With the amount of people that come through the golden arches of McDonald’s for that signature burger and fries, you are bound to get a couple odd request here and there.
Shocked McDonald’s employees reveal the strangest requests they’ve ever received.
1. How Much Is That Stealth Bomber?
Back when I worked at McDonald’s, I would often work drive-thru. One night, a group of kids came in and ordered a Big Mac, fries, a Stealth bomber, and a large Coke.
Without batting an eye, I said ‘Okay, that will be twelve billion, four hundred and fifty-three million, nine hundred and seventeen thousand, two hundred and twenty-one dollars and forty cents, please pull up to the first window.’
There was kind of an awkward pause, and then they said, ‘Um, how much is it without the bomber?
Franklin Veaux
2. The World We Live In.
Someone literally came to my McDonald’s store, asked for medium fries and some whipped cream. Then watched her dipped the fries in the cream. I don’t know about in the States, but in Australia that’s extremely unusual.
McBourgeoisie:
Woman came to my store, ordered a medium Big Mac meal with coke, fairly standard. Then orders a 6 piece chicken McNuggets happy meal with apple juice and BBQ sauce.
Me: You want a toy with that today, ma’am?
Her: Oh no, we don’t take toys from McDonald’s, it teaches children to idealize the bourgeoisie and big corporations.
She then spent the next 2 minutes lecturing me on Marxist doctrine. Eh it wasn’t busy, it was pretty amusing actually. However, all the time I kept thinking, the Sumo Salad is over there if you want your organic, vegan, GMO free salad to compliment those views. Why even take your kids to McDonald’s?!
Big Mac without meat:
I know veggie burgers are a thing in some countries but in Australia it isn’t. Why order a Big Mac with no meat? I work in a food court, the place 3m behind you makes vegetarian wraps, there’s falafels from the kebab shop 15m that way, there’s about 4 shops with different vegetarian options. I don’t understand your logic, but hey, it pays me so whatever.
Marcus Harrington
3. Extra Nuts.
I worked at a McDonald’s in high school in a very religious town and frequently worked the late shift. One night I was on the window with a headset and two girls pulled up in a truck.
They made a pretty typical order, but for their fudge sundae they asked for lots of nuts. ‘We just lovvvvve nuts.’ ‘In our mouths, and all overrrr.’ They pull up to the window, turns out they’re two very religious girls who sit next to me in choir. I have never seen anyone so embarrassed.
Looking back I probably should have offered them some extra nuts at some later point.
Padraig Criostoir Nolan
4. The Same Routine.
EVERY DAY the same woman took at least 4 or 5 minutes to order. It was ALWAYS, LITERALLY ALWAYS, the same thing. Yet she acted as if she might give us a break from this foolishness that we catered to needlessly in my opinion but whatever, it was a Franchise so…
She’d FINALLY say, “I’d like, umm, a small order of FRESH FRIES with NO SALT. AT ALL. PLEASE clean out the bin and the grease so that there is not a speck of salt or any fries that are too crispy.” Okay, not so weird until she pulled up and never ceased to add this one at the second window, after paying.
“OH YEAH, And one single hamburger patty. Patted down with paper towels to get as much grease out as possible. .. you see, they are for my for my shnookummmmms.” And the lap dog always had its tongue in her mouth.
EVERY MORNING!
Jamie Walton
5. To Each Their Own.
I was working drive through and a man came through and ordered the following:
One double quarter pounder. No cheese. With regular meat, no ketchup, no mustard.
Add mac sauce. With sweet chili sauce (store still has it).
Fries cooked to black. Lettuce on the side with mayo drizzled on top.
And a 6 nugget happy meal with no nuggets. Just the box.
That is so weird.
David Greene
6. Have It Your Way.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and brick cell phones were the stuff of science fiction, I worked at a McD in order to get some extra money as a high school student. They put me up front at the register, where I would keep inside all the chuckles from people asking for cheeseburgers without cheese, cheeseburgers WITH cheese… but the award-winner was the guy that wanted a Whopper.
That day I had worked the morning shift and was in the lull right after breakfast, when this well-dressed young man comes in with a very pretty young woman dressed for a night out, both apparently very into each other.
In and of itself, this was odd not only because of the time of day, but because this particular McD was in the banking district, where people generally do not go after a long night of partying. Still, they seemed lucid and clear-headed, so with a smile, I welcome them to McD and ask to take their order.
The girl is very friendly and asks for a pretty standard combo, with a shake. She offers to pay, but the guy says that he would pay, to which the girl and I exchange glances of ‘Ooh! Big spender!’ before the guy steps up and asks for…
…a Whopper.
Not just a Whopper. He wanted – and I will remember the order to the day I die – a Whopper with bacon, no onion, no lettuce, extra mayo, a large order of onion rings, and a large Pepsi.
Yes. He ordered a Whopper at a McDonald’s.
‘Sir,’ I explain, assuming he has somehow made a mistake, ‘this is McDonald’s, we have Big Macs and Coke, you can get a Whopper and Pepsi at Burger King.’
‘I know.’ He smiles, pulls out $50 and points it at me. ‘Whopper with bacon, no onion, no lettuce, extra mayo, a large order of onion rings, and a large Pepsi. Keep the change.’
