McDonald's Serves Customer A Used Burger

[Isolder74]

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AT LEAST THERE WEREN'T MAGGOTS
McDonald's Serves Customer A Used Burger
By Chris Morran on September 16, 2010 2:30 PM

(Lovely County Citizen)

If car companies and Ikea can make money selling pre-owned products, why not McDonald's? Oh yeah... that would be disgusting. Just ask the Arkansas man who was sold a pre-owned, pre-bitten burger.

According to a local news report, the customer and his wife purchased a pair of angus burgers at a McDonald's drive-thru. But when he opened up his burger box, he saw he'd been served a cold sandwich with a big chunk missing from it.

So he went back to the McDonald's and spoke to the manager, who he says told him, "I'd like to go into the kitchen and find out who did this and talk to him."

The customer says the manager then confessed that his burger had previously been sold and returned by an unhappy customer earlier in the day. The manager apologized for the error.{Error? ERROR!!!! This is downright willful and unreasonable!}

As proof of the gross gaffe, the customer had the manager sign his name to the refund slip.

"I have several avenues in mind of making this the most expensive hamburger they ever sold," said the customer, who in addition to being a minister, "was in the restaurant business for twenty-five years, and my concern is that they not do this to anyone else. It's a health concern."

Among the avenues the customer has in mind is sharing his story with the Arkansas Department of Health. He also plans to take his concerns to McDonald's corporate level.

"I wish I could just throw it in the trash, but then I'd feel bad if it continued to happen and someone got sick because I didn't speak up," he says. "There's enough negativity in this world without spreading more, so we try to stay positive; but this McDonald's has been a mess for years."

Not lovin' it! [LovelyCitizen.com]

As an avid foodie, I just had to post this one when i found it. This is absolutely inexcusable! This sort of thing should never ever happen to any customer of any restaurant anywhere i don't care how low you want to lower the bar. I hope the board of health closes this place down so fast their heads spin!

I'm going to go throw up now.

[Sarevok]

While cause for outrage I don't see why they would willfully serve a burger that had a chunk bitten out of it. Maybe it was a honest mistake.

[Isolder74]

While cause for outrage I don't see why they would willfully serve a burger that had a chunk bitten out of it. Maybe it was a honest mistake.

You aren't getting away with that one, buddy. I've worked at enough restaurants to know that the only place a returned food idea belongs IS THE TRASH CAN!!!!!! Placing it anywhere else is a willful and inexcusable act of complete complacently and a violation of food safety law. A returned food item should never ever be in a position to served to another customer, EVER, PERIOD, END OF STORY.

I don't care how busy the place is this should never happen.

[UnderAGreySky]

Yes, I agree this should never happen and they do deserve to pay some sort of punitive damages.

But shut the place down? I think that is downright silly, especially if it was their first complaint. Now, the guy DOES say that they have had previous "with this McDonald's", - if so, fine. But if it's just one incident...

[Serafina]

Yes, I agree this should never happen and they do deserve to pay some sort of punitive damages.

But shut the place down? I think that is downright silly, especially if it was their first complaint. Now, the guy DOES say that they have had previous "with this McDonald's", - if so, fine. But if it's just one incident...

This one incident indicates one of two things:
-They are re-serving returned food. That's inexcusable, even if it just happens once - it should never happen.
-An employee took that bite out of the burger, which is also inexcusable.

Shutting down the place (not all of McDonalds of course) might be too much, but there should be a SEVERE penalty of some sort. Even if it was just one rogue employee, it's the restaurants job to prevent this. It's like excusing violation of the hygiene standards with "it was just one or two employees".

[Temjin]

Welcome to the world of Fast Food, where the stuff you're eating is prepared by high schoolers and people who fail at other jobs.

I'm actually surprised this was even mentined. I would have thought that this sort of thing would, while not exactly common, wouldn't be unheard of either. I worked for a little over a year in one of the restraunts in a mall food court, and while we weren't exactly bad, the things we heard from some of the other places would be enough for you to swear off fast food forever.

[Chris OFarrell]

Actually, say what you will about McDonnalds, they are *fanatical* about this kind of stuff, at least over here.

In Aus, if this happened, there would be a VERY good chance of the franchise being revoked. At the LEAST the place would be shut down while a head office team storm the place and tear it appart to find out if they have a problem.

[Hillary]

As an avid foodie, I just had to post this one when i found it. This is absolutely inexcusable! This sort of thing should never ever happen to any customer of any restaurant anywhere i don't care how low you want to lower the bar. I hope the board of health closes this place down so fast their heads spin!

I'm going to go throw up now.

