Things I like about McDonalds

[Contestant #3]

McDonalds has been getting a lot of negative comments and insults out here in SDMBland. In fact, right now, there's a thread in MPSIMS that contains disparaging remarks about their policies and their food.

Sure, their food isn't gourmet, but it's cheap, filling, and the same wherever you go.

Here are some of the things that I like about McDonalds:

* The fillet-o-fish sandwich

* The Big Mac

* Their fries (when served hot) are the best fast food fries I've ever had

* Their fountain Cokes are consistantly good

* I love their coffee

* Their breakfast menu has several good-tasting items including:

* The breakfast bagel sandwiches

* The Mountain-berry muffins

* The breakfast burrito

* The bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit

Furthermore, in these parts, their low-wages are better than some of the other low-wage you'll find...they'll give people younger than 16 a chance to work if they want to...they'll give you free ice if you ask...they donate that orange drink and cups for non-profit organizations...

I understand that some of you are snobs and are above eating at Micky-dees. Some of you may have also had a bad experience with them, but I think that they are OK....

Let the flaming begin!


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Contestant #3

[BenDover]

Uh, I like some MickeyD's stuff - their french fries are unbeatable, and they usually have very, very good coffee.

Everything else pretty much sucks, though.

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The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best. - Henry Van Dyke

Super pretzels! With salt, please. And a diet coke. That would be breakfast.

-Melin

[timmar68]

I love McDonalds! I love the fries, the fish sandwich, and the cheeseburgers. On Wednesday mornings I work with one other girl and we have a tradition. We get McDonalds for breakfast and we sit and gossip (this is at work) while eating. I always get breakfast burritoes. I could live off them.

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MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!

[andros]

Maybe you should invite the McD bashers over from MPSIMS if you're that hard up for flames, C#3.

-andros-

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"Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!" Exceptions? None!
-Doc Bronner

[MrKnowItAll]

Ya'know, I swore I'd never post in the Pit. This thread, however, calls to me.

Recently, I was leaving a get-together with my parents and my brothers' families. They asked me where I was headed. I said that I hadn't decided. I could go to McDonald's because they had the newspapers there and I could catch up on some baseball scores. Or I could go to Wendy's because they had food.

Now then, referring to C#3's list:

-Fillet-o-fish sandwich: Perhaps the least fish-tasting thing in fast food today.

-The Big Mac: One would do just as well buying a bottle of Kraft 1000 Island Dressing and chugging it. Probably cheaper, too.

-French fries: Used to like them, until I realized they taste nothing like potatoes.

-Fountain Cokes: I'm a Pepsi man, myself.

-Coffee: I'm a coffee fanatic. I like it strong or weak (not too weak, though). Flavored or standard. Always black. The best thing I can say about McDonald's coffee is that it's better than no coffee at all. But not by much.

-Breakfast menu: Actually, I kind of like their breakfast burritos. Haven't tried the bagel or muffins, so I can't voice an opinion on these.

Sure, their food isn't gourmet, but it's cheap, filling, and the same wherever you go.

I'm not sure that this can be called a "good thing".



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sigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsigsig

[Sealemon88]

I'm part of the SDMB minority that really doesn't care for McDonalds fries.

I do like their sausage bisquit with cheese, and their "chicken" nuggets.

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You say "cheesy" like that's a BAD thing.

[BoBettie]

I am in love with the new Bagel breakfast sandwiches- we have one called the "steak and egg" sandwich. It is so damned good, I was shocked!!
I also love the Happy Meals, quarter pounders with cheese, and chicken parts.
McDonalds also does a lot of charity work around here. They have the Ronald McDonald house, which offers housing for parents who's children are very ill and hospitalized, they offer free orange drink and cups and coolers for schools and clubs- fundraisers, etc.
I also worked there as a teen, and they treated me with respect, gave me good pay and good hours and I actually learned a lot more then how to flip burgers.
Just my opinion.


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Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/zettecity/index.html

[bj0rn]

i cant resist!
mcthatthingyihate with its peanut sized hamburgers, rotten cheese and tiny nothings for taste, flushed down with toilet products from the coca bloody cola company (which is a chapter of its own) is the worstEST(capitals and spelling error intended) place one could ever eat in.

bj0rn

[kellibelli]

(totally ignoring the post above)

We dont get stuff up here on biscuits, we have english muffins instead, and the breakfast menu cant be beat for value or taste-personal fave: Sausage McMuffin (no Egg), Hash Browns, Tea.

