MacDonald beeps

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I do not know if there are the same beeps in your MacDonald's, but here there is often high frequency beeps that hurt my ears. Do you have a similar issue ?

Yes! I thought I was the only one who noticed that! I asked them once what it was and they said it was the timer on the deep fryer. I could never work there, i want to cover my ears every time I walk in there...

To a large extent, I'm an auditory seeker (I can't handle "people noise" and fluctuating noise levels as well as an NT, but that's it). I've never heard it. I'm not trying to tell you you're hallucinating or anything, I've just never heard it myself.

I can't tell you how badly I want to jump over the counter when I hear that and turn it off myself. Still, I can think of something much worse: I delivered to a courier's warehouse one time and they have this conveyor belt the drivers unload their packages on. When the weight is too much on the belt, it emits a very high pitch noise. I literally want to jump out of my skin when I hear that and couldn't imagine hearing that regularly and not having a breakdown.

I have never noticed such at mine.

I thought it was standard, i always wondered what it was. How could it be the fryer though? When i was there i heard 10 beeps within 10 seconds, they can't all be done so fast. I didn't think it was so bad

These beeps come from the frier and the unit which keeps some of the food (chicken) warm.

Each chicken product (McChicken sandwich, nuggets etc) is cooked in an individual section of the frier, and there are timers set for each section. Also, the french fries are cooked in friers with multiple sections too. Each of these has their own timer.

Further to that, each chicken product (again things like the McChicken sandwich patty, nuggets etc) is stored in a unit which is heated to keep them warm. The food should only be stored for upto 20 minutes in these, so when food is put into one of the many sections they set a timer and the alarm/beep starts when the 20 minutes is up.

All of this often results in a large number of alarms/beeps at once.

I notice them all the stuff beeps when something is done. I always just go through the drive through. I dont eat there often as I only like there breakfast and im never up that early. If I want a hamburger ill go to rallys/checkers.

Yeah, that's an issue about working there for me too. I wonder if they would accept that I wear earplugs or something to protect my ears.


Same experience.


I understand.


You do not know how lucky you are.

Thanks MrJosh for all these explanations. I live in France, and today, I've heard within a few minutes 5 differents beeps repeating at different rates and different frequencies. My ears were bleeding. Well not really, but just as if.

I have always enjoyed the sound.

Never knew it was possible to hear a single thing over the ripping agony of a million voiced echoes off each tile inside the joint.

Suppose it'd be different if it was only you and the attendant though.

No I've never noticed that.

I notice the beeps at McDonald's every time I go there. They drive me crazy. I could never work at McDonald's.

Yes, you could. I've worked at McDs before, among other fastfood dumps. Do you want to know what really happens? Those timers are just for "show." If no one of consequence is hanging around, we don't use them. And that's most of the time. You will definitely hear them during the morning shift, or whenever the general manager is around, but nobody uses them. You want to know why? Because they annoy the hell out of everyone, NTs and Aspies alike.

You know what's even funnier? An Aspie will attempt to tolerate the irritating sounds. I've seen NTs on a number of occasions actually physically (and violently) destroy the timers. With hammers. And those things cost at least $600 a piece. I'd like to think that we are not as insane.

McD is probably one of the most noisy places ive ever been, beeps, children crying, people talking. machines making odd noises, people moving stuff around. .

5 min in that place im ready to go home and sleep for 3 hours to get my head in order. I do not understand how people can WORK there for 8 damn hours, in that noise.

You tune it out, like everyone else. This is how your first day will go:

OMG WTF I don't know what is happening GET ME OUT OF HERE.

Your fourth or fifth day:

Whaaat? The fries are done? Shouldn't there be like, I don't know, some kind of timer that goes off or something? Wait, there is? WHAT THE HELL? When did we get one of those?!