Customer nightmares: Drive-thru dozing, wrong sort of call-in orders

Once again we scoured the internet to find the knuckleheads who made this week a particularly trying one for some restaurateurs. Here are three situations that merited a palm plant to the forehead.

Hey, mistakes happen. But some McDonald’s customers in Minnesota weren’t very understanding when the wrong promotional cups were sent to a unit in the Twin Cities area. The containers were part of a football tie-in with the state’s beloved Minnesota Vikings. Unfortunately, they were emblazoned with the logos of the Vike’s archrival, the Green Bay Packers, who are tied for first with the local team. Even worse: A coupon presented along with the cups entitled the bearer to BOGO deal on sandwiches—if the Packers won their next game. 

Drive-thrus typically generate the majority of a quick-service restaurant’s sales. They’re also a disproportionate source of problems. This week we salute a common one, embodied by one Jaquine Byers in North Carolina. The late-night line of a McDonald’s ground to a halt because the 36-year-old was tired and took an unplanned nap while waiting to order. The police had to be summoned to wake him.

Authorities are still looking for the Einstein in Washington who figured he’d get some yucks by trying to pass on the phone as a fireman. The trickster called local fast-food restaurants and told the staffers who answered that he needed to verify their fire suppression systems were in working order. Would they mind pulling the alarm? One employee complied—forcing the restaurant to close after the chemicals were released and requiring a cleanup estimated to run to about $5,000.