McDonald’s fans around the world have a shared enemy: the company’s ice cream machine.
While the chain restaurant nominally offers a variety of soft serve products, ranging from McFlurries to simple cones, customers claim they frequently are told that the machine is broken and that no ice cream is available.
This is such a common experience, in fact, that the idea itself has become a meme on the internet, and several people have attempted to investigate why this seems to happen with such frequency.
While many of these investigations hinged on the idea that the machines were truly broken, others alleged that there may be some deception at play. The McDonald’s ice cream machines are notoriously difficult to clean—and so, the conspiracy theory goes, employees are simply lying about the machine being broken so they don’t have to clean the machine.
Recently, a user on TikTok claims to have caught one of these employees in such deception.
In a clip with over 48,000 views, TikTok user Miinnie (@miinniie_miinniie) claims she called out an employee’s lie about the ice cream machine—and forced them to make her an ice cream treat.
@miinniie_miinniie Fuck he thought #fypシ゚viral #ihatemcdonalds ♬ original sound – DaGang+Miinnie
“POV: When McDonald’s lied and said the ice cream machine was down but you caught him making one and now he had no choice but to make you one,” she writes in the text overlaying the video.
Commenters under Miinnie’s video appeared to be in agreement that employees frequently lied about having broken machines.
“I worked there, ice cream machines work fine,” claimed a user. “they told me not to take ice cream orders bc they didn’t feel like making it.”
“Usually it’s broken because whoever took it apart to clean didn’t put it back right & they don’t try again till next weeks scheduled cleaning,” suggested another.
“My man used to work for mcds they would say it was broken bc they HATEDDDD having to clean it out,” echoed a third.
Others shared similar stories of calling out employees about the machine.
“One time they told me it was broken and I said ‘no it’s not’ AND THE KIDS SAID ‘FINE’ and I got my ice cream,” alleged a commenter.
“I went through the drive thru ask for an ice cream they said it was down so I just pulled around again and asked and got one,” recalled a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to McDonald’s via email and Miinnie via TikTok comment.
