The other day, I was in a rush and not really fussy about food. There’s a Burger King on my way somewhere, so I stopped in for a quick bite. The drive-thru had a couple of cars ahead of me, and the counter was empty inside. I ordered two bacon cheeseburgers and fries, split between me and my friend.
Then? Pure chaos. Four or five employees were slouched behind the counter, like they were on break from a lazy Sunday. For 25 minutes, while I waited, I watched DoorDashers stroll in, ask for orders, and leave. Every time they left, the staff would slowly meander around, mutter about “wrong orders,” and shuffle food around like it was a game of hot potato played in slow motion. They’d glance at the screens above the counter, confused, argue briefly over each order, and then… nothing. A few times a DoorDasher came in and complained about some wrong item and were told to stay put while they remade the order. I swear, a single motivated employee could have easily outpaced these five. It was ambiguous if one of them was some kind of shift leader or manager, but despite all the mess there was no urgency at all.
It was 6:30 PM, and there were only a few customers trickle in every few minutes. I finally got my burgers and fries (cold, by the way) and no apology or acknowledgement of the wait, just a half-hearted drop-off of my food. The receipt had a feedback request, so I wrote an ugly review online, asked to hear back, and that was it. A week or two later, still no reply.
My expectations were already to the floor. I figured for $5 more, I’d get a decent burger. But Five Guys could’ve made my order three times faster. BK isn’t even cheaper anymore, and the quality? Worse. If they can’t handle basic orders when there’s not a crowd, what’s the point? They’re not cheap, not great, and definitely not fast. I’m done.
Burger King was never a paragon of excellence but they have managed to void my already amazingly low expectations. America can't even do our slop right anymore. What happens to the empire when even the bread and circuses don't work anymore?
