Complaint regarding cleanliness of Tacoma location.

Legally you have to give employees breaks-I don't know about the laws
in I am assuming WA, but in my state it is a paid 15 min break every 4
hours. So maybe the employee on break had already worked 3.5 hours
without a break-he needs to take one before his shift ends in half an
hour or the business could get fined. I hate when people jump to
conclusions about that sort of thing-you never know what the
circumstances are. For all you know, his shift had ended and he was
waiting for a ride. I do agree that he should not have been smoking
out front though-usually Mcd's is pretty adamament about designating
an area out of customer view whenever possible.

As far as the cleanliness goes, maybe they just had a rush of people,
like a sports team. Maybe they were short staffed. I've been in
plenty of fast food places that were just as you described depending
on the time of day. If I find the restaurant is dirty all the time,
then I don't go to that one anymore.

What did the manager at the location say when you brought this to
his/her attention?

What time did you come in? How close was it to closing of the lobby?
I ask this because I used to work at a McD's. To me this sounds like
they had a rush of a sport team and fans come in. Some of the teams
can be PIGS! IF they had a rush like that AND when they left it was
close (like with in a half hour) to closing, it is possible that the
employ was talking an overdue break. Maybe the employ HAD to take the
break then by law. The team(s) might have just left before you drove
up.

When we worked there and this happened (and it happened ALOT) we would
wait until we closed the lobby and do a massive clean. Most nights we
would not get anyone in the lobby to STAY after about 9. You could
have asked the person at the counter to clean a table for you. I was
always willing to do that when I couldn't do a full clean.
When I worked the night crew, we had 3-4 people TOTAL, including the
manager, starting at about 7 at night. One for the Grill, one to take
orders in drive-thru, on for the counter and to fill the drive orders
and the manager. That was it. We would have to cover the breaks.
When the teams came in, there was NO time for breaks and there was NO
time to clean the lobby. The manager usually would help out in the
grill, that was it though. There WAS no cutting of corners that we
did. There were just some nights that the place got trashed before we
had time to clean it.

Completely unacceptable. I agree with you completely.

This is obviously a poorly managed restaurant. If I saw that mess,
I'd leave and eat elsewhere.

I have only experienced this a couple of times in my life. Most McD's
are kept pretty clean.

It sounds like the restaurant either got slammed, or this mess built
up steadily over the evening. Either way, the mess shouldn't have
been left.

There isn't a date or time to specify when "that evening" was, which
would be helpful.

signs on the doors of fast food restaurants like this that posted the
District Manager's name and number. They are usually your best bet
for getting issues like this addressed.

But I'm with Venice. I'd rather eat at home where I know it's clean
than eat in that hole!

"It only makes you wonder what other corners the staff are cutting."

Exactly. Too bad you didn't notice the mess before you ordered. I
would have left even if I was starving. I'd rather have a bowl of
cereal in my own kitchen than eat under those conditions.

I know your son would have been disappointed, but that's better than
getting sick from an unsanitary restaurant.

I hope you get a response.

If the employees were able to take a smoke break, the manager is
definitely doing something wrong. I agree, the mess needs to be taken
care of before their need to smoke. Good feedback. Stop back when you
hear back, I am interested as to how they respond.