McDonald's Won't Sell You A "Large" Coke Because It's "Breakfast"

Reader Rachael went into McDonald’s today to get her usual morning Coca-Cola and was denied a large cup, despite the fact that she paid the “large” price, because it was “breakfast.” Instead, Rachael ended up with a medium Coke which the McDonald’s employee called a “breakfast large.”

Rachael writes:

Long story short, McDonalds is the only place near to my home or office that’s convenient to grab a quick bite or drink. Not good… but convenient.

I tend to pop in in the mornings for a small breakfast and always order a large coke since it’s really the only time during the day that I will be out… and it will last until it’s time for me to go home so again, convenient…

Anyway, I always order a large coke… Always get a large coke.

Today, I order a breakfast meal with a large coke. They give me a medium cup. I look at my receipt. It clearly says “large coke 1.59″, which is the price of the large. I think the medium is $1.35.

I tell her I ordered a large and she says no, that’s the “breakfast large – at breakfast, a large is a medium, a medium is a small and a small is a child’s cup”

Now, I used to work at McDonalds in the not so recent past… But recent enough to know how this works. When you order orange juice, that applies. A large orange juice is served in a medium cup. It’s the way they have always (at least around here) sized their orange juice. If you order a large soda, you get an actual large. I think the thinking is that orange juice is more expensive so they’re basically charging more for it.

But now, all of a sudden, if I order a large soda and pay at the large soda price, I get a medium – simply because of the time of day??? I’m in a really shitty mood anyway this morning and the manager wasn’t available and I really didn’t feel like arguing with her and being in an even worse mood for a stupid soda… But dammit – everybody’s feeling the credit crunch and there they all go basically reaching into my pockets to pad their profits…

ARGH. Could the extra $0.24 mean so much to them? The kicker is…. you know how the movie “supersize Me” made McDonalds discontinue the supersize line? Well…. wanting a large soda (and I mean a real large, not medium – breakfast large), I asked for a supersize soda. Thinking they would downsize it to the real large that I wanted. Nope. I was told they no longer offer supersize. No shit, I just wanted a large soda.

It shouldn’t be so hard to get a large soda at breakfast time….

Is McDonald’s pinching pennies or was the the work of one rogue agent?