McDonald's — Restaurant in Alberta

Nearly 25 years ago, I worked at McDonald's in Calgary, splitting my time between the 68th St., Northeast location and the 36th St., Marlborough location, which were the busiest locations in the city, to my memory. I've witnessed remarkable technological advancements in the fast-food industry since then, including automated pop machines, an extremely efficient till system, and drive-through cameras. These are just a few visible advancements; it makes me wonder about the efficiency improvements in the back. However, my last three in-lobby visits to McDonald's in Olds have sharply contrasted with these technological strides. I waited nearly 10 minutes for a simple coffee and peppermint tea order each time. On December 15th, 2023, the situation in the lobby worsened, with customers, including myself, waiting over 20 minutes for their orders at 2 PM. During this wait, one frustrated customer crumpled up his receipt, threw it on the ground, and left, with other people waiting for their orders nodding in agreement, laughing, and one customer remarking, “This place is a joke. Happens every time I come here.” Come to think of it, in the 10 years I've been attending this location, I've never seen a store manager or a franchise owner on site. The new lobby at McDonald's in Olds, Alberta, is one of the most impressive fast-food restaurant lobbies I’ve ever seen. Yet, it's evident that this location prioritizes its drive-through service, neglecting the in-lobby customers. This neglect is ironic, considering the investment in such an impressive lobby. It leads me to believe that the franchise owners are too busy rolling in their (McMoney) to pay attention to this location's operational needs, leaving the frontline staff to manage dissatisfied and often irate customers. The obvious lack of sufficient staffing is a major problem. The sole employee working the front cash register is also stretched thin, seeming to be also preparing drive-through orders, as well as in-store orders, leading to long wait times and poor service in the lobby. I hope McDonald's Canada takes a good look at both the drive-through and in-lobby experiences during their next audit. The self-serve kiosks, with an operating system so unintuitive compared to the big three used for smartphones or tablets – Apple, Google, and Microsoft – practically require a customer to take a class to understand how they work. It's high time to reevaluate these kiosks and consider adding more staff and registers at the front counter to enhance the customer...

Okay, quick story.

Me and a friend were here a few days ago for a quick, cheap meal after school. As he decided to pay for my food, we put both orders on the same bill. I ordered 2 burgers, fries, and a beverage. I was offered by the employee to have it as a meal, so I agreed. Being a DQ employee, I know meals are always less expensive than ordering the items seperate. After a bit of struggle, the manager comes out and tells him that single burgers don't come with combos. I thought it was odd, but okay. I pretty much forgot about it, as it looked like a new employee.

My friend ordered a BLT combo, which came with a medium pop, and a poutine.

After that, my friend paid and we looked over our reciept to make sure my part of the order didn't surpass $10 (part of his deal) and we noticed he had not only been charged for the drink on his combo, he was also charged for an extra medium pop. I was the one who pointed it out, and after a bit of confusion, we went to the cashier to show him and get a refund. (This was while our food was still being made.) The cashier calls the manager over and shows him. He opens the register and proceeds to give my friend exactly 60 cents in change. (The medium drink costed a bit over $2!) We called the manager back, and he said it was simply confusion. We got our total change back. It was only then that our food was prepaired.

The BLT my friend ordered came out as more of a LT, as there was no bacon. I also noticed the poutine cheese wasn't on correctly, as well as there not being much gravy. But that may have just been me used to DQ's poutine.

Oh, the ice cream machine was also down.

Overall, I...

Me and @Tyler Smith contemplated where we would like to eat for lunch. We decided on McDonald’s. We saw the 2.5 star rating that this joint had, and we decided not to go. Then we quickly changed our minds and figured, “why not try the McDonald’s and see if it lived up to the 2.5 star rating?”

We entered the McEstablishment and it looked about like what you’d expect if you pictured a 2.5 star McDonald’s in ur head. Close ur eyes and imagine a half sized McDonald’s, smaller than the ones that are usually inside Walmart stores. Now imagine receipts everywhere and crumbled up papers on the ground. Now picture the workers asking every single customer: “did you get everything? We forget fries sometimes. Did you get ur drink??” It was basically that.

I ordered from the kiosk, there was only one kiosk and there was hardly any room for a line to form behind me, nor at the cashier. Super tight squeeze. A “one bum kitchen” as my mom would say lol.

I got a McDouble and a drink. I wasn’t missing anything from my order, but I was asked quite a few times if I got everything. My friend @tyler smith ordered a poutine&mcdouble combo with a smoothie.

They forgot his smoothie. We smiled cuz the McDonald’s was living up to the reviews hahahaha. Also if u zoom in on Tyler Smiths picture of his McDouble it looks like there’s an octopus tentacle in it hahahahha.

Food was good, poutine lacked gravy (now what am I supposed to dunk my McDouble in ?!?) food was kinda cold but like it was good.

My McDouble had the signature white spot on the bottom of the bun lol. Cute.

10/10...