In the latest instance of employees lifting the veil on McDonald’s fast-food practices, an employee is jokingly revealing how they respond to customers who want their drink topped off.
In a brief but popular TikTok posted to @lucesraeh2317’s page, two McDonald’s employees can be seen responding to a customer outside the store’s drive-thru window. One of the employees is presumably the TikToker, who goes by Luces Raeh on their page. The clip appears to be the only behind-the-scenes look Raeh has on their page, a fact that has helped the video rise quickly to the top of their account, with more than 610,000 views and thousands of comments.
The short video presents its premise via text overlay, proclaiming that the video shows what happens “when they want you to fill up the drink more.” A faceless employee can be seen standing near the drive-thru window and accepting a mostly-full beverage from someone in a vehicle outside. They then hand the drink off to the person filming the interaction, who takes it and sets it on the counter.
The person filming fixes the problem in a simple and straightforward fashion. They simply remove the lid and top the drink off with a hearty serving of ice. Then the lid is re-secured, and the drink is returned to the customer.
A number of commenters were surprised and offended by the apparent revelation despite Raeh’s clarification, via comment section, that “this is all for laughs we really don’t do that.”
Considering the support people in the service industry have been getting in recent months, the comments section is filled with a surprising amount of anger. People sarcastically jabbed at Raeh and other fast-food employees, noting that “these are the people that are demanding $15 an hour.”
Not everyone felt that employees should be denied a living wage for failing to fully refill a $1 drink. Numerous people pointed out that many fast-food locations, including some McDonald’s, have “Automatic Beverage Systems.” These put a specific amount of drink into each size of cup, leaving the remainder to be filled by ice. It isn’t up to employees, in these situations, how much soda actually ends up in the cup.
Other viewers claimed that they were aware of this practice as common among fast-food joints and tagged it as they reason they often ask for “no ice.” Former employees noted that this is the best measure to take, particularly when the store isn’t busy, because they can just fill the cup from the soda machine in the lobby.
Despite multiple clarifications, many of the video’s viewers were incensed by the simple joke and told Raeh and other fast-food employees to “just be a good employee and fill it up.” Raeh had a flawless response to these viewers, who were often the same people who felt the employees should be happy with a lower wage: “Stay home and cook then.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Raeh via Facebook.
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