I rang up the girl’s order, took the $50, counted out the change, showed it to the guy, and said ‘I’ll be right back,’ turned to my supervisor and said ‘I’ll be taking my break now’ before I ran out the back to the nearby Burger King, just a block away.
I almost got hit crossing the road, went through the lobby of a bank, got to the counter at the Burger King (luckily there was no line), and… well, just picture it; this tiny girl in a McD uniform, at BK, out of breath, ordering a Whopper with bacon, no onion, no lettuce, extra mayo, a large order of onion rings, and a large Pepsi.
I paid, took the order and RAN back to the McD’s, arriving just as the girl’s order was about to be placed on the counter – thank goodness for the slow mid-morning changeover!
I took the bag, put everything on a tray, put it on the counter and said: ‘Here’s your order, sir, thank you for choosing McDonald’s.’
The guy is shocked, the girl is amazed, the rest of the crew is smiling, then the guy says: ‘I thought you took my money and ran.’
‘No, sir, I took MY money and ran. Have a nice day!
Sarah Weaver
7. The RARE Burger.
Many years ago (back when McD’s cooked special orders when they came in, not from pre-cooked batches of meat soaking in hot water or laying under warmers), I was working grill and we got an order for a rare Quarter Pounder — no cheese, condiments, or bun. The meat patties came frozen, so I put a patty on the grill and let cook for about half the normal time, serving it up seared nicely, but clearly rare in the middle. Put it in a box and sent it up. Guy who ordered it got mad and said he wanted it RARE, not cooked. It was the end of stressful day and I was irritated at having to do it again, so I took a new patty to the back sink and sprayed hot water on it until it was a pile of meaty, soggy goo and set it up. Guy opened the container, seemed satisfied, and headed out the door. Curious, I followed it out and saw him let his dog out of the car, flip the patty on the ground for him to chow down, then they got in the car and left.
Expensive way to feed your dog.
Brian Wood
8. Didn’t Have The Heart To Tell Him The Truth.
I worked at McDonald’s for two years and met a lot of really strange people. For the record, I’m referring to my colleagues, though, not so much the customers.
As for the ‘strangest’ order? It wasn’t anything too exciting, really. It was more the reaction of the girl at the front counter. Remember the McDLT (‘The hot side hot, the cold side cold’)?Well, somebody came in and ordered a McDLT with no meat and – for some odd reason – this seemed to be the funniest thing the girl behind the counter had ever heard and she started laughing (and she couldn’t stop). The Assistant Manager had to step in, apologize, and put in the order for her.
A close second might have been the senior citizen who came in every day and always wanted a little bit of water in a cup so that he could water the plant in our lobby. The plant was plastic. I’m serious. Anyway, one day this dear fellow was excitedly telling me how big and leafy the plant was getting. I didn’t have the heart to tell him, so I just told him what a great job he had been doing.
Mike Bowerbank
9. More Sad Than Strange.
The strangest request I ever got was also really sad.
We had an older couple, who were obviously unwell, that would come in for the breakfast menu on a semi regular basis, but they would repeat their order, eating their meals, again and again, until they ran out of money and left.
It turned out they were residents at a nearby nursing home and both suffered with dementia. They would have clarity long enough to elope for a day out together, but would then relapse and forget that they’d eaten. The home staff had spent months trying to figure it out, why they had no appetite for a day or two after their abscondments, until they managed to catch them in the act and follow them.
Ian Payne
10. Causing Trouble.
I’ve had my fair share in strange requests at McDonalds. Before I start, I have worked at 2 stores over 2 years total.
Strange request 1:
This one time, it was lunch but not very busy. These two young kids who looked nervous came into the store. They handed me a credit card, saying ‘Can we please take out $500?’ I knew these kids were up to something so I said to them ‘You know you need a pin to withdraw money.’ They both looked at each other so I called for the manager. We ended up confiscating the card and handed it into the police.
Strange request 2:
This was at the airport. We were twice as busy as my old store, with this one making 2200 orders per day. So imagine this: In the heat of the moment with 20 employees all rushing around to make 20 backed up orders, someone orders this: 24 Double Quarterpounders. The order was over $150 and paid it all in cash. We get this sometimes so it’s not that unusual. I tell him to wait about 10 to 15 minutes as we are very busy and he has a massive order. 20 minutes later, his 24 burgers come in about 5 of the large bags until he says ‘Can I get each burger in its own bag, and that bag inside of another bag?’
So we had no choice but to waste 48 perfectly good bags on this one guys request. I watched the family eat at the tables and they all threw away the bags which filled up the bin.
Phillip Zajkov
11. Something’s Fishy Here.
One of my colleagues at McDonald’s was a guy named Leon. He had a reputation for being ‘slow,’ but he did his job well and as far as I know, he got along well with everybody.
Once, when business was slow, Leon turned to me and said, ‘Did you know I’m psychic?’
It sounded like he was having fun with me.
‘Oh, you’re psychic, huh?’
‘Yeah.’
We saw a car parking outside.
‘See this car pulling up? That guy’s gonna get a Filet-O-Fish meal.’
