The Fishy Case of the $90 McBurger

The Fishy Case of the $90 McBurger

You should be warned not to eat at the Bankstown McDonalds Restaurant as it might turn out to be an expensive hamburger.

Last Friday, around lunch time I parked my car in the McDonalds car-park and went in, ordered a fillet-of-fish meal and proceeded to eat. All seemed normal. They provide many facilities to entice you to come in and stay. Not just toilets, but TV screens, newspapers, children's play areas, and WiFi. I used the WiFi while I was there.

After finishing up, I went out to my car to find a small man in an ill-fitting uniform who asked: "This your car?". When I said yes he happily printed out a parking ticket to hand me. 

$81! When I asked what this was for, he said that I had been parked too long, and that the McDonalds had requested them to come and fine cars in the car park!

"What do you mean?", I asked. He went on to tell me that people park in the McDonalds and go to the shops, so he needed to fine them. When I pointed out that I had just walked out of the McDonalds, and that he had seen me walk out of the McDonalds, and therefore I was not at the shops, and asked how could he justify giving me a ticket, he then insisted that: "They ask me to come".

As I looked around at all the empty spaces (one now taken by his large vehicle, but more about that later) I considered that perhaps at Christmas time I could understand this being a problem. However, on a regular weekday afternoon it was simply an absurd statement.

At this point I looked for some identification as to who the small man represented. There was an officious looking Bankstown Council logo on his arm, but not his name. On inquiry, he would only tell me that he was "No. 1 Parking Inspector" and he could not tell me his name - although he was happy enough to tell me his supervisors names.

I invited Comrade No. 1 Parking Inspector to come into the store with me to discuss with the McDonalds staff why they had requested his services. This he refused to do.

Alone, I went back into the McDonalds and had an unproductive discussion with the staff. The Duty Manager agreed that there was a time limit and there was nothing they could do. 

However, a few of the McDonalds staff came outside to discover that they, too, had been caught. Pointing to their McDonalds signs on the dashboard made little impression on Comrade No. 1 Parking Inspector, who now changed tack to say that the tickets had already been issued and could not be cancelled. I wondered how many hours these guys would need to work at McDonalds wage rates to pay this fine.

As the cacophony of protest rose, Comrade No. 1 Parking Inspector now changed his approach, once more, to one beloved of petty bureaucrats the world over, the Nuremberg defence: "I am just doing my job".

Perhaps it would have been a matter of courtesy and simply polite if, as No. 1 Parking Inspector said the original intent was to stop people parking and going to the shops, he had come into the restaurant to let patrons know that he was there and to advise anyone who had been there for some time to move their cars. But this would be too civilized. And no doubt he would argue that he needs to meet a quota of fines set by his comrades at the Bankstown Peoples Collective.

Sadly, this sort of thing is now becoming all too prevalent throughout Sydney, making it a less desirable place to be by the day. 

Primarily I suggest that people are not fooled by the homely services provided by the Bankstown McDonalds. You are not really welcome, or at least you are not welcome for very long. Please buy your stuff and move on, seems to be the message. Otherwise your burger meal will be costing you $90 - $9 for the meal and $81 for the parking.

Post Script: I note that the small Comrade No. 1 Parking Inspector drove a very large SUV. Clearly, environment is not high on the priorities of the Bankstown Peoples Collective.