Botched McDonald's Orders That Don't Look Anything Like They Should

By now, we all know what we're in for when we order fast food: The hamburger we get in real life will look absolutely nothing like the hamburger the commercials promise. The patty won't be as juicy, the cheese won't be as melty, the lettuce and tomato slices won't be glistening with dew drops, and that's fine — we've learned to live with it. As long as we get what we ordered, and it tastes good, we're fine. 

But what if your order is so bungled it's unrecognizable? Or if your cheeseburger is missing its main component? Or if what's supposed to be in your Chicken McNugget box isn't there, but something else is? These hungry McDonald's customers experienced all that and more, and took to social media to call out Mickey D's for their total lack of attention to detail. While we don't expect to be chowing down on anything that looks like these images shown on the left, we sure hope our food doesn't look like the botched orders on the right. Take a look, and prepare to be stunned...

Is there anything worse than having a craving, then attempting to satisfy that craving, and then getting 100 percent denied? Imagine placing an order for McNuggets at the drive-thru, your mouth watering at the thought of that crispy fried chicken dipped in barbecue sauce, only to get home and open the box to find... cheese? That's exactly what happened to this disappointed Instagrammer who lamented, "I thought I wanted a 4 piece nugget. I was wrong. You were right @mcdonalds, I wanted a single piece of cheese instead. Who orders a single piece of cheese?"

Did someone else actually order a single solitary slice of American cheese, and this is the result of an order mix-up? Or was this just a cruel joke to play on a hangry customer? We may never know, but we sure will check our Chicken McNugget box before pulling away from the drive-thru window next time.

The Filet-O-Fish has gotten some pretty bad press thanks to the Reddit threads devoted to hating on McDonald's only pescatarian option. Ex-employees have identified it as the one item they would never order, and warn of less-than-fresh filets that get microwaved, tartar sauce that's been out for days, and other questionable sandwich-making practices. Still, it remains a fan favorite at the Golden Arches with its hard-to-resist combination of a crispy patty, American cheese, and creamy sauce. But if that cheese is a particularly important part of the Filet-O-Fish's success in your eyes, you might want to rethink your order. 

Scrolling through the #mcdonaldsfail and #failofish hashtags reveal a very serious problem with cheese misplacement, as shown in this Instagrammer's disappointing post. Though it seems like the Filet-O-Fish would be one of the simpler sandwiches to make, time and time again we can see that it is extremely difficult to get that cheese in the right spot. Apparently.

Speaking of strange things in Chicken McNugget boxes... 

If you thought a single slice of American cheese laid into a box that should have contained nuggets was odd, get a load of this botched order. This poor Instagrammer was already having a bad day, but it was about to get even worse.

"Locked both sets of keys in the car... Go to McDonalds for dinner because... Spilled the drinks in the car... Find pickles in the nugget box... #picklesfordinner," the post read. 

Talk about rubbing salt in the wound. Locking the keys in the car and then spilling sticky soda all over once you actually get back in would make most people want to curl up in the fetal position and cry. But then? Pickle slices in place of Chicken McNuggets? Nope. We're guessing this unlucky customer's dinner that night was actually wine, not pickles.

The McChicken is another sandwich that seems like it would rank pretty close to the top of the "easy to make" list — it really is about as basic as it gets. According to McDonald's, it consists of four simple ingredients: "A crispy chicken fillet topped with mayonnaise, shredded iceberg lettuce, and served on a perfectly toasty bun." 

Turns out it's that last part about the bun where the workers seem to experience some trouble. This Instagrammer posted their #mcchickenfail, saying, "Mystery of the missing bun... 2am munchies at McD's after our Friday night Christmas party and this is how I got my McChicken." 

Perhaps the employees were just taking that description literally... it does say "served ON a perfectly toasted bun," after all. Memo to McDonald's corporate: Think about amending the McChicken description to something more straightforward, like, "A crispy chicken fillet topped with mayonnaise, shredded iceberg lettuce, and served WITHIN a perfectly toasty bun." Problem solved.

You might look at this order and think, "That's not botched, that's just a plain bacon McGriddle, and it looks downright delicious." And you would be right — it does look like a plain bacon McGriddle, and sure, it even looks delicious — if you're into that kind of thing — but that's not what the customer ordered. "This was supposed to be an egg cheese and bacon McGriddle. So disappointed!" the Instagrammer explained. Whomp whomp.

As with the case of the plain cheeseburger without a patty, and the McChicken sandwich without a top bun, the missing ingredient problem seems to run rampant at Mickey D's. Again, these are not special requests for ingredients that don't belong — nobody is asking for a McGriddle with pickles and sweet 'n sour sauce. They are ordering a sandwich with its standard ingredients and getting one of the three components. Not a great ratio, McDonald's.