McDonald's employees might have the whole
menu at their disposal when it comes time for them to order their own meals, but what
do they skip? These are the items that McDonald's employees
won't touch, so maybe you shouldn't either. Chicken nuggets might not be the mystery meat
they used to be, but according to alleged former McDonald's employees on Reddit, many
still give nuggets a miss, despite them being a serious customer favorite. "I've eaten them every day for 15 years!" "And you called 911 because they're out of
chicken nuggets?" At least, employees make sure they're not
grabbing some off the stack of food that's ready and waiting to be served. Pre-made batches of nuggets are kept warm
by a dual-purpose timer that's supposed to encourage employees to toss nuggets that have
been sitting out too long. But multiple employees say that while they
used the timer, they would rarely throw the nuggets out and make fresh ones. Instead, they'd just reset the timer. Some claim the nuggets tasted just fine even
after sitting through several turns of the timer, while others describe the old nuggets
as questionable at best. So specifically ask for fresh nuggets, or
opt for something else. One McDonald's employee went into extreme
detail on Reddit to explain why they refuse to drink any beverage that comes out of the
McCafe machine. They claim it's incredibly difficult to clean
completely, and that in their experience, it's one of the machines that gets routinely
neglected. They describe the insides as being caked with
inches of gunk, and claim they've seen it at multiple locations. Like all of these tales of terror, it's an
instance where it really depends on the location, as several other employees have chimed in
to claim their store cleans their McCafe machine on a nightly basis. But if you don't know for sure how diligent
your local employees are, it's probably not worth taking the risk. A number of alleged former employees say to
avoid the Filet-O-Fish, or at least ask for one that's made fresh, as ready ones have
probably been sitting in a heating cabinet for hours. Other employees claim it's also one of those
sandwiches that's just impossible to make neatly. The combination of tartar sauce, cheese, and
slightly greasy fish means that when you get it, it's going to be a sloppy mess. "The filet-o-fish is an evil cancer square
created to destroy America." While some locations likely make fish fresh,
it may be limited to the ones with particularly diligent managers who go the extra mile. In 2017, social media had a meltdown when
a McDonald's employee from Louisiana posted pictures of a tray he pulled out of the ice
cream machine at his location. According to an employee identified as "Nick,"
the drip trays were pretty much never cleaned, and typically filled with a moldy, rotten
goo. "I couldn't believe my eyes I was like I've
never seen something this disgusting." McDonald's issued a formal response, saying
that food never came in contact with the tray, which was actually designed to catch the machine's
lubrication grease, but was still supposed to be cleaned on a regular basis. Nick was fired not long after his post, but
he's not alone in his warning. Other employees on Reddit thought they pinpointed
the real problem: other employees who didn't care enough about any part of their job, including
the complicated process of cleaning an ice cream machine. This might break the hearts of a ton of McRib
fans, but multiple employees say that this cultishly adored sandwich is actually one
to avoid. One former employee claimed that they saw
it before it was sauced and said: "It doesn't look like meat at all, it looks
like a scab." Other employees claimed that in spite of the
McRib's devoted following, not a lot of people actually ordered it. That meant the already funky-looking patty
would spend all day in the sauce, making it even funkier. It turns out that bun might be hiding a lot,
and if employees won't eat what they see, maybe you should give it a miss, too. This one's a little different. In 2013, McDonald's warned employees against
eating too much fast food on its own employee website, saying, in part: "While convenient and economical for a busy
lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt
and may put people at risk for becoming overweight." Along with the warning was a photo of a hamburger
and fries. Other parts of the post warned cheeseburgers
were generally an "unhealthy choice." Even stranger, the fries and soda featured
in the post were McDonald's red, though they were missing the logo. And that's the most bizarre bit of advice
of all: McDonald's recommending that its own employees not eat much of their own food,
because it's inherently unhealthy.
