# Couple kicked out of McDonald’s for sitting ‘too long’



## Davey Jones (Mar 15, 2014)

Ive seen a lot of these types at local Burger King and Wendys,they seems to be enjoying themselves with other seniors,but how long is too long?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews...g’-offered-free-meals-for-life-190814025.html


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

This is a hard call for me, I mean, I think if there is no one waiting for a seat, what's the harm.  But then it is a business, and if they aren't spending, then maybe an hour to sit and visit after their meal.  I also think if they wanted to visit they can go to their home and entertain their company/friends.


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## Gael (Mar 15, 2014)

"As an apology, McDonald’s corporate offered the couple two free small coffees,"

That's called adding insult to injury.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

Well, McD's could put up a sign, now there's a plan.  Just something like "no squatting for more than 1 hour after meal/coffee":lofl:


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## Falcon (Mar 15, 2014)

McDonalds is what's called a "Fast food place";  Eat and leave. The food is cheap and others want to be waited on and

then hit the road.  Unlike a nice restaurant where your bill/check  may run 3 or 4 X as much as McDonalds'.

It's similar to a cocktail bar where a patron nurses a drink for hours on end while others are waiting for a bar stool.


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## SeaBreeze (Mar 15, 2014)

I think after a certain amount of time, it can be considered loitering.  Even if there are empty tables, that doesn't mean that they need a customer using the restaurant as a park bench to hang out and people watch.  I think if it was a younger group of teens, they'd be asked to leave before the elderly couple.  I agree, two free small cups of coffee is insulting, lol.


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## SifuPhil (Mar 15, 2014)

Gael said:


> "As an apology, McDonald’s corporate offered the couple two free small coffees,"
> 
> That's called adding insult to injury.



Exactly.

It appears the couple even timed their "scrunch" to coincide with the low-traffic hours, and that mop-jockey that made the snide comment sounds like your typical punk teen working the job yet not learning anything from it.

Still, it IS a "fast food" joint. The problem is that there really aren't many old-fashioned luncheonettes / diners left, where you could sit for hours and schmooze, so a place like McDeath's becomes the substitute.

We have a little place up the block - Ferris' Luncheon - hole-in-the-wall place with fantastic food. It's got 4 small booths and maybe a dozen stools at the counter, but this guy does _business_! Especially around lunch time, you have to wait 20 minutes or so for him to make your order but the wait is worth it, and the prices are almost criminal they're so low. 

But there's always some old soul or another sitting just reading the paper or watching the fly-specked TV on the wall while sipping a cup of coffee. I've only ever seen the owner ask a single person not to sit at a booth during the busy times (understandable), but the rest of the time it's "stay as long as you like". 

It's an attitude like that that probably has kept him in business for so many years.


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## Pappy (Mar 15, 2014)

It's like that with us on Sunday mornings when 10 or 12 of us get together for breakfast. We have our meal, coffee refills and shoot the bull for awhile. But, when we see the diner filling up and folks starting to wait, we get up and leave. Otherwise, they wouldn't care if we sat there all morning.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

Falcon said:


> McDonalds is what's called a "Fast food place";  Eat and leave. The food is cheap and others want to be waited on and
> 
> then hit the road.  Unlike a nice restaurant where your bill/check  may run 3 or 4 X as much as McDonalds'.
> 
> It's similar to a cocktail bar where a patron nurses a drink for hours on end while others are waiting for a bar stool.



I'm glad it's there and lots of folks can easily afford going there.  Before McDonalds came to towns, there were the little cafes where people would sit and visit, but even those didn't allow loitering.  I love to see people gathering and bs'n, there's a group that meets in a tiny town over here and they call themselves "The Spit and Whittle" group.  I'm not sure but seems like my sis gave them their name.  But they eat, sit a bit then go


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## SifuPhil (Mar 15, 2014)

As long as they don't spit and whittle at the table ...


