October 25, 2007

How to Make a Head McExplode

McDonald’s is our once a week, Mommy-can’t-take-being-a-short-order-chef-anymore, treat. Despite the fact that Big I is professing her undying devotion to vegetarianism these days, she will still make an exception for chicken mcnuggets, and I’m happy to oblige. We usually do this "treat" on one of our karate days.

It’s no secret that you’re not going to get 5-star service when you go to McDonald’s; but one would think, that with all the technology, they could get at least most things about your order correct.

Today, I ordered two chicken nugget happy meals and a Big & Tasty meal. I got my meal large-sized because ~~I’m a pig like that~~ I share fries with the kids. Just go with it. I was impressed because the girl even asked me what kind of sauce we wanted for the nuggets. That rarely happens.

Just as the girl was saying "Thank you and pull around to window two" I noticed that they had my meal on the screen as medium sized. Before I pulled up, I asked her if she could change it to large-sized and she said it wasn’t a problem.

I should have known better.

I pulled up to the window, handed my credit card to the girl and she ran it through. She handed me my receipt. If I had known that upsizing my meal was going to cost an additional $6, I would have told her to forget it. A quick scan of the receipt showed that they had charged me for two Big & Tasty meals.

I showed her the receipt and she went to get her manager. The manager took my credit card back, and refunded my money. She also apologized profusely. It was really no big deal. Besides, I was too busy breaking up a brawl in the back seat to really care too much.

Then the girl started handing me my drinks. Two chocolate milks and a large diet coke, along with two kids and a bag from Staples, complete with a very sore wrist, make for a very stressed mama. I asked for a drink carrier. Why did I have to ask for one? If you’re giving more than two drinks and there are only little hands to help, offer a drink carrier! It’s not that hard!

Still I stayed nice. McDonald’s was giving my kitchen the night off. I was still somewhat happy.

The girl handed me my drink carrier, and three bags. I quickly checked the happy meals and saw the appropriate items. Then, after already pulling away from the window, I quickly checked my meal. There was no Big & Tasty to be found, only a grilled chicken club sandwich in its place. I quickly ran in and asked for my Big & Tasty. Instead of exchanging my sandwiches they just told me to keep both.

I went back out to the car and home.

Upon arriving home, the girls and I were getting set up, and guess what?

No sauce.

No napkins.

No straws.

The good news is that when I pulled the receipt out, the manager had taken off not one, but two Big & Tasty burgers from my receipt which means that I got my burger and the chicken club for free. However, I’m going to consider it my reward for having to put up with the whining that ensured when the girls realized they had no sauce or straws, and also as repayment for all of the forgotten nuggets, sauces, and chocolate milks of days gone by.

Next time I think I want to go to McDonald’s, maybe I’ll just stay home and bang my head on a wall instead.

***The latest review is up at The BBM Review. If you’re a martial artist, you won’t want to miss this review, which tells you how you can get authentic kobudo weapons. This is another debut by one of the writers for The BBM Review so go and give him some love. (I’ll be adding my own review when I get my custom made purpleheart tunfa in a few weeks. Woo hoo!)