I can buy breakfast for me and both kids for about $7! Thats great.

The fish sandwich cant compare to the Burger king "Big Fish Sandwich" its awesome.

And the Big Mac...well, I get mine with extra sauce, extra cheese, extra pickles, NO LETTUCE...its to die for (or of if you eat too many!)

They offer flexible hours for students, seniors, and they actively employ 'high functioning' mentally challenged adults. Show me another place where a 'mildly retarded' adult can work, get treated with respect, get pay raises, and set their own hours. Jobs like that are DAMN hard to find anywhere especially here.

They also employ 'stay home moms' who set the hours so they can be home when the kids get there...pretty decent.

I like the corporations stand on charity too...they do alot of good. And we had Frankie's birthday party there too...the new 'play place' was finished this spring, and its awesome! The kids love it, and I can sit and read the paper and sip my tea. They dont make much extra money off the play area, but it is a nice thing to do for the kids.

I DONT like the kid aimed marketing though...I wont buy clothes or toys with a restaurant logo on them...its just wierd.

[Squid Vicious]

When I go to McD's I usually get either a Big Mac or a fish sandwich. Everything else I'm ambivalent about. One complaint, though...the fries. McD's used to have the best fries until they switched to vegetable oil. Give me back my lard! Fat tastes good. If I wanted to eat healthy, I sure as hell wouldn't eat at McDonald's.

[Therealbubba]

The food is not the greatest, but it's a good place for kids to learn a work ethic.

They screwed up their fries when they changed the oil they cook in, and quit using kosher salt.

Speaking of pommes frites, I found the best recipe for them awhile ago in the paper:

Peel potatoes and place in a bowl of water in the fridge for 8 hours. Then cut them up into fries and place in a new bowl of water in the fridge for 8 more hours. Drain and rinse. Place in peanut oil at 325 F until cooked through. Then place in peanut oil at 375 F to get the outsides just right. Drain and sprinkle with kosher salt (the kind of salt that has big granuals). Viola! You now have the world's best french fries! Pretty close to what you used to get at McDonald's. I'm told this is how they do it in Belgium, with out the mayo.

Therealbubba

[Satan]

Love the fries and the affordability - I always go when they have 2 for $2 deal on Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese. Fills me up!

That said, the Big Mac is a lettuce sandwich and salad dressing sandwich with too much bread. Yuk!

Their chicken sandwich is edible, but Wendy's has them beat by a mile... And I must admit that the Arch Deluxe was good for a few minutes with bacon, and McRib remains a guilty pleasure...

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Yer pal,
Satan

[Ukulele Ike]

Well, back when I was a youth and a member of the Youth International Party, we used to call 'em "McDeath's," but that was the youth talking.

Has this country gone SO far down the toilet that, no matter WHERE you live, there isn't a better alternative to this sort of feeding?

Okay, I live in New York City, I have an embarrassment of alternatives. But when I travel, no matter where I go, I see diners, I see mom-and-pop restaurants, I see local joints with local specialties, I see holes-in-the-wall with a fry cook standing at the grill, spatula ready. Prices in these places are comparable to McD's, no? Are the chains really undercutting in the food arena, too?

Now, you go into a diner, it's owned by the guy flipping the burgers or the babe behind the cash register. The food might be pedestrian, it might be mediocre...in a few cases, it might actively suck.

But in a helluva lot of cases, I have had GREAT little meals, MEMORABLE meals, in these joints...excellent hash-browns in Albuquerque, home-made sausages next to the eggs scrambled light in Milwaukee, a world-class cheeseburger in Berkeley, a fried oyster po' boy in New Orleans, a creamy lobster roll in Bass Harbor, Maine.

Please give these people your business...or in thirty years, the ONLY option for lunch will be Big Mac or Filet-o-Fish.

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Uke

Ah Uke, yes indeedy! The best cinammon roll in the world is served at a little coffee shop in Idaho maybe an hour or so out of Yellowstone Park.

The thing about McDonald's is that it is dependable mediocrity. No matter where you are, at least in this country, you know what it is you are going to find there. Out in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a cross-country drive this can be a good thing.

-Melin

[Therealbubba]

Amen. Frankfurt, Moscow, Tokyo, or New York, you know what you're getting when you walk into McDonald's.

