McDonalds taking selfies, hugs, and phone calls as payment
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Starting today until Feb. 14, McDonald's will be accepting a new form of payment: selfies. Yes, that's right. An ad that aired during yesterday's Super Bowl promotes "Lovin,'" a program in which customers can buy their meals with selfies, calls to Mom, hugs, high fives, and more feel-good actions.
So the thing about this is that it’s not every customer that walks in the door that gets this opportunity. In fact, it’s a time-based selection. We have these cards that tell us that the customer who orders at, say. 2:16:32 (yes, it’s even down to the second) can pay with Lovin’ to get their order for free!!
The employee themselves select what the customer has to do to get their free meal, chosen from a list given to us (from calling someone they love, to telling a joke, or even blowing a kiss) so we don’t at all feel as though we have to accept harassment from these customers as we choose what they do and they don’t at all have to be physically interactive with us.
I actually really love this “pay with lovin’” idea, and it really excites crew and customers, so I hate all the negative press this is getting. It was incredibly uplifting to see the smiles of customers getting their meal for free and the excitement of the customers around them, even if they themselves didn’t get a free meal. One customer I had cried as she told me that she was going through a rough patch and this was just the sort of positivity she needed and I prompted another to call someone he loves and he excitedly phoned his wife, of whom he proudly told us just found out she was pregnant and the whole restaurant cheered for him; it was beautiful.
From McDonalds employee
