Prison Arches

I’ve started grabbing a quick dinner here and there at McDonald’s. In general the ones in Seattle are cleaner and nicer than the ones in Ohio, and they’ve got some snazzy new menu items.

So I had a fun experience tonight that resulted in me sending this off to McDonald’s Customer Service:

I went to the store 1530 3rd Ave in Seattle, WA to have a quick dinner while waiting to catch a bus.

Behind me was a couple and the lady placed her left foot below her right knee, so that the side of her shoe was touching the seat, a common sitting position. An employee named Lonnie came over and asked her to take her foot off the chair. The couple reasonably rebutted that only the side of her shoe was touching the chair, not the sole of the shoe. Lonnie impolitely and aggressively insisted that the lady remove her foot from the chair. The lady was visibly annoyed and a yelling match between the couple and Lonnie ensued, and the couple left the McDonald’s.

I recognize the value in an orderly and clean dining room, and I do not dispute the right of this McDonald’s location to ask that no shoes be placed on the chairs, but this was handled in a wholly inappropriate manner by Lonnie. His phrasings and tone made what should have been a polite and simple interaction into a disturbance for anyone nearby.

I am a former McDonald’s manager and upon witnessing this interaction I would have counseled Lonnie that he took an incorrect tone with two paying customers, and I would have documented subsequent incidents.

The correct way to prevent this situation in the future is to clearly post the rules, and instruct lobby employees to politely but firmly enforce the rules, referencing them when necessary, and escalating the issue if necessary.

Annoyed at this situation, I was compelled to leave a mess for Lonnie to clean up; I have seen far more polite McDonald’s employees have to clean far more disgusting messes than the one I left. I recognize that this was not the correct thing to do, but I also recognize that Lonnie was running the dining room as if he were a prison warden, and I made a conscious decision to rebel against Lonnie’s authoritarism.

I would like my money refunded due to the disurbance that Lonnie precipitated, which disturbed my dining experience.

Regards,

Cliff Barnard

Yeah fun wasn’t it? Oh my mess.. I have to share the little mess that I made. I started by dropping a few french fries and grinding them into the floor, (I hated this when I worked for McDonalds.) I dropped a napkin on the floor, I took my nugget sauces turned them upsidedown on the table, and ground whatever remaining sauce was left into the table. I then packed up my things except for a magazine, put my feet up on the chair and waited for Lonnie to do his little king of the lobby dance, while I pretended to ignore him while I was reading my magazine. After he walked over I acknowledged him, took my foot off the chair, and knocked over my soda, crushing the cup to ensure that my root beer would flow all over the table, had a little yelling match of my own with Lonnie and left..

What can I say, its fun to piss off authority, especially those who overdo what little authority they have…