Therealbubba

[andros]

Alright, this is turning into a MPSIMS thread.


Con#3, you're a fucking bonehead. Only UFO-hugging trollish pigfuckers with no tasebuds eat at any fast-food places, especially McCoronary's. Why don't you grow up and stop playing with your Barbie Happy Meals so you can learn to appreciate real food, you acephalic dipwad?


Sorry, it's a little weak. Best I can do before my third cup of coffee.

-andros-

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"Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!" Exceptions? None!
-Doc Bronner

I've never eaten at a McDonald's--I'm not a food snob, I actually just don't much like food at all. I can't tell good coffee from warm mud. Do I have to turn in my U.S. citizenship if I don't quick scarf down a Big Mac?

But from what I read here, the main trouble with McDonald's is that it seems to be the Barnes & Noble or Rite-Aid of the food biz, putting Mom & Pop operations out of business. That seems to be the way the next century is heading--wasn't there such a thing as a law on monopolies?

[Rincewind]

One good thing that no one has mentioned about Mickey Dee's is their restrooms. Whenever I am on a long drive and need to stop, I always stop at Mcdonald's. It's the only place that I know will have a clean restroom.

Their desserts are also pretty good.

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"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" Isaac Asimov

[tracer]

Contestant #3 wrote:

Let the flaming begin!

All rightie:

*ahem*

"So, C#3, why didn't your list of favorite things about McDonalds include the McUFO Happy Meal?"

(Heh. I can be meeeeeean sometimes.)

[UncleBeer]

And what's with that Ronald guy? Doesn't he have any friends his own age? He seems to be spending way too much time with the kiddies.

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"The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind." - Humphrey Bogart

[Satan]

Yeah, and what's with Mayor McCheese and his anti-crime platform? The Hamburgler is STILL running around. I say they shoulda voted him out LONG ago...

[AzRaek]

I love McD's- I go there every coupla weeks and fill my purse with their great wide straws. Hey, they can afford it!
I applied for a job at the McD's in Winnemucca, NV. Never heard from them.

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"On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright..."

[manhattan]

(F)rom what I read here, the main trouble with McDonald's is that it seems to be the Barnes & Noble or Rite-Aid of the food biz, putting Mom & Pop operations out of business.The food at Micky Dee’s does not interest me for the reasons Ukulele Ike mentioned, but let’s be fair to the folks in Oak Brook. Of the 24,800 restaurants (!) McDonald’s had in its system at the end of 1998, fully 15,281 were owned by franchisees. Some franchisees own more than one restaurant, so I don’t know how many independent business people that represents. But McDonald’s does not make franchises available to financial buyers or passive investors. To own a McD’s, you’ve got to be an owner-operator. Often, the buyer of a franchise has already owned a diner or whatever, and bought in to take advantage of the purchasing power, marketing muscle and quality control of a behemoth.

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Livin' on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine

[Cessandra]

When I was fourteen I worked at Texas' Biggest McDonalds (on Post Oak, here in Houston.) It was great. For that first summer, I wasn't technically working for them, I was just helping out my neighbor (the PR rep there) by dressing as the Hamburgler and visiting kids in YMCAs and other day-cares. We passed out stickers, and Jessica would always bring the counselors something to eat. I was payed in hamburgers, and I loved it. After that I hosted the kiddie parties every weekend. This time they actually paid me money, but I still got all the free food I could eat.
Personally, I am addicted to McD's barbeque sauce. I dip my nuggets, fries, burgers (my faves are those little Happy Meal burgers!), anything I can get.
SHSU does not have a McDonalds on campus. We have a Burger King. It sucks. The only thing I like at Burger King is the fish-sandwiches and the onion rings. Everything else (especially the barbeque sauce) is the most disgusting food I have ever tried to choke down.

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Cessandra

My Homepage (http://www.shsu.edu/~stdmed17/Home.html)
The RHPS: Website For Virgins (http://www.shsu.edu/~stdmed17/RockyHome.html)
Both Updated More Often Than This Sig

[bj0rn]

macwhatnot doest serve food! its bloody repulsive...when the bloody thing came to iceland they even wanted to import the meat and bread...like american bread isnt good...well its got qualities, like you can leave it on the table for three weeks and it still feels like a sponge...and the meat...there is accually more MEAT in my little finger...i do not go there if im hungry, i do not go there if im thirsty, i do no go there at all...we have got KFC and subway, and lots of other fast "food" places which accually serve food...

bj0rn

The kids love it. We were celebrating three "As" tonight -- one algebra test (9th grader), one English test (sixth grader) and one math test (4th grader), and they thought it was the biggest treat in the world to go to Mickey Dee's. The one in town has a nice big play place -- Eldest Son is somewhat sad that he has finally outgrown them -- and while the two little ones played E.S. and I had a great chat. Hey, three "As" and I got out for under twenty bucks! ;)

-Melin

[ChiefScott]

Shamrock Shakes. Num-nums.

