Macca’s worker reveals hidden drive-thru ‘pressure’ on crews, so bad they ‘can’t talk’ to customers

A McDonald’s worker has revealed the secret to ordering at the fast food drive-thru, begging customers to take their advice.

A McDonald’s worker has issued a desperate plea to customers ordering at drive-thru windows, revealing staff are being “pushed beyond our limits” to meet and beat timers for their service.

The worker wrote on social media that the crew at their Melbourne Macca’s were under intense pressure to beat timers set at each stage of their service and faced getting “yelled at” if they fell short.

“As a McDonald’s worker, we’re pushed beyond our limits to beat ‘times’ up on the screens, the moment you come through the drive thru, a timer starts,” they wrote in a post to Reddit.

“(The) same thing happens when you go to the first window to pay for your meal and the next window to grab your food.”

A Maccas worker has issued a desperate plea to drive-thru customers thru to make staff’s days easier. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

They said the pressure to beat the timers was so intense, they had no time to talk to customers.

“We get yelled at and pushed so hard until we beat those times,” they wrote.

“(We) sadly can’t have a conversation with any customers, even when there’s no other customers around and we’re not busy, because we have to rush everybody along to keep the times high.

“The majority of us (workers) are children and parents working hard for minimum wage, we all loved the times that we could interact with our favourite customers, but now we don’t have that anymore.”

Their request to customers ordering at the drive-thru was simple: “Please remember what you’re ordering or decide what to order beforehand, so we don’t get yelled at or mistreated.”

The McDonald's revealed staff were under tight time pressures with each transaction. Picture: Reddit.

News.com.au approached McDonalds to comment on the use of timers in their stores and respond to the workers’ claims, which a spokeswoman said the company was “disappointed to learn of”.

“At Macca’s we pride ourselves on providing exceptional service, quality, and convenience to our customers,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

“We are also committed to providing a fun and engaging place to work and an inclusive, rewarding environment for our teams and we are disappointed to learn of this employee’s experience.”

The spokeswoman did not directly address questions about the use of timers in stores.

Instead, they said: “All Macca’s employees receive extensive training and support and our managers and crew do a phenomenal job running busy restaurants across the country.”

“We encourage the employee to reach out to us directly so we can address this with restaurant management,” the statement concluded.

However, dozens of people on Reddit responded in support of the worker, with a number of commenters claiming to be former or present Macca’s workers who agreed they felt the “same ‘pressures’ … about time” in their stores.

Commenters hit out at the store’s “poor management” and suggested the worker quit or at the very least “unionise”.

“This doesn’t make me want to be faster in line to impress your managers. It makes me never want to give my money to that regime again,” one replied.

“I’m sorry you get blasted for not being a computer, if at all possible I’d seek alternative employment.”

Macca’s workers are reportedly under pressure to serve their drive-thru customers faster and faster.

A number of users claiming to be former Macca’s workers or managers sympathised with the worker, revealing more details about the “Drive Thru Scoreboard” (DTS) running in stores.

One former worker said the DTS was billed to crews “as a diagnostic tool, not a measurement tool” to help improve stores’ efficiencies – but it was quickly “folded into a new batch of ‘live KPI’s’”.

“You were also introduced to the actual scoreboard that went up in stores, where you could see LIVE, how your store compared to other stores all across the state/country,” they wrote, adding it led to “immense pressure” on managers to have “the best store”.

“This meant that the only thing anyone cared about, was ‘the numbers, Mason!’, not the customer experience, which is what the standard used to be.”

They added the DTS “absolutely KILLED morale” because all it took was one customer to take a little longer – for any reason – and the staff would run out of time, sounding the timer’s alarm.

Staff say their efficiency is ranked on a live scoreboard, and if an order takes too long to be completed, alarms start beeping. Picture: Bev Lacey / The Chronicle

Retail and Fast Food Workers Union Secretary Josh Cullinan told news.com.au the workers’ post reveals an “endemic across McDonald’s” and far more serious problems within Macca’s and the fast food industry.

“The timer is one element of a much more insidious program of monitoring every action of a worker,” Mr Cullinan said.

“All our members at McDonald’s are under constant video surveillance. This isn’t a safety thing – this is to always be observing their work.”

He said while some stores have relaxed the “demand” element of the timer – because staff cannot meet the expectations – the majority, “maintain ludicrous expectations which are no more than a system of bullying”.

“The issue of worker abuse by managers or franchisees is endemic,” Mr Cullinan added, noting that of the 100,000 workers employed by McDonalds, 85 per cent were under the age of 21 – and more than half were under 18-years-old.

“There aren’t two or three 15-year-olds working in the place of one adult. They (fast food outlets) skeleton staff every shift and these young, casual, exploited workers are bullied in the vast majority of fast food outlets,” he continued.

“Many fast food outlets operate in a similar way but none are as bad as McDonald’s. … (it) makes up half of all fast food workers in Australia and have their exploitation ruthlessly in place.”