McDonald's — Restaurant in Tampa

Normally, good customer service are trained to de-escalate when dealing with an angry customer. Have you seen customer service staff that ARE themselves the angry customer? Welcome to the night shift at the 6717 N Dale Mabry McDonald's. Tonight, the 24-hour branch decided to close the lobby due to the sport games unexpected workload (Nothing's wrong with that, of course. That wasn't the issue). "Sir. Sir." I hear someone say. I look to find a lady from the staff by the exit door asking for my attention. "We're closing the lobby. Everyone needs to leave." She says. I collect my stuff, and approach the exit. I was already showing cooperation at that point. I asked her if this was normally a 24/7 lobby. Instead of simply answering a friendly curious question, and quite in a theatrical way, she storms into a ramble about whether what she said was not clear enough, and she repeats herself. I didn't want to be a player at her little self-made drama. I didn't pick the theatrical energy, and was holding myself calm and well-poised (which is ironically supposed to be her job--her job that she is being paid to do). "I heard you. I'm leaving. That wasn't my question. I was asking if this lobby is normally 24/7?" I say, calmly, not commenting at all on the tantrum. But the tantrum continues. This time, she turns to one of her coworkers, asking him, "We're closing. I need people to leave. Any part of that difficult to understand?" I keep listening to her ramble, act dramatic, put me in a bad light, twist the narrative in front of my eyes, and put words into my mouth. Then after I ask her if she's done, I tell her that she's extremely difficult to talk to, and that I'm ready to leave. I was done talking to her, or her other co-worker, for that matter (who I hadn't directly engaged with until that point, but he was already being dismissive and willing to be a player in his coworker's drama). She gets on the defensive and turns to her coworker (he might have been the shift manger) who asks me if "he can help with anything." Well, perhaps if he'd known better than to be a peon and an easy victim to the drama instead of giving a listening ear to what is going on. The look on his face and his tone were hostile--his question wasn't real. It was a rhetorical one, rather. He was equally dismissive and poorly trained. Even then as I was leaving, I still was not being angry or not being cooperative; I was in awe of how terribly trained (and well, chosen) staff could create a scene out of thin air because it was too difficult to answer a simple question from a customer who just bought his meal from this place (a rather hearty one, actually). I repeat to him that this lady is difficult to talk to, and was about to tell him that he wasn't that much better either, but hold that part to myself. Why bother with two terribly trained (and chosen) staff members who are ganging up against a customer because they were having a bad day? The attitude of both the lady at the exit door and her coworker was the most unprofessional I've seen at a McDonald's. Dismissive, failing to listen, and escalating out of thin air, these two deserve a medal for the worst McDonald's crew...

This McDonald's is notorious for rude employees through the drive-in service. 'Thank you' is not in their vocabulary, and orders are wrong 80% of the time. There are 2 competent employees thus far that I have dealt with. It is difficult to write about every single bad experience. I was on a tight schedule today. Wanted to grab lunch for my grandson and his friend. I find that picking up a mobile order is best as you eliminate not being understood when you place the order via the window. I ordered one happy meal, with plain hamburger, fries, and water. Then, one plain cheeseburger, medium fries, one chocolate shake, 2 pies. Get my order fairly quickly. Got the HM, looked in the bag, and med fries missing. Get out of car and get fries. Go home. My grandson's burger has a label, 'plain cheeseburger.' But there was no cheese. He takes a zip of the milkshake...not a shake...it's coffee flavored. His friend, at this point has chosen to wait to eat his HM. Back to McDonald's. I get the cheeseburger and told and ice cream machine is out of ice cream. No surprise. It is ALWAYS out. Didn't they know it was out when they gave me cold coffee with whip cream instead of a chocolate shake??? Did they think we would not notice? It was for a kid! I will say the lady apologized for the error, gave me a substitute large drink and surprised us with two cookies. Good comeback but Lord this happens way too often! Go to run errands and get home and other kid's uncle is heading back to McDonald's. You guessed it! The HM had my grandson's plain cheeseburger instead of plain hamburger! Had the child been younger we would have a huge problem. It was labeled plain hamburger but it had cheese and the child is allergic to dairy! He ended up paying for another meal because I was unable to go and he was over it and the child needed to eat. This is typical of the McDonald's. My ex brings breakfast for the grandkids every Saturday. Something is always left out unless he gets the one girl that actually pays attention and practices common courtesy and eye contact. McDonald's in general must not offer a mandatory customer service class for employees. They need to take a page out of Chick-fil-A's handbook. Kindness, efficiency, professionalism, graciousness and a smile...

McDonald's was found 83 years ago by brothers who put customer service as their primary concern. Due to unfortunate events, the company was taken from them and transformed into the restaurant you all know today.

This location pales in comparison to its original vision. The staff did not greet us. The restaurant was very filthy, tables were unlean, floors and the drink fountain area were sticky, and it just felt overall unsanitary in the lobby.

In their defense, the kitchen looked very clean. I have witnessed them cleaning food prep areas and even mopping the floor several times. It is good to see that at least the food "appeared" safe to consume.

After cleaning our own table, we waited for our order. It was dropped off with no customer service in mind. To be fair, we didn't feel "unwelcome," it just felt like they could have said literally anything to enhance the experience. "Hello," for starters. "Thank you for choosing McDonald's," or even "Have a nice day." "Enjoy your meal," would also have been acceptable.

The food was slightly off. Fries were lacking salt, chicken nuggets were soggy instead of crunchy... the burgers were standard.

I can say that for such an unappealing lobby, the bathroom actually appeared clean. The parking area was also clean. I am not sure why, given all the choices, it was decided to avoid cleaning the lobby to maintain all the other areas. As a seasoned traveler, I have come to learn that this is usually the other way around. People want to feel safe eating in the lobby. It makes me wonder if the lobby was intentional passed over to discourage anyone staying to consume their purchase.

TLDR... too long, didn't read? It's a McDonald's. What do you honestly expect in 2023 from this company? You know that no matter what, you will always continue to order their food. This is part of the reason they have lost their way. Whether they try or not, you will come back. So what's the incentive?

I enjoy McDonald's. I just hate that I have to go wealthier neighborhoods to find decent...