‘A Filet-O-Fish meal?’
‘Yeah.’
The driver came in. He was in his 30s or 40s, wiry and on the short side of average, with a sort of small-dog intensity.
‘Welcome to McDonald’s! How can I help you?’
‘Can I see your manager?’
He pulled out a badge. I’m a detective. I need to ask some questions about that kid who got shot in [nearby town].’
This was a story that I’d heard people talking about earlier that day.
I fetched the shift manager, who spoke to him for a few minutes. As I helped with drive-thru orders and cleaned whatever still needed to be cleaned, I wondered about what the detective expected to learn here. Was one of the employees involved? Did the victim have a connection to the store? Was that guy even really a detective?
After he left, all I could say was, ‘Wow.’
‘Yeah,’ Leon said. ‘I was way off.’
James Brust
12. Burnt Biscuits.
I was a morning biscuit maker during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. We had an old man who came literally every single day and ordered two burnt biscuits and a coffee. Then he would sit in the dining area by himself, dipping his burnt biscuits into his coffee and eating them.
The story I heard was that he was a WWII Navy veteran, and he learned to like burnt biscuits with coffee in the Navy.
Either way, we just cooked them twice to ‘burn’ them. It was easy.
Anonymous
13. The Cook’s Not Loving It.
I’ve been working at McDonalds for the past two years and I work out the back so I assemble and make the burgers.
Around a month ago, I received an order of a double quarter-pounder burger.
That’s half a pound of meat in the burger already, whopping in at 760 calories, around 1/3 of your daily intake. I make lots of these each day, so nothing out of the ordinary. Except this jerk ordered an EXTRA THREE QUARTER POUND MEAT PATTIES on his burger. That’s 1.25 pounds (over half a KG) of greasy meat in that burger with an added 3 slices of cheese between the paddies.
To make matters worse he had it with a fries and a DIET coke…
Joel Anastasi
14. The Number Of The Beast.
Many years ago, I worked at a McDonald’s in North Carolina. After taking an order in drive through, I told the customer their total was $6.66. They freaked out and asked if it were too late to order more food so that they could have a different total.
Also there was the time when I was cleaning out the playground area and a mom came up to me and asked me to go get her kid out of the ball pit. ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I replied. ‘My kid – he won’t come out of the ball pit and it’s time to go.’ I was only 15 at the time and didn’t know what to do, so I went and stood at the entrance to the ball pit and said (like I was talking to a dog): ‘Come here little guy…
Jessica Filip
15. The Least Of Your Worries.
I worked at a McDonald’s in Walmart for 3 months after turning 16.
There was a middle aged lady that would walk in daily an order 1 McDouble only meat, cheese, and onions.
Sounds pretty normal. But, no. Only meat, cheese, and onions. She didn’t want the bread because carbs are bad or something like that. We would lay down a patty, cheese, patty, then top it with onions. It went in a pancake platter.
This woman put me on an entirely new level of confused. She was eating McDonald’s without the bread because of carbs.
Carbs are the least you have to worry about when eating at McDonalds.
Benjamin Lasseigne
16. Holding Up The Line.
I worked at McDonald’s throughout college and I almost always worked in the drive-thru because I could process orders so quickly, almost every weekend night. Working drive-thru at that time required you to keep up to four orders in your head, and work two cash registers at once. Besides taking all the orders, I was also in charge of talking to the manager and grill staff, letting them know what the lines were like, when large groups of people came into the parking lot, and occasionally calling in production (make 12 hamburgers, drop chicken nuggets into the fryer, etc.) when big orders came through. I had to know how long things took to prepare so I could make sure no drivers waited for food.
One night, a typically busy night with ‘cars around the building’ traffic, a man in a station wagon pulled up to the menu. I could hear several kids in the car with him shouting their requests. He ordered several Happy Meals, all different of course, and two adult meals, and then extra milk. When he got to my window, he said, ‘Hi, how are you?’ to me, which was typical— and then put his car in park.
Not a good sign.
He then turned his back on me and leaned over the passenger side of the seat. I began to realize that he had an infant on the seat there, and was changing his or her diaper. I said, ‘Sir? Your total is…’ He said, ‘Yeah, just a minute…’ as I anxiously watched the cars in front of him pull away so that there was no one left at the next window. My teammates waited with all of his food there, poking their head out to see what was going on. He continued to fiddle with the diaper while my manager started talking in my headset, asking what the holdup was, and cars piled up behind him started honking.
Eventually, after what seemed like an hour, he turned around and offered me a folded, bulging plastic diaper. I pulled away from it, flinching—I’m pretty sure I made a horrified face, because I was eighteen and the thought of baby waste was about the grossest thing I could imagine. And he said, ‘Take it or I ain’t paying.’
So, I took the diaper, put it in my trash can, took his money and gingerly made change with the fingers that had not touched the diaper.
That was the worst request ever. I still remember flying through the back of the restaurant, hollering at my manager, ‘take the next car, I have to wash my hands!’, running out to the front, through the restaurant and into the bathroom so I could vomit.
Ah, memories. Fast food work. I do not recommend it.
Michelle Tackabery