McDonald's Poor Service

On this Thanksgiving Monday Morning we decided to head to McDonald's (9301 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill) for a little morning breakfast.  We had preplanned our tactics to get the most out of our money while playing McDonald's Monopoly promotion.

The last time the Egg McMuffin sandwich had Monopoly pieces.  Normally without my wife I do not order the Egg portion of the sandwich as I really don't care for eggs.  But this time I ordered it and my wife was able to enjoy a double Egg McMuffin sandwich.  But sadly, the Egg McMuffin sandwich did not come with Monopoly pieces.  McDonald's had changed it to the Buttermilk biscuits only.

The Order: Two Egg McMuffin Combos.  One with Medium Coffee and the second with a Medium Earl Grey Tea.

I ordered followed by four other people behind us. We waited watching the clock on the order screen tick away.  The server taking the cash was the only person behind the counter except for the person serving the food at the drive thru which is less than ten feet away. The in store cashier just took the orders one after another lining up the trays across the counter.  The drive thru attendant stacked and reshuffled her drinking cups over and over again no cars in the drive thru in site.  The entire time I waited for my order the drive thru window never opened.  Still the order screen ticked away.  Our food sat ready to be picked up.  The order screen continued to tick away and started to flash after two minutes had elapsed.  The food was so close I wanted to hop over the counter and serve myself...the order screen continued flashing as it slowly passed four minutes and thirty seconds.  "Next customer please..." the cashier said.  I interrupted her

"Could we get our food?"

"I'm supposed to have a runner who should be here shortly."

"Your order screen has just passed four minutes and thirty seconds."

She finally relented and gradually dropped off our meal and started working on the others. 

I sat down fuming.  This was the third time in three weeks that at this particular McDonald's there had been a disconnect in service.  The cashier was eager to take your order and your cash.  But refused to hand over the food that was duly ordered and paid for without a little prodding. 

On a previous visit the order taker took my order and the next person's order.  Then with nobody in line she stared right through us to see if anyone else was coming in the door. Meanwhile the order screen ticked away.  It wasn't until I said something that she moved to at least pour my coffee.  

Not sure what happenned at this McDonald's that the people behind the counter cannot multitask to ensure the customer moves quickly from ordering to getting their food.

It was a normal McDonald's food order.  A greasy hash brown and Sausage McMuffin washed down with their excellent coffee. 

I didn't win the million dollars from the McDonald's Monopoly promotion.  But at least I won a free muffin and cheeseburger from this visit.  I did not return to the counter for my muffin on this visit though.  I figured it would take five minutes just to have someone to retrieve it.