So we’re in McDonalds the other day. (Granny came with us to skating lessons and offered to take us all out to lunch at McDonalds as a special treat for the boys.) While there is room in my Plan B diet for a rare treat of hamburgers and fries, I’d rather they be really tasty home-made ones than the crap that passes for food at McDonalds. Besides, I’m not even particularly hungry, so I decide to order a salad. I know they have salads at McDonalds, because I’ve ordered one before. They suck, but at least they’re guilt-free.
I’m looking at the menu boards above the cash registers, but after carefully perusing each of the half-dozen or so menu blocks, I can find no mention anywhere of salads. They have giant pictures of the burger combos, and a placard for the Monopoly game. There’s not even a board with the kids’ meals on it. That sign standing by itself, propped in a corner.
Remember the good old days when the menu boards in fast-food restaurants used to actually show you all the items that were on the menu? This has been a gripe of mine for a while. I first noticed it outside at the drive-through. I figured maybe they don’t put all the items on display out there because of a lack of space or something, or because the menu boards have to be further away thus limiting the text they use. But here I am standing inside the restaurant, and I still can’t find any mention of foods that I know should be available. I actually step out of line and go read the microprint on the nutritional information poster near the condiment stand to find out whether they still carry salads.
We eat our lunch, but it’s still bugging me, so I go up to the counter and ask someone who seems to be in a position of authority. All of about fourteen years old, from the look of him, but he’s so quick with an answer that I can tell he’s either been practicing or has answered this one a few times before.
“Oh yes, we still carry salads,” he says. “But head office knows they aren’t very good, so we don’t promote them.” I’m too gobsmacked by all that is wrong with this answer to even begin to reply, so he continues. “They’ll be some fantastic new salads unveiled soon, though!” he says with evangelical zeal. “You’ll love them, and we’ll have lots of new signs then.”
Uh huh. So the takehome message for me is this:
(1) McDonalds has salads, but they’re too embarrassed by the quality of them to admit it publicly.
(2) I’m only allowed to order a salad if I know to ask for one. And I’m not allowed to know the price in advance, either.
(3) Instead of providing patrons with a list of actual food items available in its restaurants, McDonalds would rather display ginormous pictures of their most popular but least healthy items.
(4) McDonalds would rather you just forget about the whole salad thing entirely and have a supersized Big Mac and fries instead. (That’s 1090 calories, more than three-quarters of my entire daily calorie consumption.)
Nice, McDonalds. Very nice.
That so doesn’t surprise me. Nothing about that place surprises me anymore.
after SuperSize Me, I avoid it at all costs. my kids don’t even know what it is – they can make their own decisions later on in life! However, we do go to a local hamburger eatery that has sweet potato fries and crayons at the table.
I was so dissapointed and felt terribly ripped off the last time I ordered one of their salads (I got the house salad, all it had was iceberg lettuce that way barely even cut up, a few pale slices of tomato and a couple of rings of onion) definitely not worth the almost $6 I paid for the salad.
I totally understand how you feel!
Jaw dropped at kids comment….!?!
I similarly avoid fast food joints for the kids and I….bleh! Mine don’t even know what a McHappy Meal is – and I didn’t even plan that!
Well I’m glad I’m not alone! The last time I was in there (attending a b-day party) I saw plenty of pretty pictures, but barely any actual menu items. I ended up getting nothing, lol
This is funny, sad, and not in the least bit surprising. And the salads are pretty poor. Burger King seems to treat salads the same way: rather crappy and not heavily promoted, probably for the same reasons.