# Old folks using McDonald's as an old folks' home. What would you do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 16, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926 "2014-01-16T02:03:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/41 "2014-01-17T01:18:46Z")
It would definately be a good idea to play aggressive music. Alternatively, you could offer a half price discount for basketballers. Koreans aren’t used to six and half foot tall Africans. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/42 "2014-01-17T01:24:49Z")
What would I DO? Why, there’s only one thing TO do. \*A shuffle-shuffle here, And a hobble-hobble there Here a shuffle There a hobble Everywhere a shuffle-hobble Old McDonald’s Old Folks Home E-I-E-I-O\* Thank you, I’m here all week. Try the [del]veal[/del] McRib. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/43 "2014-01-17T01:32:38Z")
So set a limit on how long people can sit without buying something. I don’t understand the degree of emotion in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/44 "2014-01-17T01:35:18Z")
> [@susan](#): > > So set a limit on how long people can sit without buying something. I don’t understand the degree of emotion in this thread. They’e done that, and called the police, who come up to three times a day to oust the group. The seniors return as soon as the police have left. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/45 "2014-01-17T01:57:21Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > They’e done that, and called the police, who come up to three times a day to oust the group. The seniors return as soon as the police have left. Then it’s time to Trespass them, saying that if they return the same day (or within a period of time), they will be arrested and charged with trespassing. It probably wouldn’t take more than a couple of them being charged before they got the message that \> N duration of loitering is going to be more aggressively managed in the future. Or they stop coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/46 "2014-01-17T02:04:25Z")
Oh yes, I’m sure having little old men arrested will sit wonderfully in the community and be such a boon to business. And I’m sure a local cop is just dying to see his face on the cover of the Post over a headline reading “Jerk Cop Nabs Gramps In Coffee Klatch Scrap.” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/47 "2014-01-17T02:22:40Z")
Dawn to dusk loitering with the purchase of a coffee for five years? Fuck 'em. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/48 "2014-01-17T03:00:05Z")
There’s a McD’s across the street from the Riviera Casino in Vegas that seems to encourage this. They have tables with power outlets and free wifi. I’ve gone in and seen the same people with their laptops plugged in all day. This is a fairly large restaurant though. By the looks of the place in question, it is quite small. Maybe they didn’t mind the guys hanging out a few years ago because they weren’t that busy. Now the place is busier (maybe because the apartments near it are new?) and it’s become a space problem. The manager could always wait until they all show up again, let them get their coffee and get settled in. Then walk over to the group, smile, and tell them he can’t guarantee that the next time they come in for coffee it won’t have piss in it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/49 "2014-01-17T04:57:08Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Alternatively, you could offer a half price discount for basketballers. Koreans aren’t used to six and half foot tall Africans. They’re getting there. 😛 [![](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/1/1362133411120/Kim-Jong-un-and-Dennis-Ro-010.jpg) ](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/3/1/1362133411120/Kim-Jong-un-and-Dennis-Ro-010.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/50 "2014-01-17T05:21:40Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > They’e done that, and called the police, who come up to three times a day to oust the group. The seniors return as soon as the police have left. I understand the problem. I don’t understand the degree of emotion in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/51 "2014-01-17T05:46:10Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Dawn to dusk loitering with the purchase of a coffee for five years? Fuck 'em. That’s it, they’re done. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/52 "2014-01-17T05:50:42Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I understand the problem. I don’t understand the degree of emotion in this thread. Not sure what you mean. I was just joking about pissing in their coffee. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/53 "2014-01-17T10:47:57Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I understand the problem. I don’t understand the degree of emotion in this thread. New to the internet, are we? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/54 "2014-01-17T11:16:28Z")
