Former Fast Food Employees Share Insider Tips from Their Old Jobs: What to Avoid

Want the inside scoop on McDonald’s no-nos? Former employees spill hilarious and shocking truths. You won’t look at your Big Mac the same way ever again!

Hey foodies! Ever thought about the glorious convenience of fast-food chains? Cheap, quick, and delicious, right? But, hold onto your fries, because ex-workers are here to spill the tea (and it’s not the iced kind you’d want to drink). Ready for a ride through the greasy underbelly of fast food? Buckle up, it’s about to get bumpy and funny!

Coffee Machines aka Germ Factories
Ever wonder if the coffee you grab from your favorite convenience store is as pristine as it tastes? Spoiler alert: sometimes ignorance is bliss. Here’s a tale from a CircleK veteran that’ll make you look twice at that cappuccino machine:

“Worked CircleK for 3 years – coffee is surprisingly good and machines were well maintained, but the cappuccino/iced coffee machine was disgusting and impossible to clean despite best efforts,” the person said.

Salad Bars: More Like Bacteria Bars
Ah, Chuck E Cheese, where a kid can be a kid and a salad bar can be a biohazard. Here’s a peek behind the scenes that might make you reconsider your leafy greens.

“I worked at Chuck E Cheese years ago and while the pizza was good & safe (it’s pretty tough to screw up pizza) but the salad bar would be a pass,” the person disclosed.

The person also added how the salad bar was a war zone of tongs and spoons:

“Adults and kids would just toss the tongs and spoons all over the salad bar, letting the handles fall into the food, getting all the different vegetables and dressings mixed together. All this at one of the grossest places on earth where they are putting their hands all over video games, the ball pit, pizza, and around again.”

And the kicker?

“At the end of the night then we would flip all of the salad bar vegetables over into fresh containers and top them off for the next day. They did get thrown out every few days. If employees ever made ourselves a salad we would make it from the ingredients in the fridge that were not yet out on the Bacteria Bar,” the person explained.

A response to this gem:

“Just the thought of a salad bar at a place like Chuck-e-cheese is enough to make me gag,” a person expressed.

Ice Machines: A Chilling Reality
If you think the ice in your drink is pristine, think again. Here’s a cold, hard fact from someone who knows ice machines a little too well.

“The ice machine. They don’t get cleaned as often as you’d hope,” the person wrote.

“I briefly worked as a sales rep for an ice machine company and more often than not they are [expleitive] filthy. The problem is no one wants [to] pay for it to be cleaned let alone clean it themselves,” an ex-employee revealed.

Iced Drinks: Pay Extra for Peace of Mind
When someone who battles bugs for a living gives drink advice, you listen. Here’s what this person’s got to say:

“I do pest control. I pay a little extra for a bottled drink instead of the fountain.”

An Icy Horror Story
Ever wonder what might be lurking in your ice? One college freshman found out the hard way. Here’s the horror they unveiled:

“When I was a freshman in college, I signed up for the meal plan. Went to the cafeteria every day, would get my drinks from the fountain, no big deal. One day, I got ice as usual for my soda and noticed something brown fall into my cup with the ice. Looked closer and realized I was staring at a frozen cockroach in my cup. I did not sign up for the meal plan the next year. I also avoid getting ice for my drinks when I go out now.”

Taco Bell’s Iced Tea: A Sticky Situation
Next time you think about quenching your thirst with Taco Bell’s iced tea, think again. Here’s why:

“Don’t get iced tea from Taco Bell. The inside of the canister at my Taco Bell would always have a thick, tissue-y brown film all around it. My Taco Bell was actually cleaner than your average Taco Bell, but it was really easy to get away with not cleaning that thing, or otherwise just forget to,” the person disclosed.

McDonald’s Myths & Truths
Ever wondered if the McDonald’s ice cream machine is really broken? Here’s the scoop from someone on the inside.

“I actually work at McDonald’s presently, and I can say with some confidence that several of the other answers are wrong. When we say the ice cream machine is broken, it’s actually broken.”

Adding how making an ice cream cone isn’t rocket science, the person said, “Stop bitching about the ice cream and order a vanilla milkshake.”

Want more secrets from this McDonald’s ex-employee? Prepare to be shocked and amused!

“You can put anything on anything. I’ve put guacamole on egg McMuffins and maple bacon on a salad. We honestly don’t care how ridiculous your order is; as long as you pay for it, go wild. (Unless you’re going to order sixteen Big Macs with hot and spicy chicken instead of beef. Screw you, Jerry.),” the person said.

Ever wonder what happens to all that uneaten food at McDonald’s? Brace yourself for a SHOCKING revelation.

“The amount of food we waste could raise a small army of homeless children. If you aspire to take over a small Western town, start a McDonald’s branch first. (We are required to waste food after the holding time. This applies to every meat product, even the grilled chicken, so as long as you’re not ordering at night, it’ll be fresh. If you’re ordering at night, we don’t waste any food during the graveyard shift. Your grilled chicken will almost certainly be stale if you get it at midnight.),” the person explained.

Think the floors at McDonald’s are clean? Think again.

“The floors are filthy. I’m the only staff member at my restaurant who cleans the mops. I’ve never seen anyone else do so. It takes me an hour to rinse all the junk out. When you see someone mopping the floors, all they’re doing is spreading the dirt around a little. If you drop food on the floor, leave it. The three-second rule does not apply here,” an employee confessed.

