TWIT would like to wish McDonald's happy birthday. Fifty years ago today, the first McDonald's opened in Des Plaines, IL. Today, there's over 30,000 McDonald's in 119 countries. On opening day, their hamburgers sold for 15 cents, and they brought in $366.12 on their first day of operation. Today, a plain hamburger is almost a buck. Ronald McDonald came on the scene in 1963, and was portrayed by Willard Scott. The Big Mac was introduced in 1968, and five years later breakfast lovers were able to get the awesome Egg McMuffin. This probably will sound odd, but given the choice of going out to a restaurant for breakfast or going to McDonald's, the Egg McMuffin would win out every time.
We have a new McD's in the 'hood close to ZCO. They tore down the old one last summer, and in a few short months, the new and improved McD's with two drive-thru lanes opened. I'm no architect nor engineer, but I think I would have designed it a bit differently. The two drive-thru lanes aren't on each side of the actual building, like they are at some of the Rally's; they are just two lanes with a menu and speaker at each lane, and they merge into one lane that goes to the pay and pick-up windows. Before I mustered up the courage to go through that drive-thru, I though that it was just one big accident waiting to happen. This McDonald's is located just a block or two from one the worst drug areas in the county, so I'm thinking that if you had a fender bender with someone from the hood, or even just accidentally cut in front of them as you were merging, they'd probably shoot you. After making it safely through the drive-thru one time, I didn't want to chance it again so on my second trip to the new and improved McD's, I went inside. Imagine my surprise when I saw a sign on the door that said "Wi Fi connection available." Like a $1000+ laptop with wireless internet capability would last long in this McD's?? It would be stolen before you could unwrap your McGriddle.
As with most fast food places, the 'hood McD's also has it's share of PATs working behind the counter and at the drive-thru. A co-worker told a sad tale of her trip to this McD's yesterday. She went through the drive-thru, and was the only car in the drive-thru line, yet the PAT at the window wasn't sure if he was giving her the right order or not. She she wanted to blurt out "I'm the only car in the line - what other drive-thru order do you have in there? That would have surely gotten her tires slashed. I had a similar incident this morning. Not wanting to risk getting hit at the drive-thru merge, I parked and went inside. There were 3 people ahead of me, waiting for their orders. I ordered my breakfast burrito and took my place behind the other three people. Lo and behold, they screwed up 2 out of those 3 other orders. And in the 2 minutes I was standing there, a young woman who had gotten her order in the drive-thru came in and flung her bag down on the counter. Yes, you guessed it. They screwed up her order to. I got my burrito, and ran out of there.
I hope that McDonald's will put some emphasis on customer service and quality control, or else they might not make it another 50 years.
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