“Hi welcome to McDonald’s! Don’t buy the such-and-such it’s a waste of money. Just order the cheaper burger with lettuce and sauce.”
“Did you know that salad has more calories than a Jr. Whopper?”
The possibilities are endless.
Note: Although it is extremely interesting and funny..please, please, please don’t actually do this. Just watch the video and learn about science. People who work fast food jobs have enough to deal with. They are people, too.
(Thanks, Brad!)
More From Consumerist
-
Yes, We Want Fries With That: Americans Get 11% Of Their Calories From Fast Food
-
Fast-Food Workers Reportedly Walked Off The Job Today During NYC Strike Over Wages
-
Chick Fil-A To Offer Kitchen Tours To Customers Who Ask
-
Which Fast Food Prices Have Increased The Most Over The Last Decade?
-
Would Chipotle Be The Same With Drive-Thru Windows?
completely irresponsible to post this. deserves a “Bad journalism” tag.
file this under ‘Bad Consumer’
I just lost a lot of respect for Consumerist for posting this.
This is a trick that should be on CollegeHumor or I-Am-Bored, not a reputable consumer oriented site such as Consumerist.
You’re promoting irresponsible and adolescent activity.
Not cool, Meg.
Willful and malicious interference with a licensed radio service is a crime. Penalties are severe, and include monetary forfeiture and possible imprisonment. And that’s before the restaurant runs you through the civil courts for disrupting their business. (It’s also illegal to modify a CB radio.)
Restaurants that have been victimized by this sort of “prank” should contact the FCC and local law enforcement. Your local amateur radio club may be able to help you find the perpetrators — many hams participate in “fox hunt” exercises, and are adept at locating hidden transmitters using direction finding techniques.
If these boneheads are hams (the Yaesu HT in the video is a ham radio), they can and should lose their licenses.
Oh waaaaahh. @Tracy Ham and Eggs:
Imagine the horror! Scores of mis-ordered burgers and malts and confused drive-thru attendants cursing the 11 nerds who own a CB radio and will actually watched this video and broke out the soldering irons!
Meg, I can’t really understand why you would think this is appropriate to post on the consumerist.
You can’t possibly expect us to believe that you aren’t suggesting people try this at home. It’s a “HOW TO” video. Why else would anyone watch it, except to learn how to do it?
I could understand if it were meant purely for humor if it were just a compilation of people fucking with the drive-thru speaker, but even then you’d be promoting the idea that it’s cool to act like an asshole.
Your note at the end is priceless. People are not visiting the consumerist to learn about science. And if the people working fast food have enough to deal with, why would you promote and encourage behavior that makes their jobs more difficult?
Why is this on Consumerist?
Calm down folks… this isn’t likely to cause a rash of fast food “victimization.” Lighten up!
lol Hilarious!
I remember in my scanning days being able to listen in on fast food & customer convos at the drivethru.
I’d only suggest doing this against a drivethru employee that once treated you badly or at most… the manager of said fast food place as they are often uptight jerks with serious control issues.
I will HAVE to do this now! LOL!
I wouldnt do it too long because they will eventually figure it out & call the cops to check the surrounding area for you & if a cop sees you sitting in your cartalking on a radio/cb…. they are going to throw the book at you.
LOL, I had a walkie-talkie set when I was little that for some odd reason was able to transmit and receive on the same frequency a nearby Burger King used. I never did any talking because I was too scared, but it was kinda funny to listen.
I’m going to guess that this will receive almost unanimous thumbs-down and be removed from the site. The question is, will the consumerist issue an apology or just pretend like nothing happened (as they have done in the past).
As funny at this is, it doesn’t belong on this website. I find a lot of stuff on DoubleViking funny too. I wouldn’t post it on the consumerist, tho.
@consumersaur: No. I write a financial blog. A lot of people I know write sports blogs. Bloggers love to get a up in arms about a lack of respect from businesses/teams. This is why those companies dont respect blogs.
I seem to remember a story on this site about Target refusing to talk to bloggers. Most people felt that was outrageous, but if a respected, highly visable site like this one is going to post something like this then I can see why companies have a negative opinion of new media.
Reminds me of the time we were shopping with the kids in Walmart.
We split up, each with a walkie-talkie as we usually do in a mall. I don’t think the kids realized they were on the same frequency as the stores PA system… Do you know what it’s like when a kid broadcasts “hey ma, xxx?”
This is pointless and random. Why is it posted here?
