McDonald's — Restaurant in Plain City

It's a long rural ride down 161 to Columbus. It was a Saturday morning and I was not looking forward to spending time visiting the ICU at Riverside. My brother had sent me a screenshot of a Charles Bukowski quote pictured on a T-shirt. I was listening to Bukowski reading his cursory descriptions of domestic violence. It was, I decided, neither an apropos time to listen to Bukowski while trying to stay wide awake on 161 nor on a day one is already down about visiting a hospital. I met the first stoplight in Plain City feeling a little tired, mildly dizzy, and the usual slight headache. I had gotten caught up on the Columbia Gas bills and didn't have a lot left to live on. Welcome to 2024.

Though one may not see it at the light where 161 meets 42, I remembered the McDonald's location tucked in around the corner. McDonald's doesn't usually agree with me, but it was summer and I needed caffeine.

The Plain City McDonald's is relatively clean and few people were eating in the dining room. I fumbled around a bit with the dystopian touchscreen and ordered chicken nuggets, ahem, "McNuggets®" with sweet and sour sauce and a couple double cheeseburgers with no pickles. On the cheaper McDonald's cheeseburgers, a couple pickles show up with ketchup and mustard like an apology for the missing tomato and lettuce. I was glad for the touchscreen because the two drive through lanes were full, several people in front were standing around waiting on their orders, and the skeleton crew of high school kids behind the counter looked like they were frantically busy trying to keep the ship from sinking. I didn't want to bother them by trying to order; I might break the momentum of the corporate structure overworking young people for minimum wage at their first job. Mercifully, the touchscreen instructed me to take a number and have a seat. I sat down in disbelief that any of the kids would emerge with food at my table. But I don't go to McDonald's much and I knew they had a system I don't fully understand. A woman with three toddlers occupied a full booth near me. I could hear the sounds of a cartoon being watched on a tablet. A retired couple took another booth and asked another family about something nearby. The heavy tanned blonde mom apologized and admitted to not being from Ohio.

To prove my doubts wrong, a thin, pale young girl showed up at the table with small kids with their tray of food. The kids were getting ice cream sundaes with chocolate syrup. It was a bit early for ice cream, but when I think back to childhood, it seemed like a single summer day was 72 hours long and broken up by sweaty naps.

The thin pale girl had, after about 15 minutes of waiting there (not bad considering), brought my tray and saw I didn't have a drink cup. She took the table number and brought my cup. No sooner had the pale girl returned to the back than the ice cream sundae from the kids' table was splattered across the floor with the translucent dome lid that had failed to contain its contents lying there with it like a little joke. The mom left the table to try to get the attention of the frantic skeleton crew.

The sandwiches were a bit dry but were, thankfully, made without pickles. A printed sticky note even read "No Pickles". The nuggets were fine and served warm enough I suppose. The difference between McDonald's and other nuggets seems to be - and has always been - that outside golden-brown batter. The fountain drink machine was clean. Someone apologized for absent-mindedly standing in front of it and I got the main objective - caffeine in the form of pop. I stepped over the launched sundae and ate too much too quickly to get back on the road. There were free refills, so I hit the drink machine again.

On the way out, the tanned blonde mom who was not from Ohio was hanging out on the periphery of the front counter to tell the frantic skeleton crew they had neglected to add the food part of her...

Waited for my order for over 30 mins (literally counted from the receipt…) in drive thru. They brought my 2nd order out (mcflurries) & said the rest of my order (1st order of food on the app) was coming. Waited. Nothing. Went inside. Watched one worker on her phone for about 5 mins before she finally told 2 other workers to help me at the counter (there were also 3 boys in line by me waiting). The 2 workers argued over who “had” to help me. Ultimately he got the “manager” and she comes out. Tells me there was not another order for me. Asked the girl who brought our mcflurries out if she told me the rest was coming, which she denied. (Which of course was a lie.) The manager then told me I was lying, that there was no other order. I explained I used the app. She asked for proof as she did not believe me! I went & got my phone & showed her. She did not rush it whatsoever. They said absolutely nothing putting it on the counter, without providing any sauce or drink cups. I waited 5 more mins & I finally asked if someone was getting the rest.

Not once did she apologize for calling me a liar about having a 2nd order. Or for wasting 30 mins+ worth of gas or time! She said she refused to apologize for her worker lying, either. She didn’t think she did anything wrong because the order “came up when another manager was on shift so she never saw it.” What a ridiculous way to handle things in the service industry. Mcflurries were melted by the time I got my food.

I RARELY make a review for poor service! Unbelievable. I’m contacting the owner/franchise or corporate as well. I typically go to this...

One of the worst.. Instead go to the McDonald's on Tuttle Crossing, it's so much nicer there. ...The crew could really use an improvement. They don't seem to have been trained properly and know the correct procedures for the positions. Hand washing being one of the main ones I pointed out. Also, food holding times and discarding procedures do not look to be present in the restaurant. My burger tasted as if it had been cooked the day before and reheated in the microwave. Pity...I hate complaining but this store really needs an improvement. Sure they remodeled the building, but did they have the order taker finally take off her dirty pink sweatshirt that looks as if she sleeps in it and put on a company shirt and jacket if she's cold. The McDonald's I worked at bought everyone a company jacket for the winter.(not every one can but a simple black zip up jacket is $10 at Walmart and looks a lot better than a dirty/stained pink sweatshirt while your working around ppls food) Either they don't take care of the employees, or the employees just don't care to have a job, only 1 person there seemed to be working, a ?Mexican? Guy in the grill area was trying hard, but can't do it alone, girls in the front, only seemed to care about their cell phones and irrelevant gossip, maybe if they cared at all they would put the phones down and go help out someone who's actually trying to...