receiving a bag of food, that the bagger leaned out of the window and gestured as though he made a huge mistake. I stopped at the window and he asked me, “You had the two cheeseburgers, right?” I confirmed. “You gave my food to the car in front of me, huh?” He confirmed, with a look on his face that said, “it happens, so it’s no big deal, right?” He asked for my receipt. I told him I wasn’t given one. Then, I was asked to pull up to Pick Up window 2. So, I did. It wouldn’t be long until I got my order, and my son would have the cheeseburgers I promised him for behaving so well that evening.
11 minutes (and 9 cars behind me driving away later), I proceeded to honk my horn each time I saw a hand exit the window the give a customer their food. The window attendant had forgotten about us! After three honks, the male attendant comes to Pick Up Window 2 to ask me to GO BACK THROUGH THE DRIVE THRU AND REORDER MY FOOD. This was because he didn’t want the cars behind me to have to wait for my food. You see, by this time, he and the other team members had already forgotten what I ordered, and since I did not get a receipt, they didn’t have anything to reference to make it. I asked him why he was more concerned about the people behind me waiting instead of me, since I had already waited for about 10-15 minutes. He responded, “We need to get your order again, so we can make it, then you can go about your day.” To which I responded, “at this point, I think I will just go about my day,” and I left the McDonald’s parking lot empty-handed and un-refunded.
Earlier, as we waited for our food at PU Window 2, I took the opportunity to teach my son a quick lesson about customer service, professionalism, and attention to detail. He assured me that, had he been working that evening, he would have remembered the receipt, apologized for the trouble, and gone out of his way to make it right. He is 7. I trust that, indeed, he would have done better. Nevertheless, I left without my food and with 10.84 fewer dollars in my bank account.
I pray that no one else experiences what I did tonight at McDonald’s. I wanted to do something special for my boy, after he demonstrated his ability to be well-behaved, responsible, and trustworthy during our evening together. Instead, the special moment I sought to share with him was temporarily stolen by that McDonald’s, only to be redeemed by another McDonald’s across town (Forrest Drive) that performed noticeably (according to my 7 year old) better 20 minutes later.