Wow, this kind of thing is just making us, “the consumerists” look bad by association.
Aren’t we about focusing on our legal rights and the demand for fair, courteous, and ethical treatment by businesses?
With articles like this (and ones like the article about “tricking” CSRs into consent in recordings), businesses are just going to view us as troublemakers instead of law abiding customers who deserve proper treatment.
When someone submits a story to The Consumerist, I like to think they are intimidated by the information you provide, not by the petty pranks we might pull on them in retaliation.
At all you folks freaking out that this was posted here….. this site is about entertainment as well, not wholly about BORING consumer issues. IT DOESNT HURT TO THROW IN SOMETHING FUNNY EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE!
jEEZE! lighten up!
I agree, this SHOULD NOT BE ON CONSUMERIST!!! Although I found it hilarious, it is not something that should be shown to every idiot out there. It belongs on fark.com or hackaday.com , but has nothing to do with consumerist. Please be responsible and remove it!
This was about as funny as the guy walking around the tradeshow turning off video monitors during presentations.
I guess Corporate America is now behaving itself, and that consumers have nothing to worry about.
Here’s an idea, since the site seems to be in need of some- how about a multi-part story of the many ways timeshares screw people and the best means of getting it fixed.
This has hurt Consumerist’s reputation. Please, stick with what has been working.
So, what the heck does this have to do with anything.
Why the heck is this garbage posted here?
This BS has no Business on this site at all.
@ just about every anal-retentive comment above:
Slow down, take a deep breath… Go take a walk over to that window that looks up from your basement room inside your mom’s house, and calm down.
Why are you so up-in-arms? Do you think this is going to cause an epidemic of pranksters pulling Jerky Boy jokes on your local Jack In the Box?
Are you really going to never read Consumerist again because they posted this? If this is enough for you to leave the site forever (heaven forefend!), then your priorities are truly, truly in need of rethinking.
I think this is funny, but no, it doesn’t belong on this site. And yes, it’s illegal.
I don’t think this is such a terrible, dangerous post.
Although this and a number of other trivial articles that regularly appear serve to dilute the purpose of the Consumerist. But it all depends on how seriously the editors want this blog to be regarded.
One post short of post quota? Oh, wait, it’s not the end of the month..
HERE YE HERE YE! By proclomation of the agree’d upon rules of blog commenting, we the undersigned are owed much in regards to FREE content on all matter of blogs.
Until the editors of this blog as well as others begin to give us what is owed to us, we will be forced to continue to whine and complain about one more FREE story that takes us up to 3 minutes to read.
Since we are FORCED to read this blog we require that ALL stories be completely serious and consumer orientated in nature. If they are not, then we will have to look elsewhere for our entertainment news with a consumer awareness twist.
I was just thinking…. if you wanted to be EXTRA evil, wait til a cop comes to the drive thru & then mention in the background something like… “there’s a pig in line…. spit in this”. Of course with the current state of cops overreacting & tasering people like crazy… it could end badly.
Sorry, but the evil prankster child inside me gets a little out of control sometimes. *shrug*
I just opened my toaster and didn’t find a crystal but a bunch of AA batteries fell out.
@jiminyxmas:
Who said they were “never going to read Consumerist again”?
People are voicing their concerns about what articles like this may do to the image of the site and of consumer advocates.
Nothing more, nothing less.
You’re the one over-reacting, here. By the way, parental-basement-dweller jokes went out of vogue in the 90s at least. Nice try at marginalizing everyone’s concerns, but it’s pretty weak.
And to all the johnny and jane tightwads who constantly comment with “Why is this on consumerist?”…
Do you actually expect to get an answer? Or are you hoping that your trite, narrow-minded query will somehow, in a miracle of blogging history, become a source of change?
Dream on, you vanguard of the ordinary… dream on.
Holy sh*t! Doesn’t anyone have a sense of humor? Do all of you work at Taco Bell or something? I mean, honestly, I think these guys in the vid are losers (waste of time much?) but good grief, its not like Meg posted the Alchemist’s cookbook.
So where were all of yinz who are complaining about this post when Gizmodo engaged in wacky and zany hijinks at CES involving the TV-B-Gone?
I don’t think that it is irresponsible to post this on Consumerist. Megan had her point here to show us the video to ” improve the customer service of your local fast food establishment” as she mentioned. But, if you are immature enough to do the same as those guys, is your problem. Anyway, somewhat the girl with the Transformer mask came to my mind when she ordered at McDonald’s some “Chalupas” that was hilarious!
