The Ordering Request McDonald's Employees Roll Their Eyes At

For many people, the mantra, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit," applies to most fast food. Even if McDonald's customers are fed up with increasing prices, its generally understood that quick service restaurants can't always accommodate customizations. According to McDonald's employees one of the most annoying requests seems simple, but could get some eye rolls for holding up the line: melted cheese.

In the McDonald's Employees subreddit, responding to the question, "What orders are most annoying?" a Mickey D's shift manager recalls a time a customer requested a customized sandwich, and after receiving it, asked to have it remade with "the cheese fully freshly melted." The manager admitted, "I just locked myself in the office and screamed."

The problem is that special requests like this can slow down service. Take a McDonald's cheeseburger, for example. The restaurant uses clamshell grills to cook multiple burger patties in less than a minute. These devices have upper and lower griddles that shut like clams, heating the meat on both sides simultaneously. The patties are seasoned as they cook and eventually added to buns and loaded with toppings. According to past posts from workers on Reddit, when exposed to hot meat, the cheese will melt. However, if patties have sat for a bit or topped cold cheese from the fridge, it might not fully melt. Timing the process to avoid the latter outcome isn't as straightforward simple as meeting a request like "no onions."

To avoid unmelted cheese on your fast food burger, stick to restaurants that are known for cooking the item to order. That way, the patties will be extra hot when the dairy is added. For instance, if you're buying a Culver's Butterburger, it would help to know that the popular Midwest restaurant doesn't cook the meat until after you place your order. According to a YouTube video by WKYC Channel 3, the Culver's grillmaster also adds the cheese to the patty while its still on the griddle for a few seconds to melt it.

Five Guys also cooks its burgers to order with fresh, never frozen ingredients. According to a YouTube video on how the handhelds are made, the cheese is added to the patties right before they are pulled off the griddle so that it gets sufficiently melted by the piping hot patty. For double cheeseburgers, the cheese slices are added on top of one patty and another patty is stacked on top of that, ensuring that the cheese will be extra gooey and melted between the two patties. (Follow these ordering tips to get the best Five Guys burger.)

You can always melt cheese on your burger at home by heating the patty in a pan, adding a slice of cheese on top, then adding a splash of water to it. Cover it with a lid for a minute or two to create steam which will fully melt the cheese.