Mcdonald's

The new McDonalds is a Kafkaesque horror and an indictment of our techno-bureaucratic future. Upon entering this store through its over-sized front door, I had to immediately jaunt left to go through a second door. They have placed their two entry doors off center from each-other; this should have been my first indication that my presence was unwelcome. Immediately I was faced with an over-sized screen advertising their food specials. Engaging with it, each item I added to my order prompted additional up-selling which had to be dismissed manually before I could continue. Once my order was complete I had to search for the small text, almost hidden, indicating that I wanted to pay. Of course clicking this was followed with one final insult; more advertisement that I had to dismiss. The screen then instructed me to find a table and "scan the QR code". Each table had a QR code but none were near me and now a line was forming behind me. After running over to a table and scanning the code I noticed that there were ALSO table-ornaments with QR codes and I realized that these were the intended target. I entered the ornament number manually and, so close to the end, the machine notified me that payments were broken and I had to pay at the front register. (It is worth noting that while I was navigating this order process, no less than 3 food delivery drivers had walked inside and picked up their waiting orders. They were part of the system: victims? Perpetrators? The lines are still blurry.) But where is the front register?! What was once a view of the restaurant's workings is gone. They seem to be hiding both their processes and their workers from public view and I can only imagine what implications that may have for health and sanitation. The front of the store is a stark white tiled alcove with little signage, a single small register, a counter with no features, and a narrow hall allowing view of a small portion of the large food prep area. I approached this "void" with my receipt in hand and saw two workers, both drenched in sweat from serving the fast paced drive through. One looked at me, looked away, and disappeared into the invisible depths of the food prep area. The other looked at me and raised an eyebrow as if to say, "I see you, and I want to help you, but I can't". I do not know the incentive structures used to coerce these people into working so hard, but I speculate that they are tracked as closely as am Amazon warehouse runner. I placed my receipt on the undersized counter and, speaking loudly due to the distance, I informed the worker that they need not fill my incomplete order. I navigated out of the hostile doorway and looked up at the sun; brighter and more vivid that I last recalled. Breathing deeply the fresh air, I resolved to never eat at any member of this establishment again. Food, no matter how delicious and affordable, is an inadequate compensation for the abandonment of my humanity.

I lived near this McDonald’s for 3 years and never had any issues with anybody here especially the woman manager. It’s been 6 months and I just went back to enjoy some food and what I thought would be another great experience… I was wrong. There is now a Hispanic manager that not only ignored me for 3 other Hispanic customers but also laughed in my face when I asked for a water. He then threw my bag of food onto the counter and never even told me it was mine but he walked over to the Hispanic customers and said something I couldn’t understand as they all laughed and looked at me. This enraged me I don’t know how this could have happened.. I’ll never come back!