A McDonald’s customer documented a self-service kiosk fail that they say left them feeling a bit embarrassed and the potential subject of accusatory glances from other patrons—who may’ve thought they ordered an ungodly amount of food.
In a viral video uploaded by the TikTok account @mouthculture, a Mickey D’s machine could be seen wigging out on camera, much to the delight of other users. The clip has accrued over 1.7 million views as of Tuesday morning.
The TikToker records a McDonald’s self-service kiosk continuously printing a receipt so long that it would make a CVS bill of sale blush. They wrote in a text overlay of the video, “POV you had to walk away from the maccies machine because it kept printing and made you look like a pig amongst humans.”
They added in a caption for the clip: “Honestly couldn’t even find my original receipt.”
So what caused the deluge of ink and paper to roll out of the machine? Some users speculated as to why this was the case.
One penned: “I think they must’ve just changed the receipt paper so everyone’s orders are finally being printed.”
According to other McDonald’s guests, this isn’t the first time they’ve seen some type of receipt fail at the chain’s self-service machines. One user said, “Bro when i ordered once the whole roll jsut fell out and i walked away like nothing happened and the person behind me jsut stared at me.”
But as embarrassed as @mouthculture was by seeing the endless receipt roll print and print and print some more, there was one TikTok user who seemed to find a bright side. More receipts equals more surveys to complete, which means more rewards to acquire which then translates to free food. “The way i would have grabbed all those and done the survey for cheap maccies,” the viewer wrote.
Another person, who said that they were a Fetch points enthusiast, said they would have also viewed the glitch as a happy accident they would have loved to capitalize on: “From someone who does Fetch points.. I would take them all.”
@mouthculture Honestly couldn’t even find my original receipt #fyp #maccies #fypage #mcdonalds ♬ original sound – Mouth Culture
While this receipt paper fail can’t really be defined as a “hack” or a “glitch,” this isn’t the first time that McDonald’s self-service stands have made headlines. Fast Company is one of many outlets that wrote about the viral free burger folks were able to secure for themselves by ordering 10 hamburgers without a patty. Each time a customer did this, for whatever reason the machine would register the total amount as -10 cents, which put a “balance” on the patron’s order. They could then go and order a $1.00 hamburger, resulting in a free burger at the time.
The Financial Post also criticized the self-service kiosks for alienating a large demographic of Mickey D’s customers: those who pay for their food using cash. Since the machines don’t accept cash payments, the outlet argued that a lot of potential patrons were left out in the cold. But judging by comments made by the company’s former CEO Steve Eastbrook, this may have been by design. Eastbrook stated that not only did the chain notice more and more customers placing their orders through the self-service kiosks but that patrons on average spend more money when using the machines as opposed to relaying their order to a human being.
The Daily Dot has reached out to McDonald’s via email and Mouth Culture via TikTok comment for further information.
