C'mon McDonald's.. you're killing me. (but not in the way you'd think)

I saw something recently that pretty much sealed it for me. McDonald’s is phasing out self serve soda fountains from dining rooms. Some locations already have. Others will follow. And for someone like me who actually likes to sit down, take a few minutes, and enjoy a meal, that one change feels bigger than it should. It feels like a message.

Don’t stay..

Get your food and go.

That’s really what this whole thing has turned into over the last decade. And honestly, it’s been bothering me for a while, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it until now.

McDonald’s didn’t just modernize. It stripped itself down. Dehumanized itself, and lost its soul 

I’m not naive. It’s a business. It’s always been about making money. But it used to feel like there was another layer to it. There was some kind of human element baked into the experience. You were being served, not processed.

Now it feels like you’repurposely ignored and ironically, being herded like cattle.

The stores themselves tell the whole story. Walk into one today and it’s all gray, brown, and sterile. Clean, sure. Efficient, sure. But there’s no life in it. No personality. No reason to stay longer than you absolutely have to.

And that feels intentional.

Compare that to places that actually want you to sit for a bit. Even somewhere like Starbucks figured this out. Comfortable seating, a little bit of atmosphere, something that says it’s okay to exist here for a minute.

 McDonald’s went the complete opposite direction. Hard seats, bland surroundings, nothing to look at, nothing to feel. Eat and move along.

Maybe that’s the whole strategy now. Drive thru. Delivery apps. Quick turnover. Minimal interaction. Fewer employees. Less cost. More volume.

I get it.

I just don’t like it.

Because I remember what it used to be.

I grew up when McDonald’s actually felt fun. Bright colors. Weird little details everywhere. Hamburger shaped stools. Murals on the walls. Playgrounds outside where kids could burn off energy. 

You’d sit inside and people watch while sipping a soda and eating fries that somehow tasted better back then. When I was a little boy, I remember servers would even come back from behind the counter and top off people's coffee. Some would even toss me a little bag of McDonaldland cookies on occasion.

That's customer service. That's humanity. The real interactions and smiles behind the counter. Little moments that made it feel like a place, not just a transaction.

I even met Ronald McDonald a couple times as a kid. He would regularly make stops at the different McDonald's taking pictures with the kids, signing autographs, handing out little bags of McDonald's swag to the youngsters. That stuff sticks with you.

And it wasn’t just childhood nostalgia either. Even into the late 90s and early 2000s, taking my own kids there still felt like something. The restaurants were big. They were busy. There was energy. It felt alive.

Now it feels like a waiting room.

During my last visit, it kind of hit me all at once. Sitting there, looking around, realizing I didn’t want to be there any longer than necessary. And that’s when it clicked.

I’m probably done dining inside McDonald’s.

Not out of anger. Just… reality.

I’ll still hit the drive thru once in a while, especially for breakfast. That taste is still familiar. It still connects to a lot of good core memories. That part hasn’t changed much.

But the experience around it? That’s gone. And for me, that matters more than I realized.

Living here in Florida now, I’ve got a White Castle nearby with more being built soon. That’s probably going to be my go to when I want a burger fix. Funny how that comes full circle too, considering I ended up in their Craver Hall of Fame back in 2013. That’s a story for another day, but yeah, there’s history there. At least it still feels like something.

Maybe I’m just old school. Maybe I’m missing the point entirely and this is exactly what people want now. Fast, efficient, no interaction, no lingering.

If that’s the case, then McDonald’s is doing exactly what it set out to do. However for me, it feels like the end of something.

Not just a menu or a dining room feature, but an era where even a quick cheap meal had a little bit of warmth to it. A little bit of personality. A little bit of humanity.

I’ll still go back once in a while, take a bite, and probably get hit with a wave of nostalgia, but I think it’s time to start building new memories somewhere else.

Somewhere that still feels like it actually wants you there.