fast food joint tries to sell bacon to Muslims because – why would they do this?

[Yoused]

Complaint: McDonald's intentionally sold Muslim family bacon

Workers at a McDonald’s restaurant in Massachusetts intentionally put bacon on a fish sandwich that a Muslim woman had ordered for one of her children, a civil rights organization said Wednesday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a discrimination complaint on the woman's behalf...

finance.yahoo.com

Only one item on the post-breakfast menu has bacon on it, and it clearly says it has bacon on it. This was clearly not accidental. What is up with people?

 

[Cmaier]

Complaint: McDonald's intentionally sold Muslim family bacon

Workers at a McDonald’s restaurant in Massachusetts intentionally put bacon on a fish sandwich that a Muslim woman had ordered for one of her children, a civil rights organization said Wednesday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a discrimination complaint on the woman's behalf...

finance.yahoo.com

Only one item on the post-breakfast menu has bacon on it, and it clearly says it has bacon on it. This was clearly not accidental. What is up with people?

Having worked at a mcdonalds, and having dated a girl from Chicopee, I feel like i am an expert on this topic.

The person operating the fryer (which used to be me) has no access to bacon, so this claim seems…if you will…fishy.

 

[Renzatic]

Just the idea that anyone willingly orders the fish sandwich at McDonald's is suspicious to me.

Now, I'm not one of those people who hates McDonald's on principal. I have the occasional Big Mac, and have this weird addiction to their plain 99 cent hamburgers. But the fish sandwich just doesn't look good to me. Reminds me of school cafeteria fish too much, I guess.

 

[fooferdoggie]

How would someone in the back know they were Muslim?

 

[Yoused]

But the fish sandwich just doesn't look good to me. Reminds me of school cafeteria fish too much, I guess.

Yeah, school cafeteria fish, that is about right. I mean, they put cheese on it. That is just wrong. Fish should not have/need cheese. Or, to be more precise, "cheese".

 

[AG_PhamD]

I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility, but the circumstances are suspicious. I feel like you would notice bacon on your McDonalds size sandwich- visibly or by smell. I don’t know the intimate rules of halal but I know Muslims aren’t even supposed to touch pork products. I would guess you’re not supposed to eat the bottom half of a sandwich with bacon on it.

I was raised Jewish. I don’t eat kosher but ironically find pork products absolutely disgusting. The school I went to was Kosher though. It would be unfathomable to devout Jews to eat anything that had been in contact with bacon. I can only imagine the same would be true for Muslims.

Apparently none of the beef is halal in US McDonalds anymore, so maybe that’s why they opted for the fish sandwiches.

I would imagine McDonalds has security cameras that can quickly resolve what did or did not happen.

Nice of McDonalds to offer a refund for the sandwhich. Better than my last DoorDash order where half the delivery was 100% not what I ordered, likely someone else's food, and they refused a refund because they already refunded me recently… and that was because half of that order was missing. What a garbage company.

 

[Renzatic]

I don’t eat kosher but ironically find pork products absolutely disgusting.

Even ham?

 

[ronntaylor]

How would someone in the back know they were Muslim?

The person operating the fryer (which used to be me) has no access to bacon, so this claim seems…if you will…fishy.

From the Yahoo news story:

Alahmar, who wears a hajib and an abaya, entered the store on June 29 of last year with her twin 7-year-old sons, the complaint says. She ordered a plain fish sandwich, and had one of her children repeat the order to a worker in case they did not understand her accent.

I've been in McDonald's in several states and other nations. In each and every one I was able to clearly see the workers prepping the food. So I'm sure they can see customers. Someone in a hajib and an abaya would be quite noticeable. And I've seen cashiers go to the food prep area and talk with staff there about certain orders. If the restaurant wasn't busy and people have hate in their hearts, it wouldn't be difficult to put bacon on a fish sandwich.

Can't remember the last time I had a fish sandwich from McD's. But aren't they heated/warmed up in a microwave and not cooked in a fryer? That would mean that the sandwich would be prepared next to all the fixins: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and bacon.

 

[Yoused]

Even ham?

There is turkey ham, which is effectively indistiguishable from pork ham.

 

[Cmaier]

Can't remember the last time I had a fish sandwich from McD's. But aren't they heated/warmed up in a microwave and not cooked in a fryer? That would mean that the sandwich would be prepared next to all the fixins: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and bacon.

I haven’t been in a mcdonalds for many many years, but when I was a kid I worked the register and fryers, and I’d fry the fish sandwiches and stick them on buns. Bacon was in the back with the burger prep, so I had no access to that. Given the years that have passed, it’s quite possible that now it’s done completely differently.

 

[SuperMatt]

From the Yahoo news story:



I've been in McDonald's in several states and other nations. In each and every one I was able to clearly see the workers prepping the food. So I'm sure they can see customers. Someone in a hajib and an abaya would be quite noticeable. And I've seen cashiers go to the food prep area and talk with staff there about certain orders. If the restaurant wasn't busy and people have hate in their hearts, it wouldn't be difficult to put bacon on a fish sandwich.

