Now please tip 200% for the garbage
In my industry, there's a saying along the lines of "Good, fast, cheap. Pick two."
I think the fast food industry version is "Good, fast, cheap? No, no. And believe it or not, also no."
I don't eat fast food very often, so this is entirely anecdotal. Of the fast food chains I've eaten at in recent history, Taco Bell is by far the worst. Against my better judgment, I even broke down and gave them a second chance at a different location thinking maybe my first terrible experience was a fluke. Didn't work out. Makes me think it's bad everywhere. Wendy's has held up the best of the places I've eaten. It's definitely not cheap anymore, fast depends on the location as well as other factors, and good is relative, but overall it hasn't gone down hill as bad as the others.
I don’t usually eat fast food, but one night I was starving, and there happened to be a drive-thru right next to me. I saw only two cars ahead in line and thought it would be quick. I pulled in and waited. Fifteen minutes passed. Then nearly twenty. By that point, a long line had formed behind me, trapping my car.
At the thirty-minute mark, I started asking the cars around me if they could maneuver to let me out. After almost forty minutes, I finally managed to escape.
Frustrated and still hungry, I drove a little further to a local gyro joint. I walked inside, placed my order, and within five minutes, I was enjoying a fresh, delicious lamb platter.
If this had been an isolated incident, I wouldn’t have thought much of it. But the reality is, experiences like this are all too common. Fast food isn’t fast, and to make matters worse, it’s often not even cheap anymore. Unless you’re scraping the bottom of the so-called “value menu”—which has become scarce and filled with low-quality options—you’re likely paying the same, if not more, than you would at a local spot.
When you stack up the cost, the wait, and the disappointing quality, it’s hard to justify why anyone bothers with fast food at all.
I have a 2 year old who falls asleep when driving, and we have had troubles with sleeping so I drive the motorway for perhaps two hours. In Norway the only places that do drive through is BK and McD, and yeah I have been one black coffe guy. Or just fries and coke. And nuggets and fries are car friendly. Can be eaten with one hand, and makes little mess
If you have a Braum's nearby you can get a bomb-ass burger with two quarter pound patties, crinkle cut fries, and drink or shake for about $9.
But you probably don't have a Braum's around unless you are in the US and in one of like two shithole states.
And yet people keep going. And why? Because those companies hire people with psychology and chemistry degrees to ensure they do. They play every psychological trick in the book to keep people coming back. And as much as anyone here (me included) think a burger from McDonald's is shit, there are people, a lot of people, who feel like they just can't live happily without their regular dose of Big Mac.
And, of course, McDonald's has used those psychological tricks to convince such people that McDonald's cares about them.
The whole thing is sick.
Oh yeah.
It's become prohibitively expensive, so I only have it occasionally. My parents made the unfortunate choice to raise me on McDonald's, so unfortunately, I happen to like it a fair bit. For me it's just a treat, or if I mess up cooking my dinner I might order some to replace that, but it's pretty rare as I can cook up some delicious chicken and veggies, or if I really want fries/tots, pop some in the air fryer, and it's infinitely cheaper and just as good as ordering fast food. (And healthier.)
Then there's the calories. That alone is enough reason for me to only have it occasionally.
Buy frozen chicken nuggies/pizza and bake it in the oven
Double Whopper with medium fries and drink is now $14 and change where I live.
When I went to Cancun (recently) I decided to eat at Ruben's Hamburgers. Their burgers are VERY GOOD, and that's from someone that normally does not like meat burgers (I like mostly chicken burgers)
