McDonald’s worker reveals three secrets about drive-thrus

A McDonald’s worker has shared three little-known facts about the fast food chain in a viral TikTok.

New Zealand McDonald’s worker @charlton.a’s video will make you think again before saying anything private in your car while you’re waiting for your food at a drive-thru.

The TikToker revealed that, when you’re in the drive-thru, the workers can apparently “hear everything”, even when their microphones are off.

He also said that their cameras take a “mugshot” of you so they know which order is yours. You can also apparently order a recipe book.

McDonald’s clarified the claims to indy100, and said although microphones are necessary to clearly pick up audio, the conversations are not recorded.

To assist the crew in matching the order to the correct customer when they approach the pay window, a shot of the car, not the customer, is used along with a verbal confirmation of the order. These photos are not retained.

Although the TikToker mentioned a recipe book, this isn’t a book on how to make McDonald’s at home. Rather, it is a fundraising item created for Ronald McDonald House Charities three years ago, featuring recipes from the menu of restaurants that participate in the Supper Club events of the charity.

Since uploading the video the TikToker has received almost 30,000 likes and the video has been viewed over 320,000 times.

The comments were dominated by people asking if the workers can “hear everything”, why are the orders sometimes wrong?

A different McDonald’s employee replied and said: “Because we’re overworked minimum wage workers who are constantly pressured by managers to work Usain Bolt speed.” The original uploader also replied and said: “What she said but it depends on the Maccas too to be honest”.

One commenter asked him to clarify how well the microphones work. “We can hear quite a bit but we can definitely hear all the passengers in the car too,” he replied along with a laughing emoji.

One TikToker admitted: “I do the orders wrong on purpose when the customers rude to me HAHH.” [sic]

Another wrote: “I had my first shift at Maccas the other day and they put me on drive-thru, that went from scary to just infuriating fast lmao”.

A different employee wrote: “I get we will mess up your order anyway but please actually know what you’re gonna order before going through” along with a crossing-finger emoji.

Despite the claim that customers can get a McDonald’s recipe book, we’re not entirely convinced.

One commenter said: “Now you’re gonna have people asking for recipe books at my store and we don’t have them.” The uploader replied: “I just gained Maccas 100% more sales on recipe books.”

Indy100 has reached out to McDonald’s for verification.