Think the ice cream machine is a nightmare? Wait till you hear about the grills.

“The grills are crap,” the person revealed. “They’re buggy more than the ice cream machine ever is. There is a very good chance your beef hasn’t been cooked 100%. If you’re not comfortable with eating medium-rare meat, go for the chicken — it’s basically impossible for the chicken to not be cooked properly.”

Got gluten allergies? You might want to sit this one out.

“If you have gluten allergies, stay away from everything except the salad. We handle cooked grill meat with the same gloves as cooked fried meat, so there’s a lot of cross-contamination. I have degenerative Coeliac disease, and I’m sick basically all the time,” the employee explained.

Craving a sweet treat from McDonald’s? You might want to hear this first.

“Cookies are never fresh. Pies depend on the restaurant,” the emloyee revealed. “My branch cooks pies when customers order them or when the management is feeling peckish, but we cook one or two batches of cookies in the morning and just let them sit there.”

Worried about McDonald’s employees snacking on the job? Here’s the juicy truth.

“The whole “if you eat food you’ll get fired” thing is [expletive]. Literally everyone I work with nibbles on a pickle or a fry here and there. Some of them like to toss pickles into the chicken fryer and eat fried pickles. (Yuck.) Oh, yeah; if you’re allergic to pickles, don’t eat the crispy chicken,” an employee conceded.

Frozen meat at McDonald’s? Absolutely. But there’s a silver lining to those ice crystals.

“Yes, our meat is frozen (thanks, Wendy’s), but the ice crystals melting as the beef is cooked help to retain moisture. That’s why your beef, chicken, and sausage aren’t dry and flavorless,” the person admitted.

Ever wonder what gets steamed at McDonald’s? Spoiler: it’s not much.

“The only thing we steam is fish buns. By that, I mean that when people order the fish filet, we steam a reg bun, but that’s it. No steamed bacon. No steamed… whatever,” the person said. “But, calling back to #1, you can get other stuff steamed. You can have your Big Mac’s bun steamed instead of toasted. Maybe you like steamed tomatoes. I don’t know. Put the steamer to good use! It’s lonely, sitting there, no one touching it.”

More McDonald’s Tales
Think getting a cone at McDonald’s is easy? Think again. Here’s why those dreamy swirls and everything else can be a total nightmare based on the interesting things this person’s flatmate (who used to work at Macca’s) has told them:

“Cones, while not impossible, are a nightmare to work with and almost nobody can get them to come out right… customers who asked for six cones in the middle of the night while only one other worker was present that the machine was switched off for the night. Please just order a McFlurry, you get more ice cream that way. They also often fill the pot way past where they should,” the person explained.

Got a craving for apple pies? Here’s a fun fact that might make you laugh (or cry):

“They can only cook eight apple pies at once. If you ask for nine or more you’ll be waiting for a long time,” the person revealed.

Ever wondered why your milkshake took forever? Here’s a hilarious malfunction that keeps the chaos flowing:

“The milkshake machine sometimes malfunctions and keeps pumping out milkshake, and the only way to cancel is to hit the same flavour as the one selected, hitting the wrong one makes the situation worse,” the person exposed.

Grilled Chicken & High Times
Ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes with your grilled chicken? Get ready for some hilarious confessions from a former McDonald’s employee:

“Grilled Chicken is almost always the least fresh product you can order. It can sit in the heating cabinets for hours and will still be served,” the person confided.

Think you can be rude at the drive-through and get away with it? Ummmm… think again.

“The drive-thru speaker goes directly to the kitchen as well. If you are rude to the person taking your order, your food will never be right,” the person explained.

Love the McRib? You might want to reconsider after this juicy tidbit.

“When the McRib was around, it would be made, at most, twice a day. The rest of the day, it would sit in a cabinet in the sauce,” the person added.

Ever wonder why your McDonald’s slushie tastes…different? Here’s a not-so-tasty secret, revealed by this person.

“I don’t do this but I see it a lot, when we use the machine for our slushies and smoothies and frappes, etc some people won’t even clean the blender fully before putting in a new drink.”

Ever suspect a fry thief at McDonald’s? You might be right! Here’s a fry-tastic confession:

“I have seen many of my coworkers at each McDonald’s dig their hands in your bag and eat your fries before handing it out the drive-through window.”

Ever wonder if your food has a special seasoning? Sometimes, it’s floor dust. Here’s why:

“Most of the time if someone accidentally drops your food, for example, if I’m working drive-through and the runner sets the bag of food down on the cart next to me, it’ll fall, except the person who did it will just pick it off the floor, turn around and stick it back in.”

And the Winner Is… The McMouse Club! Squeak! Squeak!
Think McDonald’s is just for humans? Think again! Here’s the rodent report:

“We get about 5 mice in our restaurant every month, and they get taken care of, but that’s one of the things I was told on my first day, and I was very surprised and kind of disgusted by that!” the employee revealed.

Final Bite: Fast Food Wisdom
Alright, folks, there you have it. Next time you hit your favorite fast-food joint, remember these nuggets of wisdom. Skip the iced tea, rethink the salad bar, and for the love of fries, let the ice cream machine rest. And if your burger hits the floor, just wave goodbye. Happy munching!