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> As long as they don't spit and whittle at the table ...



oh you're so prissy:lofl:


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## That Guy (Mar 15, 2014)




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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

That Guy said:


>



That brings new meaning to "fast food" Oh, it's makin me full and I'm not done my oatmeal yet


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

Diwundrin said:


> We 'loitered' in a cafe once.  We'd caught a train up to Lithgow to see the snow, just a round day trip.  Well, the windows were too fogged up to see the snow around Katoomba etc and when we arrived in Lithgow we thought we'd die.
> 
> It was colder than anything we city folk were equipped to handle.  We fled to a cafe and wrapped ourselves around hot drinks, then hot food, then more hot drinks.  The cafe owner came over to chat and we told him what we'd done and had another 2 hours to kill before the return train left.  He usually closed up at that time of day but said we could stay there if we liked and he just shut the door but didn't lock it so we could get out when the train was due. "Just give me a yell when you're leaving" he said.  He left the wall heater going too.  What a great man, he didn't have the heart to turn us out in the cold. We left him a big 'tip' which isn't done in OZ but was well and truly called for on that occasion.
> I've never been back to Lithgow since, waaaayyyy too cold for me.



More like the good ole days and small towns.  Now, it's rare to find hospitality anywhere near that good


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## Bullie76 (Mar 15, 2014)

I think if I had been the manager, I would have been more patient considering they were there during a slow time of the day. Thirty minutes probably seems like 15 minutes for people that age.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Mar 15, 2014)

Our business was located right next door to a fast food restaurant (Jack in the Box). We were neighbors for the 34 years we had our business-got our coffee there every day and ran over there to grab a burger or whatever on days we were too busy to go out for lunch. Over the years,there was always a person or two who would set up shop at a table or even two and stay there all.day.long. Rarely ever ordered food-sometimes a coffee that they would get refilled all day. Finally they put up a sign that no one was allowed to stay over 1/2 hour. Couldn`t blame them-their dining area was pretty small and this one guy in particular was getting pretty out of hand with the number of tables he would take up. But now I wonder,given that many of these places now advertise themselves as being "WiFi Hotspots" how they restrict people who want to use their computers there to study or whatever.


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## That Guy (Mar 15, 2014)

Isn't Starbucky's kicking the laptop crowd out now for glomming on the wifi?


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## Ina (Mar 15, 2014)

What is glomming?


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## Denise1952 (Mar 15, 2014)

probably means like hogging Ina, where they have free wifi, sometimes folks will take advantage of it, and use it all day without purchasing anything, or purchasing little for the amount of time spent on the computer


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## Mrs. Robinson (Mar 15, 2014)

That Guy said:


> Isn't Starbucky's kicking the laptop crowd out now for glomming on the wifi?



Oh maybe they are. We only have Starbucks here inside our Safeway store and I have to say I`ve never been to this Starbucks. I stopped into the one near our business a few times when we worked there but was never overly impressed given the cost.


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## Ina (Mar 15, 2014)

Thanks Denise, Looked like ya'll were have some fun earlier.


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## Raven (Mar 15, 2014)

We have McDonald's in the nearest town and sometimes go there for lunch after paying bills and shopping.
There are always people  from the late breakfast crowd reading the paper and sipping a coffee.
People are lining up for lunch and the coffee folks are still sitting there taking up tables.
I have never seen anyone be asked to leave but it would help other customers if a sign was posted limiting  visits
to 30 minutes after they receive their coffee and or food.


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## That Guy (Mar 15, 2014)




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## SifuPhil (Mar 15, 2014)

Yeah, that darned cat-selling epidemic is sweeping the country!

I wonder how many of these folks hanging out in Mickey D's are homeless? I've seen more than a few examples of that happening ...


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## That Guy (Mar 15, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> I wonder how many of these folks hanging out in Mickey D's are homeless? I've seen more than a few examples of that happening ...



When ya ain't gots nowhere to go ya gotta go somewhere . . .


