to ask about Mcdonalds?

[m0therofdragons]

I rarely go to Mcds - my dc are fussy so one doesn't like burgers or nuggets and another hates chips. But last weekend I had promised dd 2 and 3 that we'd go to a cafe while dd1 was at a party. Traffic was horrendous and so we didn't have enough time before collecting dd1. I decided to go to mcds for milkshakes they could have in the car. I've never seen the place so busy. They were queuing out the door. All the tables were full and drive through was queuing. anyway, there was not enough time and I ended up promising to make milkshakes at home.
Aibu to ask the question - why are so many eating full meals at 3.30Pm? What is that-lunch or dinner or do they have lunch and dinner too?
I know it's tragic and I need a life but it's confusing me.

[betweenmarchandmay]

Because they want to :)

[AuditAngel]

My daughter's nursery serve tea at 3.30

We often eat lunch at 3.30

[LadyLuck10]

What a weird thing to be confused about .
There's plenty reasons why someone could be eating at that time, and that's just that.

[LuckyLopez]

At the weekend we often have a late breakfast 10/11am and lunch about 3/4pm then dinner approx 8/9pm.

Why the hell do you care?

[dementedpixie]

maybe they have something snacky later on. We quite often eat meals later than usual at the weekend

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

Well.....

They've been busy and only had time to eat at 3.30 pm.
They're on their way somewhere and eating first.
They're hungry at 3.30.

Is this a 'bash McDonalds ' thread?

[WorraLiberty]

Of all the strange questions to ask

You should have got a clipboard out and done a survey.

Lots of people just eat when they're hungry and not when the clock tells them to.

[fredfredgeorgejnr]

YABU for asking, it's the same reason why you drive around to pick people up rather than walking, it's the same reason why your kids are fussy eaters.

i.e. lots of perfectly reasonable reasons as well as some completely unreasonable ones. It doesn't matter if you eat a full meal at 3:30, the timing of lunch and dinner are just convention...

[Ipigglemustdie]

Mmmmmm McRibs.......

[PrincessPilolevuofTONGA]

Because they were sleeping off their hangovers, so breakfast wasn't until 11, lunch not until 3.

[GlitzAndGigglesx]

Not sure if you're on about kids or adults but in my last job I started at 12 so would take my lunch break around 3-4 then have dinner later at home. Or they could've eaten lightly throughout the day and were now hungry enough for a meal. I dunno

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

Quite fancy a Big Mac and chips now, is it too early?

[GlitzAndGigglesx]

Oh and I'd often go to mcd's

[betweenmarchandmay]

I never eat breakfast unless I'm near a McDonald's before 11 ...

[SaucyJack]

Because they are Bad People. Hanging's too good for'em.

[Cornettoninja]

Not everyone has a lifestyle that allows them to have a traditional breakfast/lunch/dinner time, others eat when they're hungry, others possibly just fancy a milkshake

It might have been packed but I doubt you could see exactly what everyone was actually consuming. Golden Arches coffee is actually fairly decent and half the price of a costa. I'd rather go to McDonalds for a coffee most of the time - especially those odd nicer ones that they've decorated to be a bit nicer than the bog standard plastic chair ones.

[betweenmarchandmay]

But seriously, in this particular instance it was probably because the traffic was horrendous.

I've regularly stopped at service stations for coffee/milkshake as it beats sitting in a stuffy car on the M6

[Fairenuff]

You really can't think of a reason OP? Maybe people were wondering why you were there...

[Cornettoninja]

Me too marchandmay although isn't it 10.30?

[Bair]

So you went there, and wondered why there were 'others'.

[stripedtortoise]

Stealth boast that your kids don't like chips/nuggets etc so you just wouldn't go to McDonald's......good for you.

[Cornettoninja]

Thinking more about it aren't most restaurants/fast food places open outside of 'normal' meal times? Your scenario isn't that odd surely?

[Postchildrenpregranny]

It always puzzles me why people eat what looks like a full meal in the cinema mid afternoon .I sort of thought most people eat lunch/dinner sometime between 12and 2 and would be going home for tea/dinner between 5 and 7 .Obviously not .

[m0therofdragons]

But I was in mcds so clearly not anti. Said the dc who won't eat burgers loves chips and vice versa so no it's not a stealth boast.
I'm not criticising anyone just it seemed odd that it was so busy at that time. We're not near a big city (in London is think nothing of it) but my experience round here is that cafes are not that busy at 3.30 pm with only a few eating meals or having coffee and cake so I wondered why mcds was so different. Also intrigued by other families meal times. With young dds meals are fairly set but I guess there's more flexibility as they get older?