In the last decade or so, fast food has evolved quite a bit. Fast food chains are offering lighter, healthier options. They’re also catering to foodies with more gourmet menu items. (We see you, pretzel buns and aioli dipping sauces.) There’s even a robot that can make your burgers for you. But one of the biggest fast food initiatives is the move to cooking with fresh beef.
All McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S. switched to fresh beef instead of frozen patties. But there is one catch: For now, McDonald’s will only use fresh beef in their Quarter Pounder and Signature Crafted Recipe burgers. It’s an initiative that’s been nearly two years in the making. To help keep fresh beef production running smoothly, McDonald’s recently installed buzzers that go off each time a customer orders a meal that requires fresh beef. Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, the sound is already driving some employees mad.
Back in February, as the fresh beef initiative was making its way to all McDonald’s locations, Reddit user M68000 took to the McLounge Subreddit to voice complaints about the “cowbell hell” and ask fellow McDonald’s employees for advice on how to make the annoying sound stop.
“So, my location’s grill recently got a superfluous KVS display for the grill (and only the grill) installed this morning and it’s driving virtually everyone bats,” user M68000 shared on Reddit.
“It plays a unbelievably grating and repetitive cowbell sample instead of something more to the point like the beeps the other stations make when something comes up, and the station can’t be turned off in spite of being about as superfluous as the bun mode on the initiator screen. It’s annoying as hell and nobody likes it except for a single manager. I thought about doing everyone a favor and just unplugging the speakers but it’s using a internal speaker on the thin client’s so can’t just disconnect it. How do I shut it up?”
Other Redditors sympathized, agreeing that the sound is jarring and feels out of place.
“Our store is starting in three weeks, the cowbell drives us insane, but i think its just so its different from other sounds in store,” commented user Drakenstein99.
Another Redditor shared that you can turn the sound off, but advised against it.
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“It can be turned off, using the bump bar installed below it, but the actual monitor should never be shut off otherwise a corporate worker will drive to your store and turn it back on (not kidding),” commented user Aufdenstadt.
As annoying as the buzzing noise must be for employees, it’s happening for a good reason.
We commend McDonald’s for upgrading their food prep process and opting for fresh beef where possible. So, the next time you head to McDonald’s to satisfy your craving for a Quarter Pounder, be a little extra patient with your cashier. Because your order just made a cowbell sound go off in the kitchen.