This behavior seems to be a cultural thing with Asians. NPR ran a recent story about a group of retirees in Shanghai using IKEA as a retiree hook-up joint. The coffee is free, and to add insult to injury, the loiterers rarely bought anything and got into regular fights. > **[At IKEA In Shanghai, Do-It-Yourself Matchmaking](https://www.npr.org/2011/11/02/141904803/at-ikea-in-shanghai-do-it-yourself-matchmaking)** > > Hundreds of elderly residents visit an IKEA in Shanghai to chat, drink free coffee and look for partners. They have turned it into an informal and occasionally rowdy lonely hearts club, and though store managers would like them to leave, they are too... “The pensioners begin arriving around 1 in the afternoon and fill nearly 20 tables in the store cafeteria. They sit for hours drinking coffee, gossiping and subtly checking each other out.” And then we have the IKEA in Beijing. People come in and using their store as if it’s their 2nd home. They don’t just use the restaurant; they actually sleep on the couches and beds. How squicky would that be for a customer? “Excuse me, sir, can you scoot over so that I can test out the Norddal bed?” [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKiJd7XESIQ) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/55 "2014-01-17T12:12:17Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > This is interesting. There are a few McDonalds in the Chicago area that I frequent that have this issue. One on the Northside near Lincoln Square seems to be just a bunch of old guys sitting around chatting. they seem to rotate fairly regularly. I haven’t heard much about it being a problem since they may take up 50% of the seats but there never appears to be shortage. Same with the one closest to my place - a ton on seniors thru breakfast until the lunch rush kicked in, just drinking coffee. About 6 months ago, they instituted the same “20 minutes and get out!” policy. I was surprised as they’d never come close to taking all the seating, and the staff seemed to get along with them well enough. As has been mentioned, this was a common phenomenon with neighborhood diners before the chains killed most of them off. This generation of seniors likely finds McDonalds and Burger King cozy and familiar, like those places Hopper painted were for the last generation. Thirty years from now, my age group will be troubling Starbucks and Caribou. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/56 "2014-01-17T12:25:20Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > As has been mentioned, this was a common phenomenon with neighborhood diners before the chains killed most of them off. This generation of seniors likely finds McDonalds and Burger King cozy and familiar, like those places Hopper painted were for the last generation. Thirty years from now, my age group will be troubling Starbucks and Caribou. 🙂 _“Back in myyyy day, Subway sold you a foot-long sammich for fiiiive dollars!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/57 "2014-01-17T12:25:25Z")
They could always start a rumour that the burgers don’t use dogmeat ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/58 "2014-01-17T13:02:20Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > This behavior seems to be a cultural thing with Asians. NPR ran a recent story about a group of retirees in Shanghai using IKEA as a retiree hook-up joint. The coffee is free, and to add insult to injury, the loiterers rarely bought anything and got into regular fights. > > [At IKEA In Shanghai, Do-It-Yourself Matchmaking : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2011/11/02/141904803/at-ikea-in-shanghai-do-it-yourself-matchmaking) > > “The pensioners begin arriving around 1 in the afternoon and fill nearly 20 tables in the store cafeteria. They sit for hours drinking coffee, gossiping and subtly checking each other out.” In their culture, there’s a long tradition of using mass-produced modern furniture stores as meat markets and boxing rings. We can’t judge; they have many things to teach us. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/59 "2014-01-17T13:31:05Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > This behavior seems to be a cultural thing with Asians. NPR ran a recent story about a group of retirees in Shanghai using IKEA as a retiree hook-up joint. The coffee is free, and to add insult to injury, the loiterers rarely bought anything and got into regular fights. The issue of how to properly pronounce ÖDMJUK is a divisive question in the Chinese community. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926/60 "2014-01-17T13:54:27Z")
In [today’s news](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/nyregion/leaders-urge-customers-to-boycott-mcdonalds.html), Korean community leaders are trying to organize a world-wide boycott of McDonald’s restaurants for disrespecting the loiterers and rudeness in asking the police to remove them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-folks-using-mcdonalds-as-an-old-folks-home-what-would-you-do/678926.md?page=4)