Calm the fuck down. Restaurant makes an error. Restaurant deals with the complaint quickly and apologises. Customer goes to the press in order to try and elict money from the restaurant by threatening to report it. Nobody died.

To be honest, my reaction was one of amusement rather than outrage. In any case, how the fuck do you prove the burger was second hand? I'm pretty sure that the Board of Health can't shut down a restaurant on the basis of one unsubstantiated complaint. They may investigate, ask what systems and controls are in place in cases like this and make suggestions as to how they can be improved (although there will be standard systems imposed by head office in a chain of this size). One single (and relatively minor) error is not enough to close down a business.

[PeZook]

Unless it's a systemic error (for example, "used" food doesn't go to a trash can but somewhere else), it's unlikely they'll be closed. Worst outcome is they'll be fined and somebody will lose their job.

[Serafina]

Unless it's a systemic error (for example, "used" food doesn't go to a trash can but somewhere else), it's unlikely they'll be closed. Worst outcome is they'll be fined and somebody will lose their job.

A systematic error seems pretty damn likely. Used food should be nowhere near the food to be served. Unless this was highly deliberate, it ptetty much has to be an error in the system.

[bobalot]

Actually, say what you will about McDonnalds, they are *fanatical* about this kind of stuff, at least over here.

In Aus, if this happened, there would be a VERY good chance of the franchise being revoked. At the LEAST the place would be shut down while a head office team storm the place and tear it appart to find out if they have a problem.

Unfortunately not. It just doesn't get reported, or the customer doesn't find out.

When my friend worked in McDonalds, a bunch of try-hards came in and started trashing the place near closing time while waiting for their order. What did manager do? He rubbed his dick all over their burgers.

[Kanastrous]

This one incident indicates one of two things:
-They are re-serving returned food. That's inexcusable, even if it just happens once - it should never happen.
-An employee took that bite out of the burger, which is also inexcusable.

Third possibility: it's another gross-out food fraud.

At face value the story sure makes it look legit. But considering the number of claims made against restaurants that turn out to be fraudulent I'd leave all three possibilities on the table for the time being. All that's there is the customer's claims - concerning the food item, the manager's statement and even the manager's signature on the receipt. The author of the article did not even try to obtain a comment from the manager or McDonald's corporate, or if he did he didn't bother to note it anywhere, or make any such note regarding other news outlets' coverage of the story.

Still, I'll maintain my standing practice of avoiding fast food in general and McDonald's in particular...

[Crossroads Inc.]

Exactly how hard would it have been for a customer to take a bit, walk back, and then raise a fuss? Because like others have said it wouldn't be the first person out for money from McDonalds.

[General Zod]

Exactly how hard would it have been for a customer to take a bit, walk back, and then raise a fuss? Because like others have said it wouldn't be the first person out for money from McDonalds.

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if either possibility was true. He could be attention whoring but at the same time McDonald's employees aren't noted for being high quality workers. In any case this is just more justification for me to avoid McDonald's.

[Lizzie]

Exactly how hard would it have been for a customer to take a bit, walk back, and then raise a fuss? Because like others have said it wouldn't be the first person out for money from McDonalds.

I wouldn't be surprised at this point if either possibility was true. He could be attention whoring but at the same time McDonald's employees aren't noted for being high quality workers. In any case this is just more justification for me to avoid McDonald's.

Short interrupt from me but at least they're better then taco bell, who never can get my order right and I got food poisoning once from them. Never will eat at Taco bell again.

[Oni Koneko Damien]

The person seems incredibly well spoken and reasonable in the article, and a mistake like this is easy enough to make if the people working there are oblivious enough. Regardless of whether or not it was intentional, there needs to be at least some heavy fines laid on the place. Health codes are in place for damn good reasons, and there needs to be some incentive to keep to them. Unfortunately even the best codes aren't foolproof, I've worked in almost every portion of food service, from the front counters of fast food to the factories where the meat is packaged. Even the best managers can't be everywhere to catch every slip-up or deliberate violation by apathetic/malicious minimum wage 'tards.

[Solauren]

I will remind everybody that individiual franchise performance is just that. Individual to the franchise.

As in location.

The local McD's and Taco Bell are very good. The Burger King has given me food poisoning.

I've seen the local McD's (the one down the road) go from great, to piss poor, to Awesome, to piss poor, and back to Awesome. Depends on who was managing at the time.

Same with the Taco Bell and Burger King. Hell, the same with the local Mandurian (I know I didn't spell that right). They're service has gone down hill in the past 3 years. Mind you, Harvey's + Arby's have been consistently good.

An investigation needs to be done of the incident in question, then of the franchise location in question. Any other reaction is over-reaction.

Period.

