When we were driving home from Davis, the people in my car decided to stop at McDonald's in King City for dinner. Not being an extremely big fan of the place, I browsed the menu for a bit. I noticed that the 6 piece chicken McNugget was listed as the same price for the 10 piece, $2.59 or something like that. When it was my turn to order, I asked about this.
"How much is the 10 piece chicken McNugget?" I asked. With a little deliberation as to how to check the price of an item (McDonald's employees are not known for their intelligence, among other things), he gave me the answer of $2.79. At this, I pointed out that it was advertised as $2.59 on the board, so I requested to have that price.
Finally noticing their board, he alerted the manager, who then had to inform them how to change the sign. She explained that they just raised the prices. Regardless, they were advertising that price, so I felt it was my right to only pay that amount.
After the commotion had subsided, the cashier confirmed that I would like the 10 piece. "Only if I can have it for $2.59," I replied. He asked the manager, who refused. She said that it wasn't something they could do. Annoyed, I got the 6 piece and came down with the usual McDonald's nausea.
Taking a step back from everything, I realize the argument was over twenty cents. But it had gone beyond the point of money. I was arguing on the behalf of good business practicing and for the sake of arguing.
The next day, I took the opportunity to call Corporate McDonald's customer service. Keeping up with McDonald's standards, the lady I talked to was sufficiently inept, as she argued that they don't even offer a 6 piece. I informed her that the particular establishment carried 4, 6, 10, and 20 piece chicken McNuggets, leaving her to actually look it up and agree with me. I told her the story and voiced my opinion about their business practices, letting her apologize to me profusely. She also informed me that that particular responsibility and decision is left to the owner/operator of the particular establishment. I allowed her to forward on my information to the store owner.
The following day, I received a phone call from the owner of the King City McDonald's. She tried to clarify the story with me. After talking to her employees and getting a modified version, I corrected her on all the wrong parts, including the items they were selling. Apparently it's not a requirement for anyone working at McDonald's to know their selection or prices. I informed her that there were the 4 and 6 pieces on the same row, second to the bottom, and the 10 and 20 pieces on the bottom row. It was very specific and hard to screw up.
Once she understood the situation as best as I described, I let her know that I felt the manager dealt with the situation poorly and that the McDonald's corporation would be lucky to ever receive my business again. She then tried to figure out which manager was the one working. It was fun trying to describe her.
"She was sort of short with dark hair. It was shorter than shoulder length and straight. I would consider her overweight, but I don't know if I could say that she weighed more than your average McDonald's employee." Silence.
After plenty of apologies, the owner told me she would send some coupons.
Two days later, I received a letter from McDonald's. Although it was your standard lick-to-seal envelope, it was sealed with a McDonald's happy face sticker. Inside, I found two coupon books with five individual McDonald's dollars each.
Because I refused to pay an extra twenty cents, I came out with ten dollars. It pays to complain.