What silly (aka “stupid”) comment, especially coming from blogger. A “blog” is just a format just as a “newspaper” is a format and the respectability of the content **as a whole** depend on the integrity an professionalism of the entity behind each one, not whether the articles are presented in blog or newspaper format. Each blog or newspaper has to be judged on its own merits and the inanity of any one article does not negate on the whole on balance. Saying that Target shouldn’t speak to blogs because some blogs have disagreeable articles is like saying Target shouldn’t speak to newspapers because the Weekly World News is full of crap.
What Target meant when it told the blogger off was that they were too small of a news outlet and that Target had no easy way to vet them. Target, and other companies, use the size of a news organization and its format as a thumbnail for its reliability. However, that old-school thinking no longer holds true as small websites, including blogs, can now have inexpensive global reach and influence and some small blogs have more readership than small city newspapers.
If, Tracy Ham and Eggs, people don’t take your blog seriously as you’d like blame yourself not anything Consumerist does. I’m pretty sure that people take Walt Mossberg’s blog seriously no mater what Gawker blogs publish. The same would go for you if are actually any good at blogging.
@drjayphd:
They were there, just like they were there when Gizmodo posted Tubgirl on Kotaku’s front page.
I still read Gizmodo every day, but the backlash they got during those incidents was deserved.
THANKS MEG, I laughed my ass off, had to close my office door. The assholes complaining are probably card carrying ACLU members….
I think the reason so many people are upset is because The Consumerist is an excellent blog, one of the best consumer blogs out there.
So I don’t think this is a symptom of grizzled whiners, but of dedicated fans of the site who have a certain image of what it stands for. Perhaps this needs to be a little clearer? Is it just an entertainment blog as so many of you seem to say it is?
I think it stands for much more than simple entertainment.
@Kat@Work: It’s Anarchist’s cookbook. And it’s worthless.
I for one vote thumbs up for Meg and the post. This is awesome.
99% of people who read this site wouldn’t know which end of a soldering iron is hot, so I wouldn’t count on a rash of drive-thru hijinks anytime soon.
btw… here is the origianl prank….
+ Watch video
Consumerist readers = no sense of humor.
Lighten the fuck up.
This was an entertaining article and I enjoyed watching the video. Thank you Consumerist for contributing some degree of entertainment to my blog reading schedule.
@savvy9999: LOL, shows how much I know about it.
@Skeptic: actually, you made half my point. People dont bother to vet bloggers because they have a view of them, like the early poster, of cellar dwelling nerds. Go read any number of stories about “journalist” slamming bloggers and you will see what I mean.
When a site like this one, which advocates for consumers and wants to be able to achieve a level of respect from businesses post a story like this it hurts their own cause, and the cause of a lot of other sites.
The have the right to post whatever they want here, but I have the right to feel that they cheapen what they do by posting it.
So today you’ve run stories about how to steal RFID info from unsuspecting consumers — without any prevention tips — and how to violate Federal laws to mess with minimum wage drive-thru grunts.
What’s next? How to phish old people while they’re in the hospital? How to shoplift more effectively?
Nick must not be paying attention these days.
My opinion of Consumerist has dropped through the floor with this post. You guys have sunk to a new low.
While funny, this shouldn’t be on here, and is really illegal.
@Me: “– without any prevention tips –” Did you watch the vid? There were at least 2…
@Tracy Ham and Eggs: “When a site like this one, which advocates for consumers and wants to be able to achieve a level of respect from businesses post a story like this it hurts their own cause, and the cause of a lot of other sites.”
Oh, you found the Consumerists mission statement? wow, I’ve been looking for it and I couldn’t find it. All I could find was the FAQ at [consumerist.com]
This place is a BLOG and its only edited by a few people. Sometimes we get useful things, sometimes we get stupid things. In the end, if you dont like it, then go somewhere else.
your opinion is ok to express, but unfortunately in this case, its just wrong. you are owed NOTHING!
BTW Tracy Ham & Eggs = Steve Trachel, Ace
Not trying to call you out or anything I just want to clarify it.
Way to go Meg finally something worth reading on this blog. Great video, I’m on my way to the Shack now to get a CB. I imagine I can hijack the signals from the drive-thru at the bank. Cool I’ll let you know how it works out.
Sorry lady in the beat up car there is no money in your account. Oh man this is gonna be great!
Ah, who gives a sh*t. Maybe it’ll chase those fat asses away to Subway or something. Like fat people need a burger & fries.