When it comes to serving customers in a restaurant’s drive-thru, the rules can be surprisingly stringent. For instance, when I used to work at a McDonald’s many moons ago, I remember lots of drunk patrons trying to walk through the drive-thru when the restaurant was closed. Of course, we couldn’t serve them as it was a policy that was in place for the customer’s safety and to help protect the company from liability when accidents do occur. Still, saying ‘no’ to a drunk person is like flashing a red rag to a bull — it typically just made them even more irate!
With this in mind, an adult content creator, who has Friedreich’s ataxia, and goes by the name @Mollysnowcone on TikTok is trending hard at the moment after sharing a video detailing her recent experience at a McDonald’s in Phoenix, Arizona. In essence, this specific restaurant closes its dining room between 3pm and 5pm, which is incredibly unusual, and only serves the drive-thru customers during that time. Unfortunately, Molly turned up during this inconvenient window, but instead of giving up, she attempted going through the drive-thru in her power chair, though she was refused service by the staff.
The 33-second clip opens outside the aforementioned McDonald’s store in Phoenix and centers on a visibly upset Molly. “So I’m at McDonald’s 750 West Camelback. They close their dining room from 3 to 5pm. They only serve the drive-thru so I went through in my power chair. They refused to serve me because I wasn’t in a car. I told them I don’t drive and it was discrimination and they don’t really care.”
With over 92.7k followers on TikTok and 42k followers on Instagram, Molly’s post quickly gained traction from netizens all around the globe. While a small minority sided with the content creator, the vast majority chimed in to clarify the importance of customer safety while using a drive-thru, which can be dangerous on foot or while using a wheelchair. One commenter on TikTok wrote:
That is not discrimination… if someone had walked through the drive through they also would’ve refused service.
Spaghett
Another user, meanwhile, added: “Ya, no, this is for your safety, you can’t go thru the drive thru safely. The dining room isn’t closed to only handicapped it’s closed to everyone, if you know the policy, be there before 3 or after 5.”
A third commenter wrote: “Not serving non-vehicles in a drive thru is a safety and liability issue.”
A fourth netizen who was more sympathetic to Molly’s cause weighed in, expressing: “I experienced this myself I’m sorry for what happened to you your situation is obviously different I was on my feet walking up and they claim it is robbery prevention but come on you were done wrong“
Lastly, another user who was on Molly’s side penned, “Drive thru means drive“
At the time of writing, Molly has yet to release a follow-up video or follow-up post regarding the incident. Also, McDonald’s is yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
