Dear Mr. Berko: My stockbroker thinks that the recent viral confrontation between a McDonald’s customer and a McDonald’s employee will be used as an excuse to cause large strikes at units all over the country, in which employees will demand higher wages, health insurance, retirement programs and better working conditions. He believes that this could be the catalyst that will eat away at McDonald’s profit margins. He’s been telling me to sell McDonald’s stock for over a year. Now he wants me to sell my 300 shares of McDonald’s (I bought them at $88 in 2011) and buy Verizon stock because its good dividend and its acquisition of Yahoo make it a “great growth and income stock.” What do you think?
— NR, Moline, Ill.
Dear NR: I discussed McDonald’s in a November column, when it was trading at $180, and my positive opinion hasn’t changed. Your broker is a total cretin who’s begging for a commission. Keep the stock forever.
The viral video shows a 20-year-old female McDonald’s employee in Florida being lunged at and violently grabbed by a male customer. The woman proceeded to punch the man until other employees broke it up. The New Year’s Eve incident highlighted a serious problem at McDonald’s (MCD-$174). Not to defend the drunken scumbag who assaulted the employee, but the service at too many MCD units is so abominable that sometimes holding your anger can cause blood to flow from your eyes.
McDonald’s is so ubiquitous and accessible and the food so yummish that MCD images and totems slowly become embedded in our DNA. McDonald’s defines the way America eats. And when something interferes with the normally accepted process, the customer feels disrespected. Some react physically. The drunken scumbag was cheesed off not about the food but about the poor service. And MCD’s management seems clueless. In many units all over the country, MCD’s service ranks below that of the Postal Service, departments of motor vehicles and the Department of Health and Human Services. On occasions, I’ve waited for five minutes to catch a server’s eye (with no one else in line) to purchase two Egg McMuffins — and then they were cold. Too often, a lunch order for six people will be missing several items. Too often, your Big Mac and fries are waiting a minute or two while the employee is either cleaning or socializing and not serving. Too often, employees look as if they live in tents, have dull, unsmiling faces and lack English proficiency. MCD’s problem isn’t food; rather, it’s employees who’re poorly trained. Many MCD employees should not take lunch breaks that are longer than 30 minutes, because many need to be retrained upon returning.