Oh, and Brithael sucks.

[Czarcasm]

I hate the fact that there are mcD's every 10 blocks, usually replacing some small business that gets priced out by a landlord looking for the big McBucks. Nearby we have McD's every 1/2 mile, with more going up every day. Are there ANY posters here that can't find one within a 1/2 hour's drive?
This crappy high-fat, high-salt food is what is killing this country, and the fact that they advertise so much to the children, which just screws the parents over when it comes time to go out for dinner makes it even worst!

I wish they would open a McCartneys with vegetarian food! :(

[SterlingNorth]

Nearby we have McD's every 1/2 mile

They're that far apart!

Down in Springfield [VA] they just opened a new McDonald's ONE BLOCK away from the old one.

NO! They didn't close the other one.

In fact, it's possible to see them both within one line of sight.

[TVeblen]

Rincewind nailed it: when you're on a marathon cross-county drive, you can always depend on McD for clean bathrooms and a quick Coke to fuel the caffeine need.

I guess I don't fault McD's for blah food because that's exactly the niche they're aiming for. The food is filler if you need a quick food-stoke. But I never crave it.

With due respect to Cessandra, Burger King and Wendy's are the two chains that, IMO, do pretty good burgers. (Even then I'll go for the Greek pita at Wendy's; great nosh!)

Damning with faint praise,
Veb

[littlejohn]

Two all beef paddies, pickles, onions, lettuce, and special sauce on a sesame seed bun!
What can I say I used to live of of Mickeydees, I love the fries, the quarter pounder and the chicken Mcnuggets.
The bacon and egger breakfastand their milkshakes.
Right now i prefer Burger kind (like the meat better) but when it comes to prices, Mcdonald's takes the cake!

Now we know what's wrong with C#3: he has Mad Cow Disease from eating the grease-soaked styrofoam they call 'hamburgers' at McVomit's.
The only thing that is halfway edible there is the pancake breakfast; to be fair, that's not half bad.

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We have met the enemy, and He is Us.--Walt Kelly

[Drain Bead]

Yeah, my favorite fast food burgers are Burger King, but since the one on campus closed, I haven't been able to get a good fix for a while. They also have awesome breakfasts, especially their biscuit sandwiches and those little Cini-minis. Not to mention the best chicken nuggets (with honey, they kick some serious ass). But I get Mickey-D's every now and then. When I'm in a hurry, it's nice to get a decent-sized meal for cheap, especially since I hardly have the time anymore to eat more than one or two meals a day.

[ChiefScott]

Apparently, littlejohn, though you may have lived "off" of MickeyDee's, you paid little attention to their commercials. The jingle goes:
"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun!"

Go to the back of the class, and give me all your french fries.

[Ringo]

Hey Cess!

You worked at "my" McDonalds. No, I don't own it; I office in the building directly across the street. If I'm workinng through lunch (one of the many fringe bennies of self-employment) I can be back in the office w/a hot quarter pounder in, literally, 3 minutes (if you can't savor a quarter pounder, you have no soul).

The drive thru is even quicker in the morning. It adds about 2 minutes to the trip to make a quick circle and grab my daily breakfast burrito before I park the car.

The mom and pop joints? Most of them really aren't that great. If they've got a competitive product (which consists of food plus service) they can survive.

I'm gonna have to get breakfast at McDonalds before work starting tomorrow.Theres nothing else around! What should I get? I read the mcmuffin is good if you put jelly on it! How about a nice cup of water? :)

Just checking my new sig.

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BURP! "excuse me.";D

[elelle]

I generally stopped eating fastfood years ago, not because of any militant hipper-than thou rant, but just educating myself out of it. The last time I ate at McD's, it gave me the McShits... intestines speak louder than words... But, in travelling in Europe, I did feel it my inalienable right as an American to use their ambassadorial toilet facilities. And still use the same on emergency interstate necessity...Occasionally, I'll buy a drink to contribute to the upkeep of such facilities. So I guess their sterile standardized reason deter has got it's upside.

