Worst. McDonald's. Ever.

You can make all the jokes you want about McDonald's sucking.
You have never been to the McDonald's in Wakefield-area of Raleigh/Wake Forest.
It has got to be one of the worst in the country!
I have yet to meet a local person who does NOT have a story about how they screwed up.

Why do they suck?
How about waiting more than 15-minutes at the drive-thru?
How about not getting all the food you paid for?
How about asking for something done a certain way (no ice or ketchup only) and the order is always wrong?
How about waiting on a long line only to be told as placing the order that their system is down and it's cash only?
How about placing an order and being told at the second window (after you ordered and paid and waited some more) that they are out of something but not refunding your money?

What about if this happened ALL THE TIME? This is all from my family. All from the location on Wakefield Pines Drive. All in the last year. Some  multiple times in a month.

What prompted this particular post to be crafted?
Here's today's story:

After waiting 15 minutes to place my order, I ordered our food (2 6-Piece Kids meals with a Coke & a Orange Drink, and a #4 Large with a Coke).

After paying, I waited about another 5 minutes (or more) to get to the second window to get my food and drinks.

This is where i was informed that their fountain drinks are not working and we could have chocolate milk, white milk, or a juice box. I was annoyed. I said how I should have been informed of such. a Managerial level employee said that a guy came in and didn't tell them and turned it off (meanwhile it's the lunch rush - like he couldn't wait 30 minutes since it was working fine a minute ago?!?). She had a MASSIVE attitude problem and was probably the rudest manager i have ever encountered in retail. I agreed on Chocolate milk for the kids (the 4 year old in the car started crying because he wanted his coke). I asked what about mine. I had a large drink, not a tiny kids drink. I got told same options and then she added in that I could have a Sweet Tea. I said fine, a sweet tea no ice then.

She handed me my sweet tea (WITH ICE) and when I didn't drive away she just stared at me. I asked for my food. She looked at me like I was insane. I said that I did not get my food that I ordered. She turned around to see my food sitting behind her. She handed it to me without saying a word and closed the window. Serious snotty attitude again.

Worst part? NEVER an apology. Never trying to remedy the situation.

Seriously? How can they get away with this? I mean they are part of a HUGE corporation. They should have standards that tghey have to meet in order to function under that name. They are giving McDonald's a bad name (or worse name depending in your outlook).

I have complained to corporate before. Once about 18 months ago about missing food. How many complaints before corporate steps in and complains?

I urge anyone who has had bad service at this McDonald's to contact  McDonald's. You can do so via this page - http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/contact_us/restaurant_feedback.html. Maybe they need an onslaught of complaints. They certainly need something!

So Does No Tolerance Policy Work?

NO!

How do I know? My nephew.

He's been teased and tormented. He's been knocked unconscious. He's been dangled off a porch-like structure. He's had gum put in his hair. That was all between 4th & 5th grade!

Was anyone in trouble? Not really. Were the parents informed by the school? no. Were they even notified when he was literally blacked out that something happened? no. Are there any reports anywhere to prove this? no. School looks perfect but I know this crap happened, He lives down the block from  me. He goes to a school with a "Zero Tolerance Policy". Some Policy.

Yeah my nephew isn't a normal kid, but who is? He is super smart but lacking on the social skills. Being bullied certainly doesn't help his social skills!

I digress. Back to my point... in theory the policy is wonderful but it's just not implemented. Things happen and I hate it. I hate it because my oldest is a 1st grader in the same school my nephew attended in 4th & 5th grade. My son is VERY bright as well. How do I deal? I make sure he looks super cute all the time so at least they have 1 less thing to poke fun of him for. He's really a wonderful person and I don't want any kid to steal away what makes him so special. I will advocate for my son but things happen. Kids pick on each other. They will always find something. When it comes to girls versus boys, it will mull over.

Ok, off to pre-school to watch kids be kids and love each other (they don't know any better yet).

Anti-Bullying.

Where was this when I was growing up?

I admit it. I was a nerd growing up. I didn't care much for fashion. I cared about my books and sports. I had 2 older brothers and was a Tom Boy. In 1st grade, I got glasses. I was very smart.

In school starting in kindergarten, I was teased daily. Made fun of. Pointed at. Beat up. Got gum stuck in my  hair. Spit at. 

Did a teacher do anything? The bus driver? What about when my parents complained? Still nothing.

