Every time we see a “pay-it-forward” video from a fast food drive-thru, we can’t help but get the feels. It makes us want to get out there and start doing kind things for others, just for the sheer gesture of doing so.
However, we were surprised to learn that many fast food workers say that the trend of paying it forward in the drive-thru is actually one of the most frustrating things for them to deal with.
If that wasn’t weird enough, one McDonald’s drive-thru customer ended up getting a reverse pay-it-forward card played on her when the orders got switched up, and she ended up having to pay for the customer’s meal in the car in front of her.
Jordan Reynolds Bailey, otherwise known as @eyenerd87 on TikTok, recently explained the situation in a now-viral video that has received well over 400,000 views.
According to Bailey, she went through the McDonald’s drive-thru to order food for herself, her husband, and her son. She got to the window, and the woman working the cash register asked if she had ordered three happy meals, among a few other things. Jordan said that she had only ordered three sandwiches and a single kids’ meal.
The woman at the drive-thru realized that she had made a mistake, and gave Jordan a small “whoops” before closing the window.
According to Jordan, the McDonald’s drive-thru employee charged her meal to the car in front of her. What Jordan didn’t expect was that the employee did not want to take the fall for her mistake, asking her to pay for the meal in the car in front of her even though it came out to a total of $8 less than the meal she ordered.
Jordan noted that the woman opened up the window and said that the total would be $25, even though when she first ordered her food, the same woman told her it would be $17 and some change. The woman then noted, “Yeah, but because the vehicle in front of you paid for your meal, you have to pay for theirs.”
Imagine being in that situation for just a second.
Luckily, Jordan is no pushover and said that she would absolutely not pay for that meal because she’s not receiving the food and she never ordered that food in the first place.
The drive-thru employee had to call in a manager to take care of the issue so Jordan could pay for the food that she received. Even so, the moment she pulled out of the drive-thru, she was quick to post the video to TikTok, saying that the people of Mcdonald’s have completely lost their minds.
Most of the people that viewed her video stood in solidarity and were blown away by the fact that she was asked to pay for the meal in the other person’s car.
One person noted that they were a manager at a restaurant for nearly two decades and that this was the first time they had ever heard something like this. “ Believe me,” they said, “ cashiers definitely collected on the wrong order, though no cashier I worked with would have asked for someone to pay for another person’s meal.”
Another person was taken aback by the fact that the drive-thru employee was so nonchalant about the whole situation. “This is not something that a normal person should be okay with.”
Someone else noted that the same thing has actually happened to them too, and they assumed that the employee was nervous that they wouldn’t be able to match their order number with the payment for corporate.
“For whatever reason, they always try to keep the receipt too. Make sure you always get your receipt!”
One commenter just seemed like they wanted to vent about McDonald’s in general.
“I went to McDonald’s this morning to get breakfast and tried to explain to three different employees that all I wanted was a McMuffin with bacon, eggs, and cheese. No one could figure it out, and I ended up leaving pretty pissed.”