[Temujin]

Actually, say what you will about McDonnalds, they are *fanatical* about this kind of stuff, at least over here.

In Aus, if this happened, there would be a VERY good chance of the franchise being revoked. At the LEAST the place would be shut down while a head office team storm the place and tear it appart to find out if they have a problem.

Unfortunately not. It just doesn't get reported, or the customer doesn't find out.

When my friend worked in McDonalds, a bunch of try-hards came in and started trashing the place near closing time while waiting for their order. What did manager do? He rubbed his dick all over their burgers.

I assume it wasn't serious trashing or else he should have just called the police.


Anyway, the food industry in general is pretty disgusting, and it's not just fast food. I worked in what was supposed to be a relatively high class restaurant as a teenager, and I certainly would never had eaten there after the low standards I witnessed.

snip

And that's a good point. Similar restaurants of the same brand even within a mile of each other can differ immensely in quality.

[lance]

While cause for outrage I don't see why they would willfully serve a burger that had a chunk bitten out of it. Maybe it was a honest mistake.

You aren't getting away with that one, buddy. I've worked at enough restaurants to know that the only place a returned food idea belongs IS THE TRASH CAN!!!!!! Placing it anywhere else is a willful and inexcusable act of complete complacently and a violation of food safety law. A returned food item should never ever be in a position to served to another customer, EVER, PERIOD, END OF STORY.

As a person who has worked at McDonalds for not quite a decade.
Actually it goes in the waste bucket, which is underneath and behind where the food gets sent up. Crew sometimes eat things that we won't serve to customers.

Angus and its bun also tends to fall a part. Not so often on the bun, but the patty just goes to pieces.

Its not always management that matters its also the crew, out side of the store manager and 1st assistant the other managers are really not better than the top half of the crew.

Not all McDonalds employees are morons, there is also old&young people, people in college, people with second jobs, people who will take any job. Though in general about 1/10th of the people working are lazy, morons, or out of prison.

[bobalot]

Actually, say what you will about McDonnalds, they are *fanatical* about this kind of stuff, at least over here.

In Aus, if this happened, there would be a VERY good chance of the franchise being revoked. At the LEAST the place would be shut down while a head office team storm the place and tear it appart to find out if they have a problem.

Unfortunately not. It just doesn't get reported, or the customer doesn't find out.

When my friend worked in McDonalds, a bunch of try-hards came in and started trashing the place near closing time while waiting for their order. What did manager do? He rubbed his dick all over their burgers.

I assume it wasn't serious trashing or else he should have just called the police.

Correct. Just throwing straws and their garbage all over the place and generally being douchebags.

[Lagmonster]

This sounds like the kind of thing that could happen where idiot teenagers are involved, but there remains equally the possibility that the customer was lying. Need more info to pass judgment.

[CaptainChewbacca]

As for the guy faking it, the story says it was also cold. That's a bit harder to fake, as the staff might notice a guy quietly fanning his burger to cool it off.

[lance]

not a huge chance on that one. expecially on night shift

[Molyneux]

Unfortunately not. It just doesn't get reported, or the customer doesn't find out.

When my friend worked in McDonalds, a bunch of try-hards came in and started trashing the place near closing time while waiting for their order. What did manager do? He rubbed his dick all over their burgers.

I assume it wasn't serious trashing or else he should have just called the police.

Correct. Just throwing straws and their garbage all over the place and generally being douchebags.

If your friend didn't do anything, he's equally complicit with the manager. That's a serious health violation, right there, and far worse than any "trashing" the customers did.

[Themightytom]

While cause for outrage I don't see why they would willfully serve a burger that had a chunk bitten out of it. Maybe it was a honest mistake.

In addition to working in fast food for 25 years, being an elevator repairmen, and starring in I-man, the customer was also a minister, therefore everything that happens is either a blessing or an offense to God.

You aren't getting away with that one, buddy. I've worked at enough restaurants to know that the only place a returned food idea belongs IS THE TRASH CAN!!!!!! Placing it anywhere else is a willful and inexcusable act of complete complacently and a violation of food safety law. A returned food item should never ever be in a position to served to another customer, EVER, PERIOD, END OF STORY.

I don't care how busy the place is this should never happen.

See there you go using willful without proving that it was willful. Is there evidence that someone didn't leave it on a counter in the middle of a rush and that someone else just didn't notice a forgotten burger and throw it back in the warmer? I did a year at McDonald's (And Burger King at the same time incidentally) and I learned the industry is not over saturated with talent. In fact its more or less designed to forgo critical thinking or even self awareness as a job requirement.

I worked at enough fast food to know that working for minimum wage for a population demanding instant perfection under clusterfuck ready conditions was juuuuuust not for me.