I spent 7 years at grade school (k-6) being tormented but I loved learning so much, I didn't want to miss a day (talk about a nerd). There was 1 girl that led it all, AJ (her initials). AJ was in a popular clique and made sure people didn't like me. They'd make fun of Kim for being nice to me in 1st grade (she was in my Brownies troop and her mom was the leader and my mom helped out) until she wouldn't even speak to me outside of Brownies. I had a "best friend" in 4th & 5th grade named Nicole. She was popular, cute, trendy. Only catch, she wasn't allowed to be friends with me in school - I was her secret friend. Of course outside of school, we were inseparable but that didn't  matter. School is a whole other area of life.

That summer between grade and middle school, I got contacts, cut my hair and got some fashion sense. I went to Junior High and became popular! Can you believe that? Guys were falling over me and girls looked to me for fashion advise! OMG! 

What could ruin this new-found  life? I was date raped. I was afraid to tell anyone. I wasn't allowed at a boys house without his parents being home.  My dad dropped me and one of girl friends off at our middle school to practice for our basketball tryouts. Instead we walked to P's house (which is what we planned to do) and met him and his 2 friends and hung out for a bit. Skip the middle stuff - you dont' need details. But this was one of the times where ya think, "Gee, I should have listened to my parents." I couldn't have sad anything without marring myself in the process.

So, it lay low... life went on. Until High School. P suddenly felt a need to torment me and my family. He'd call and call me names to myself and to my brothers who wanted to beat the crap out of him. Lucky that these were pre-Caller-ID and *69. So, him and his friends would call and torment me and call me names like "slut" and "whore". They did this at school too. He told people I slept with him and I was easy (to put it lightly). So, here came more crap. At this point, I didn't care. I had a boyfriend who loved me. I had looks. I had brains. I had been-there-done-that and I didn't care anymore. Not that a teacher would  have stepped in anyway to help.

So i did my thing, stayed away from most people, kinda pulled away from school socialization as much as one could and just wanted out - to make a new start - I was college bound.

So, yeah. That's my life - well, the bullying parts.

I wrote this poem in college about how I would sit on this bench under this tree on the playground at school - just waiting for the time to pass to get back into class. I can feel that pain every time I think of that. I can feel that pain as I drive past that playground. I felt that pain when I learned kids were teasing my nephew at the same school I went to on that same playground.

Under the Tree

Sometimes, I wish I were blind

            Unable to see the faces of distaste

            The snickering grimaces

            The piercing stares.

Sometimes, I wish I were deaf

            Unable to hear their comments

            And the reaction of others to them

            The laughs that made me cry.

Sometimes, I wish I were invisible

To be an unreminder of my existence

            To never bother anyone

To avoid the abuse.

Sometimes, I wish children weren't so cruel

            Maybe then I'd be less callous

Maybe then I wouldn't ever have been called cold-hearted

Maybe I should have cared less about them and more about me.

I wrote this just trying to survive.

Starvation

I am drowning in my own desolation

My head barely above the surface of who I think I am

Beginning to believe I finally found myself

Actually realizing, I am more lost than before

Kicking and screaming, I remain unheard

I am the only one to hear my deafening cries

Self-abusing mutilation of flesh

Desperate attempts for attention

Marks embedded with falsification

Put there by the manifestation of my emotions

Constant reminders of my nature and mental state

My outside houses red to show I am alive

My insides are black and cold

I feel yet feel nothing at once

My head falls below the surface

The kicking and screaming cease into… Silence

I have forgiven most people in my life. I grew up. Most people change. People who I hated I am now friends with and people I held close, are nothing more than a speck in my life. I have often wondered if AJAJ but I do hate what she did to me.

So, could I forgive her?
I re-read my poetry. I looked at the scar on my wrist where I tried to kill myself. I looked at the pictures in the photo box of me alone. I think of that tree. I think of how she made me hate who I was - I hated the very things that Tommy holds dear. I wanted to be anyone other than me. I wished a had a disease that would make people feel sorry for me and care. I would have looked at my elementary school yearbook but I don't have it anymore. I hated it. 

So, no. I would NOT forgive her. She does not deserve ti be forgiven by me. I should not have had to deal with her crap for so many years of my life.

I am lucky in that I am here. I am alive. I have a lot of stuff to bare but I'm okay.

So I love the anti-bullying movement. It hits me in a spot I wish it didnt, but it hits me. I wish it were that easy though.