The Alleged Secret Way McDonald’s Shorts You On French Fries

If you’ve ever thought your box of McDonald’s fries felt a little light, there’s a slight chance it was done on purpose, as apparently there’s a “pinch” trick employees use to make your fry carton seem more full than it is.

In a Reddit discussion about things your job wants you to hide from customers, user ExperiMENTALbunny said:

“I worked at McDonald’s and they taught me how to pinch the fry carton just right while putting the fries into them so that it looked full, but actually wasn’t.”I only had 1 customer call me out on it. He shook the fries out into his bag and poured them back into the fry carton himself and it only filled up half way, so I had to give him more fries. I was impressed and embarrassed. It’s been 7 years and I can still see his face.”

Then right after that comment, another user chimed in, saying they too were asked to use the trick, but the user refused to do it.

“I hated that practice and basically refused to do it. Never got fired, but managed to have a few customers ask me when my shifts were the next week so they could have me filling their fries.”

A Twitter user then chimed in with his own experience, saying:

I have to say this , I worked @McDonaldsUK and it’s true, I’ve been thought to pinch fry carton while putting fries in it so it looked full

— khaled L (@khaledabdo17) September 10, 2017

A buddy of mine who worked at McDonald’s anonymously said he doesn’t understand how the pinching method would work, as it would be immediately visible that the box isn’t full.

“It doesn’t take long to make fries,” he said. “It just sounds like a waste of time… and the customer would notice.”

Of course, it’s Reddit, so you always have to take things like this with a grain of salt, but if you ever feel shorted at McDonald’s golden fries, this might be the reason.