Wet, tired, hungry firefighters walk away from McDonald's with no breakfast

Sunday, 29 January 2023

Firefighters who had worked through the night were disappointed with the service from McDonald’s. (File photo)

Wet, tired and hungry firefighters who called into McDonald's, having worked through the night dealing with flooding Tauranga properties, were disappointed they weren’t allowed to order breakfast while one of them went home to get their wallet.

Papamoa Volunteer Fire Brigade member Randy Offenbaker took to Facebook after a group of 10 firefighters was refused permission to order breakfast on Sunday, while one went home to fetch a credit card.

“Disappointing end to a very long night/morning for our Papamoa Fire Firefighters,” the post read.

“After being out from 1am this morning dealing with properties flooding in and around Welcome Bay, ensuring the safety and well-being of our wider community, we called into McDonald’s Papamoa (10 of us) at 8.30am for breakfast, wet, tired and hungry.

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“We asked the manager if we could all order our breakfasts while one of our members went home to collect [a] credit card to pay. We were told no we can’t do that. Needless to say we left. Their loss, we still had to get back to station and clean up, wash and recommission the appliance, ready for the next event.

“Thanks McDonald’s for your support.

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“Note, we don’t carry out wallets and cards etc when attending incidents, probably the last thing we think about when we’re heading out the door.”

Within three hours, the post generated 114 angry, shocked and sad reactions, and had been shared 27 times.

Some called for McDonald's to be boycotted, with others labelled the decision by McDonald’s “terrible”, “disgusting” and “appalling”.

While some pointed out that the firefighters weren’t asking for free food, others said they should have been given the food for free in thanks for their work.

“Hope their store doesn’t flood in upcoming days,” said one poster.

McDonald's Papamoa manager Josh, who declined to provide his surname, said while he was there at the time of the firefighters’ visit, he didn’t speak to them himself.

He wasn’t fully aware of the facts and declined to comment further, he said.

Josh referred a follow-up inquiry to McDonald's head of communications Simon Kenny, who declined to comment further.