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## SifuPhil (Mar 15, 2014)

Yep, and it's warm inside and they have bathrooms ...


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## That Guy (Mar 15, 2014)




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## Davey Jones (Mar 15, 2014)

Im with most views on here,common sense tells you if the place is busy with no empty table ,its time to leave.


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## Gael (Mar 16, 2014)




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## Jillaroo (Mar 16, 2014)

_*You won't catch me sitting in McDonalds as the food is so crappy*_


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## Gael (Mar 16, 2014)

Jillaroo said:


> _*You won't catch me sitting in McDonalds as the food is so crappy*_



You said it.


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## Pappy (Mar 16, 2014)

We usually go once a week, before we get groceries, and have their chicken wrap and senior coffee. A little over 5 bucks for lunch ain't bad.


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## SifuPhil (Mar 16, 2014)

Pappy said:


> We usually go once a week, before we get groceries, and have their chicken wrap and senior coffee. A little over 5 bucks for lunch ain't bad.



So Pap, what's a "Senior Coffee"? Do they put some meds in it, or does it pour real slow, or does the cup have wrinkles, or ... ???


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## Jillaroo (Mar 16, 2014)

:lofl::lofl:   _You crack me up Phil_


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## rkunsaw (Mar 16, 2014)

I think senior coffee means it's really old. Like leftover from last week.


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## SifuPhil (Mar 16, 2014)

rkunsaw said:


> I think senior coffee means it's really old. Like leftover from last week.



Ewwwww! :grey:

That's the one thing that keeps me from being a true hard-core coffee addict - I can't stand coffee when it gets too old. I used to drink it old enough that it would stand up without a cup, but my stomach just can't take that anymore.


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## littleowl (Mar 16, 2014)

It will never happen to me. I have never been in one.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

Gael said:


> You said it.



I have to admit to an occasional stop there, but then I don't read what is in the food, oh no, I think I'm going to, pretty sure I won't eat there again once I do:saywhat:


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## Pappy (Mar 16, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> So Pap, what's a "Senior Coffee"? Do they put some meds in it, or does it pour real slow, or does the cup have wrinkles, or ... ???



Actually, Phil, their coffee is pretty darn good. Senior coffee is $1.00 a cup with a free refill.
God, you crack me up.

Usually there is some old fart that shuffles out to the table with our coffee in a used cup. His thumb is usually in the coffee. So, one day I told him to stick his thumb...you know where. He answered, "I do, when I'm in the back room."


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

Pappy said:


> Actually, Phil, their coffee is pretty darn good. Senior coffee is $1.00 a cup with a free refill.
> God, you crack me up.
> 
> Usually there is some old fart that shuffles out to the table with our coffee in a used cup. His thumb is usually in the coffee. So, one day I told him to stick his thumb...you know where. He answered, "I do, when I'm in the back room."



:aargh:


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

littleowl said:


> It will never happen to me. I have never been in one.



I wouldn't say you are missing anything lo, I prefer the mom and pop type restaurants if ever get the chance to go to one


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

rkunsaw said:


> I think senior coffee means it's really old. Like leftover from last week.


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

Gael said:


>



That's how I feel about clowns


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## Denise1952 (Mar 16, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> So Pap, what's a "Senior Coffee"? Do they put some meds in it, or does it pour real slow, or does the cup have wrinkles, or ... ???



I love how your mind works, on most occasions, LOL


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## SifuPhil (Mar 16, 2014)

Pappy said:


> Actually, Phil, their coffee is pretty darn good. Senior coffee is $1.00 a cup with a free refill.
> God, you crack me up.
> 
> Usually there is some old fart that shuffles out to the table with our coffee in a used cup. His thumb is usually in the coffee. So, one day I told him to stick his thumb...you know where. He answered, "I do, when I'm in the back room."



I'm surprised they have table service - I don't believe I've ever seen that in any McDonald's I've been in. 

