Is McDonald's Cheating You Out Of Fries?

We're all familiar with the disappointing feeling of coming to the end of our carton of McDonald's French fries. Try, as you might, to savor those warm and deliciously crispy potato sticks, like all good things, the salty treat does have to come to an end.

Despite the fast-food giant's French fries being their best-selling item (via Business Insider) and widely considered the best in the biz, the chain has yet to catch on to some of the practices implemented by some other restaurant chains that tend to over-serve the savory snack to their loyal customers. In fact, a few entries in a Reddit thread from former employees went as far as suggesting that McDonald's isn't even giving you the proper amount of fries in the first place, but rather skimping you on your order. If so, that's so not cool!

The thread was posted three years ago and posed the question to workers about what their jobs asked them to hide from customers. In response, one former Mickey D's employee revealed that they were given specific instructions for how to "pinch a fry carton just right" to give it the illusion that it looked full. The trick appeared to have worked, as the Redditor said they were only ever called out on the French fry scam by a single customer.

We'll admit that a single account of french fry pinching isn't that bad, and could even be chalked up to an exceptionally stingy manager at that specific Mcdonald's location. However, the aforementioned Redditor's revelation led to a number of other employees chiming in on the Reddit thread to confirm that the practice was more widespread, so much so that the fast-food chain had to put out a statement denying the scheme.

"The notion of a secret trick is absolutely false," McDonald's spokesperson Terri Hickey told HuffPost in 2017. "There are strict procedures in place to ensure that fry boxes and bags are appropriately filled so our customers can enjoy our World Famous Fries to the fullest."

Another Redditor, who identified themselves as a former trainer for the McDonald's management staff at more than 15 locations, tried to give more insight into the situation. Per the user, the reason that the french fry containers aren't filled to the brim is to prevent the fries from getting soggy which, let's be honest, nobody really wants.

Ultimately, it seems that the best way to ensure you're getting your money's worth is to follow the advice of Redditor and McDonald's employee "Eviljeenyus," who said that you should "shake your fries down" and "always call us out."