McDonald's MY stands by staff and sets record straight after chilli-sauce gate on social

McDonald’s Malaysia is in the hot seat after a customer at its Taman Buaya outlet in Melaka was charged for requesting additional chilli sauce. Upon further investigation and viewing of CCTV footage, McDonald’s found that the customer was initially provided with an insufficient chilli sauce but was promptly given additional packets when requested. However, the customer reportedly became verbally aggressive towards the staff.

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“The customer insisted on paying for an additional 10 packets of chili sauce and urged our crew to issue a receipt for this purchase. Despite our crew's attempts to clarify that chili sauce is provided free of charge, the customer angrily insisted on being charged for the 10 packets,” a statement by McDonald’s said.

It went on state that it is deeply disappointed with the actions of the customer for displaying aggression towards its staff but also for posting inaccurate information about the incident on social media. The incident has since been reported to the police in light of the customer's aggressive behaviour. 

“We would like to reiterate that McDonald's Malaysia offers all our customers chili sauce at no additional cost. Additionally, at McDonald’s Malaysia, we hold our crew members in high regard as frontlines who consistently strive to deliver exceptional service to Malaysians at all times. Their welfare and wellbeing will always be our utmost priority,” the statement concluded.

Netizens took to their social media pages to share their take on the incident. One of them pointed out that it doesn’t make sense that the POS system can generate a receipt for chilli sauce if it’s not meant to be sold.

“I guess McDonald’s has gone too far to make a police report just for such a petty thing,” he added.

This is not the first we have seen of spats between customers and staff. Just last year, a video of two customers arguing with an A&W manager went viral on TikTok. A&W Malaysia has since issued an apology on the video’s comments section and contacted the customers directly to give a verbal apology. The brand said it takes such matters seriously, and apologised for the negative experience.

The customer said in her post: “I am satisfied with the verbal apology given and am now waiting for their official apology letter through email. Once received, I will delete this post as a gesture of acceptance. Thanks to all netizens for your support and I hope this incident will bring an alarm to A&W service crew to provide good customer service.”

According to a Facebook post by one of the customers, a couple had brought their children to A&W for a meal and had requested chicken drumsticks for their children. However, the manager taking their order said that the meat options are not customisable. Upset with the manager’s response, the female customer said that she no longer wanted to purchase from A&W, to which the manager allegedly replied, “mampus” (die). This angered the customers and led to a argument which was then posted on TikTok.

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