Too many stories of what goes on in the back room for me to ever feel comfortable going into one of those places. If they're the only food place for miles around and I'm crawling on my hands and knees I _might_ consider it, but short of that ...


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## Sid (Mar 16, 2014)

SifuPhil said:


> So Pap, what's a "Senior Coffee"? Do they put some meds in it, or does it pour real slow, or does the cup have wrinkles, or ... ???



         WHISKEY Phil They put whiskey in it.


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## Sid (Mar 16, 2014)

nwlady said:


> This is a hard call for me, I mean, I think if there is no one waiting for a seat, what's the harm.  But then it is a business, and if they aren't spending, then maybe an hour to sit and visit after their meal.  I also think if they wanted to visit they can go to their home and entertain their company/friends.




      They are a couple, they can't go home because they are both married just not to each other.

       Reminds me of a joke. I am going to post in the humor section, if you would like to read it


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## nan (Mar 16, 2014)

SifuPhil and that Guy,:lofl:


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## SifuPhil (Mar 16, 2014)

Sid said:


> WHISKEY Phil They put whiskey in it.



I believe that would be against most local laws, as McDonald's is not licensed to serve alcohol.


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## Giantsfan1954 (May 13, 2017)

There's a group of "gents" that meet at the local convenience store every morning,they take up a booth and nurse a coffee,no one seems bothered by it


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## Sunny (May 14, 2017)

1. I've found their coffee to be surprisingly good.

2. Their food is horrible.

3. OTOH, that night I've written about when I was stuck all night at Midway Airport in Chicago and all the food concessions were slamming their gates shut, MacDonald's stayed open the latest, allowing us desperate passengers marooned at the airport to at least grab something to eat. It was pretty bad, but at least starvation wasn't added to the torment of the whole experience.

4. 30 minutes?  Really?  Give me a break!  Maybe, if they had been sitting there for 2-3 hours, and the place was very crowded, with folks standing in line waiting for a table, but 30 minutes?  That couple certainly deserved the apology and the free meals they got as a result. How about teaching their employees some human decency?


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## Don M. (May 14, 2017)

Sunny said:


> 1. I've found their coffee to be surprisingly good.



I agree about McDonald's coffee...when we're out running around, we always stop by a McD for a "Senior Coffee"...generally about 49 cents.  We stopped at a Starbucks once, and had a cup of their "swill"...cost us about $4 a cup, and we never made that mistake again.   We seldom eat anything at a fast food joint, but I do like to get a McD Sausage and Egg McMuffin occasionally....especially since they now offer breakfast 24/7.

I do notice that there seems to always be one or two people at a McD that are busy with their laptops...I guess a lot of these places offer free WiFi, so I would imagine that they tend to linger, and probably for more than 30 minutes.


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## Camper6 (May 14, 2017)

Denise1952 said:


> This is a hard call for me, I mean, I think if there is no one waiting for a seat, what's the harm.  But then it is a business, and if they aren't spending, then maybe an hour to sit and visit after their meal.  I also think if they wanted to visit they can go to their home and entertain their company/friends.



Simple solution.  If there's a lineup waiting for food and a table, you have to leave.

If not. It's shows that the place is welcoming and comforatable.  Then there's always that WI Fi.  Well if you offer it and people use it, whose fault is that?


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## Camper6 (May 14, 2017)

Raven said:


> We have McDonald's in the nearest town and sometimes go there for lunch after paying bills and shopping.
> There are always people  from the late breakfast crowd reading the paper and sipping a coffee.
> People are lining up for lunch and the coffee folks are still sitting there taking up tables.
> I have never seen anyone be asked to leave but it would help other customers if a sign was posted limiting  visits
> to 30 minutes after they receive their coffee and or food.



But has it really inconvenienced you by not being able to get a table to sit down at.?


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## WhatInThe (May 15, 2017)

It seems like the only time food is fast anymore is when it enters my bowels.


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