McDonald’s Bacon is to burgers what vermouth is to a dry martini.
I didn’t say customizing makes you an asshole. I very often order Quarterpounder but no cheese. They have buttons for that. They don’t have a button that says “bacon cheese burger” for one thing that is vague. Do you want one patty? two? Do you want other items? If you order the THING they have on the menu, then customize, that’s how you order. To just insist that you order a bacon cheeseburger, and it’s not on the menu board (and thus not on their keyboard) does make you an asshole.
Like I said, these people process hundreds of orders a day. Don’t be a snow flake. If you want something less automated, go to someplace else. McDonalds is for fast. And if you are lucky, hot.
What about “Cheeseburger, add bacon”? They got the buttons for that.
I agree with the overall sentiment, but your example is totally wrong.
McDonald’s most definitely has a menu item called a “Cheeseburger” and you can absolutely modify it with bacon. Saying a “Bacon Cheeseburger” is precisely equivalent to saying a “Cheeseburger with bacon” just like a Bacon McDouble is equivalent to a McDouble with bacon.
McDonald’s inflicted any potential confusion on themselves by having menu items called a “Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Bacon” and a “Bacon McDouble” both on the menu, this will clearly lead to modifications to any other sandwich coming in both forms.
I’m struggling to come up with a reference to Five Easy Pieces here, but I can’t quite make it work.
I think a lot of this confusion comes down to the weird nomenclature McD’s has always used around “Cheeseburger”, “Double cheeseburger” and “McDouble.”
Cheeseburger - Bun, 1 patty, 1 slice cheese, ketchup, mustard, diced onion, pickle.
As an aside this product was the one that the original McDonald brothers made their name on, by having an assembly line process where each of those constituent ingredients was measured out exactly the same for each burger sold. These were the thin/small patties that were fairly common in other slider burger places of the era. Note the “hamburger” is just this without the cheese.
Double Cheeseburger - Everything on the cheeseburger, now add 1 patty, and 1 slice of cheese.
McDouble - Everything on the cheeseburger, but add one patty. So the only material difference between the McDouble and the Double Cheeseburger is a slice of cheese–the Double Cheese has two, the McDouble has one.
Now where the wrinkle comes in, is there isn’t a national item like this, but an optional item that any McD’s can carry is called the “Bacon McDouble”, and it’s just a McDouble with Bacon. But there isn’t actually a national, regional, or optional item called a “Bacon Double Cheeseburger.” So in theory a low wage McDonald’s employee trying to stay inside the narrow laws of Big Hamburger’s insanity, hears something like “Bacon Double cheeseburger” and he’s probably wondering, “Does this guy want a Bacon McDouble? Or a Double Cheeseburger with bacon?” They’re different things, and making assumptions when working fast food can get you in trouble.
I agree. My grandparents used to bitch that service just wasn’t what it used to be. Not true. What has happened is specialization. The market is out there for people who don’t care about quality service and just want that thing right there and give it to me and we are done.
That is McDonalds. You don’t go to McDonalds if you don’t want to order off of the menu. There are other restaurants more to your liking.
And to the idea that the employee should be able to decipher what the customer really wanted, that would require McDonalds hiring better employees which requires a higher wage which is passed off in the cost of food which even if the increase was a dime would cause those same grandparents of mine to complain about how the prices of things are just “through the roof” today.
I’m sure it happens sometimes that people, out of ignorance or just having a brain fart, will go into a fast food place and order something from a different fast food place’s menu—like ordering a Whopper at McDonalds or Chicken McNuggets at Wendys.
So, somebody who goes into a McDonalds and orders a Bacon Cheeseburger might just be confused about where they are, and it would be reasonable to ask for clarification.
(During the 1980’s, my favorite fast food burger was Hardees’ bacon cheeseburger. If I remember right, McDonalds didn’t do bacon back then.)
I haven’t been in one since pre-COVID and I’m sure the menu is more limited, but one thing I really liked about McDonald’s is all the ones in my area had cashier-free ordering kiosks and you were able to customize everything the way you actually wanted it and didn’t have to deal with asking a cashier if they still had a long-running item that was never displayed on the menu. I’m sure you could have gone on that thing and picked cheeseburger and add bacon. I liked using it to make full breakfast sandwiches and not get ripped off. They always had some weird pricing like you could get an egg and cheese biscuit for $1 or a sausage biscuit for $1 but a sausage and egg biscuit was $4. you could use the kiosk to add cheese or add a meat or whatever and build a sandwich and not get ripped out. FWIW, mine has a bacon mcdouble on the menu for around $2.69.
McDonald’s has had bacon for breakfast for long as I can remember and bacon for burgers for at least a decade. you’ve always been able to order off the menu if it’s something they can make. When I was a kid 40 years ago my mom would always order egg mcmuffins, which I did not like. She ordered me a plain english muffin (which I’ve never seen listed on the menu, except on the kiosks) and they had no problem fulfilling that request every time. Some people have ordered mcdoubles with Big Mac sauce or egg biscuits with the round egg or all kinds of substitutes forever. Maybe this guy had ordered the bacon cheeseburger before from other stores (or that store), since they have cheeseburgers and bacon.
Adding to the confusion, there’s also the Quarter Pounder With Cheese, which is everything that’s on the Cheeseburger, but with a bigger patty. Colloquially, it’s also a cheeseburger, but not in McDonald’s nomenclature. So asking for a “bacon cheeseburger” leaves the cashier wondering “Does this guy want a Cheeseburger, add bacon? Or a Quarter Pounder With Cheese and Bacon?”
A bright and/or experienced cashier will probably ask the customer exactly that question. A new or not-so-bright cashier is going to be much more likely to get flummoxed.
I was at an upscale burger place that featured a full bar. When I placed my order, I added, “And a rum and coke.”
The waitress asked, “What is that?”
“A rum and coke.”
“What goes in it?”
“Well, it’s… rum… and coke?”
“Ohh, okay, I got it!”
Twenty minutes later, I still hadn’t gotten my drink. I flag down my waitress, and she says, while standing directly in front of the bar that clearly has nobody working at it, “He’s working on it now!” Ten minutes after that, the bartender comes up to my table and says, “One of you guys wanted a drink?”
At least he knew what a rum and coke was.
I eat at McDonald’s more than Id like to admit.
I order a “cheese burger mustard only”. 90% of the time, no problem. I get the little patty with a slice of cheese on a bun with mustard. I don’t care for ketchup or the weird onions.
Sometimes they are flummoxed, “so no ketchup, onions, or cheese on your cheeseburger?” The jerk in me wants to say “no that’s a hamburger with mustard you idiot”. but I politely explain that I do in fact want cheese on my cheeseburger.
A Big Mac is also a cheeseburger.
Oooh, a Cuba Libre! Why didn’t you say so?
Was having dinner with some friends at a brewery/restaurant. American food menu, burgers, pizza, some bbq. The server was taking our orders and one of my friends wanted a burger, but asked if they could add a scoop of pulled pork onto it. It wasn’t an option on the menu, but they had burgers and they had pulled pork, so he figured he’d just ask. Server responds that the cooks “can’t do that.” Friend says he’ll pay extra, she can charge him double if she wants, he just wanted it. Server is obstinate. Comes back with:
“Uh, they …don’t know how to do that.”
“They don’t know how to use a spoon?!”
Friend does not get any pulled pork on his burger.