A month ago I got my son super excited to get soft serve from McDonald’s. I hadn’t been in ages. We rode the bike over on a hot day, walk in and see a deserted restaurant. I walk up to the counter and see nobody. Confused I say “hello” out loud. The two men come up clearly bothered i interrupted their conversation asking what I wanted.
I asked if I could order from them. The one guy points to the screen behind me. I turn around and start going through the menu. I look for ice cream. I try clicking on it, it won’t work.
I once again flag the guy down and he simply says “ice cream machine is broken.” I then ask how long it’ll be (assuming it’s short term). He responds, “it’s been broken a long time.” At this point my 4 yr old is begging me for the ice cream.
It was in that moment I got super sad. I grew up going to McDonald’s. As a kid of the 90s it was our Saturday hangout. It was the place we got ice cream after t-ball games. It was the place we stopped in on early morning road trips for egg McMuffins.
Was it the best food? To a 8 yr old whose taste buds were still forming, hell yes.
My son is almost 5 and been to McDonald’s maybe twice in his life. He will never have the nostalgia for that brand simply because McDonald’s failed to realize what they had when they had it and stripped it all down.
It’s too pricey, sterile, and at this point full of disappointment. This tweet below says it so well.
@McDonalds you need to stop listening to shareholders and start listening to parents.