Can't remember the last time I had a fish sandwich from McD's. But aren't they heated/warmed up in a microwave and not cooked in a fryer? That would mean that the sandwich would be prepared next to all the fixins: lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and bacon.

As a former back-of-house McDonald’s worker, you can see the customers pretty easily. I worked at a very busy location (NYS Thruway rest stop), so I seldom associated an order with a specific person. But when the restaurant was less busy, it was not hard to figure out who ordered what.

The fish fryer in the McDonald’s I worked at was in the back, and the French fries were in the front, actually only handled by the cashiers. So the fish sandwiches were made in the same general area as the burgers. It would have been easy to add bacon to just about any sandwich if it were requested. Also when I worked there, French fries were cooked in vegetable oil, but the fish and McNuggets were still cooked in lard.

As for fish being microwaved, I don’t know what they do these days, but for filet-o-fish we had a steamer for the buns (all other sandwiches had toasted buns) and we definitely fried the fish. Of course pretty much everything there goes into a “queueing oven” - which is a high powered microwave - for a few seconds before it’s passed forward to the cashiers.

How do I remember so much about this after so many years? I wish my brain was better at retaining useful info…..

 

[Renzatic]

There is turkey ham, which is effectively indistiguishable from pork ham.

I've had that before. A few years back, the whole extended family decided to order a smoked turkey from some local BBQ place for Thanksgiving. It tasted EXACTLY like ham, and everyone proclaimed it was the best turkey they've ever had.

Since then, we usually have ham instead of turkey for Thanksgiving.

 

[Cmaier]

As a former back-of-house McDonald’s worker, you can see the customers pretty easily. I worked at a very busy location (NYS Thruway rest stop), so I seldom associated an order with a specific person. But when the restaurant was less busy, it was not hard to figure out who ordered what.

The fish fryer in the McDonald’s I worked at was in the back, and the French fries were in the front, actually only handled by the cashiers. So the fish sandwiches were made in the same general area as the burgers. It would have been easy to add bacon to just about any sandwich if it were requested. Also when I worked there, French fries were cooked in vegetable oil, but the fish and McNuggets were still cooked in lard.

As for fish being microwaved, I don’t know what they do these days, but for filet-o-fish we had a steamer for the buns (all other sandwiches had toasted buns) and we definitely fried the fish. Of course pretty much everything there goes into a “queueing oven” - which is a high powered microwave - for a few seconds before it’s passed forward to the cashiers.

How do I remember so much about this after so many years? I wish my brain was better at retaining useful info…..

Which rest stop? I lived at exit 16.

 

[SuperMatt]

Which rest stop? I lived at exit 16.

Almost as far away as you could get: Angola, near exit 57…

 

[Cmaier]

Almost as far away as you could get: Angola, near exit 57…

57?! That’s practically the Midwest!

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

On the long list of magical thinking and moral imperatives I really need to question the point of dietary restrictions. It really feels like a "If I haven't lost them yet, let's try this." loyalty test that the diety just pulled out of their ass.

 

[SuperMatt]

57?! That’s practically the Midwest!

Well, we do drink pop.

 

[Yoused]

On the long list of magical thinking and moral imperatives I really need to question the point of dietary restrictions.

Back when the Torah was being compiled, they had health issues with pork. If they failed to cook it enough, which apparently must have happened from time to time, the diners could get some awful parasites. Trichinosis, or something like that. These days, with farm-raised hogs, you could probably eat raw pork without getting anything worse thank Sam and Ella, but the biblical wiseguys judged the local pigs just too risky, so they made it religious law. A fair amount of scriptural edicts are non-arbitrary.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I work for devout Jews. No way they would eat anything from a McDonalds. When eating out it’s always at a Jewish restaurant. If not they bring there own or skip eating. With all their festivals they are used to missing meals. It’s all feast or famine.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Back when the Torah was being compiled, they had health issues with pork. If they failed to cook it enough, which apparently must have happened from time to time, the diners could get some awful parasites. Trichinosis, or something like that. These days, with farm-raised hogs, you could probably eat raw pork without getting anything worse thank Sam and Ella, but the biblical wiseguys judged the local pigs just too risky, so they made it religious law. A fair amount of scriptural edicts are non-arbitrary.

I understand the health issues of the day, but if we’re going to go down that road, wasn’t bathing on the regular considered a near pointless extravagance back then? Toss in thousands of years of medical diagnosis and treatment quackery. Witchcraft or demonic possession related health issues? Seems like an all knowing God would communicate more than limited dietary information like a random Snapple factoid cap inserted into scripture and even thousands of years later the devout are still going “The pork rule stands!”.

My devout Catholic grandfather used to not eat meat on any Friday, lent or not. He proudly told a priest this once and the priest told him there were probably more productive ways to be a good Catholic.