[tracer]

So, which establishments are more common nowadays -- McDonald's, or Starbuck's Coffee?

"New Starbuck's Coffee opening in Starbuck's Coffee men's room" -- The Onion article.

[Cessandra]

Hey beatle, you work right by my finacé! He is working at the Smoothie King inside the Q (temporarily, until he can get into the police acadamy in February). It's so neat to meet people online that are so close IRL! :)

(Have I sufficiently ruined the purpose of the Pit with my cheerfulness?)

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Cessandra

My Homepage (http://www.shsu.edu/~stdmed17/Home.html)
The RHPS: Website For Virgins (http://www.shsu.edu/~stdmed17/RockyHome.html)
Both Updated More Often Than This Sig

[Satan]

Rysdad:

Well, maybe that's because you have a PUSSY where your COLON should be, you herma... hema... horma... you GUY WITH A PUSSY YOU!

This is why I only start flame wars, instead of entering them...

[jane_says]

I'm with C #3 on this one too. Had a McD's fix today. Wednesday is $.39 burger day, and we bought 10. Kids and hubby had them for dinner, and I'm taking 2 with me to work tonight - it's my turn to pull a third.
They're not great cuisine, and they're not healthy. But they're cheap, edible, and not bad for an occasional treat for the kids. The fries are good, the playground is a welcome break after having the kids cooped up in the car all afternoon, the bathrooms are meticulously clean, and they have changing tables in BOTH bathrooms. I, like others, have to laud them for their charity work and their history of hiring the very young, the elderly, and the mentally challenged when no one else would give them a chance. We have a group home here in town and all of it's residents, (who have Down's syndrome) are employed at McD's. Independence would not be possible without stable employment.
Did somebody say McDonald's?

[Rysdad]

On a recent trip to Hong Kong and Macau, I came to understand how invaluable it is that McD's is worldwide.

Prospective clients tried to serve me dim sum four times. I ate it once, and politely sampled it the last three times. After the closing hand shake, I beat feet to the golden arches.

Happiness, thy name is Quarter Pounder.

[Rysdad]

Since this is the Pit, and my last post was much too laudatory, I'll just add that McDonalds is a damn site better that those mush-mound, gag reflex and fart inducing sweat pads that White Castle foists off as food.

[Rysdad]

Ok, Satan, you festering, chancre-poxed cretin, I hope that the next time you're gagging on an undercooked, e-coli laced, spit-slathered wormburger, the overly amorous Sumo wrestler that Heimlichs your ass snaps one of your brittle, girly-man ribs and drives it through your esophagus.

And the kid at the counter short-changes ya.

[tracer]

jane_says says:

it's my turn to pull a third.

Huh? Pull a third of your ligaments? Pull a third-string quarterback out of a burning building? Pull a third of vodka from the shelf?

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Quick-N-Dirty Aviation: Trading altitude for airspeed since 1992.

[White Wolf]

Can I just "EEWWWW" with a side of "YUCK."

I think the only thing edible and that can't be messed up is their softdrinks. No, scratch that. I ask for diet and always get regular.

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White Wolf

"Death is the only inescapable, unavoidable, sure thing. We are sentenced to die the day we're born." -Gary Mark Gilmore

[pricciar]

Down in Springfield [VA] they just opened a new McDonald's ONE BLOCK away from the
old one.

NO! They didn't close the other one.

In fact, it's possible to see them both within one line of sight.

Although, this has nothing whatsoever to do with McDonalds, I thought I would share. When I lived in DC, every block you could see a CVS. (Or a People's as they were called when I first got there.) At two or three corners you could stand there and see not one, not two but three of em.
Overkill? I think so.
Well, mabye not.
The weird thing was, they were all usually busy.

pat

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Originally posted by Melin
Ah Uke, yes indeedy! The best cinammon roll in the world is served at a little coffee shop in Idaho maybe an hour or so out of Yellowstone Park.
-Melin

Oh.My.God. I ate that thing. Well, not JUST me, but my sister, mom and I. From that little yellow restaurant... God that was the best food experience I have ever had with baked goods.

Ginger

[Lynn Bodoni]

I'm gonna close this thing, it shouldn't have been in the Pit in the first place.