This Viral TikTok Shows McDonald's Employees Pouring Coca-Cola

Just when you thought nothing could be more predictable than ordering a Coke at McDonald's — because, really, what's a safer bet than that? — one viral TikTok from late 2021 revealed an earthworm infestation in a soft drinks machine at a U.K. McDonald's location (via Newsweek). Though the critters are important to our planet's ecosystem, most people would rather them crawl around in a garden than a fast food restaurant's soda machine, which is why the situation was quickly addressed.

Nevertheless, the earthworm-in-the-soda-machine incident reflected poorly on McDonald's, whose ice cream machines already leave a lot to be desired. Further, it left some people questioning whether they could stomach the thought of ordering soda at the chain going forward. However, a viral TikTok from earlier this week shows a McDonald's employee pouring Coke directly from a two-liter Coca-Cola bottle into McDonald's cups, suggesting that the drink you're ordering at the drive-thru may not even come from a soda machine at all. 

The viral TikTok by user @ronaldmcnuggets1 shows a McDonald's employee pouring bottled Coke, rather than using the restaurant's soda machine, into cups intended for customers. It's been viewed 1 million times, largely from people trying to figure out what to make of it. Some, particularly those who have worked at fast food restaurants, found the situation unremarkable for the simple reason that soda machines can frequently break down or run out of soda, sometimes leaving employees having to "run to the grocery store" to pick up canned or bottled soft drinks for customers. 

The post didn't share why the employee wasn't using the machine, but based on several comments, it appears that broken soda machines are nearly as common at McDonald's as broken ice cream machines. "I work in fast food and our drink machine was down so the boss bought a couple of 2 liters," read one comment. "My work is always having to be buying bottles because the freestyle machine never works," chimed in another. Plenty of others shared stories about their restaurants running out of cups, ice, and other supplies. Regardless of the potential issue with this McDonald's soda machine, at least no one has reported seeing earthworms inside.