So today I popped into McDonalds on Uxbridge Rd, it's a short walk from the Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush/ White City.
I'm not a local, but I was in the area for work and wanted to grab a quick bite before a very long journey home.
Anyway when I walked in there were two people standing by the door, at first glance I thought they were police officers, but then realised they were actually security guards working for McDonald's, I would think to prevent any trouble.
So I'm in the queue waiting for my food and an angry woman in front of me starts shouting at the girl (18 years old tops) behind the counter, telling her that she wants a new drink because it's been sitting there for too long, and it's not fresh, it was one of those iced drinks. The girl looks quite confused but makes her a new one anyway, angry woman then continued to shout very loud at the girl telling her to fill the cup up more.
During this time two elderly ladies have come to the front of the queue, late 70's I'd guess and possibly French but speaking good English, one put her shopping bag on the counter and angry woman started shouting at her to 'move it, don't you know about personal space' elderly lady didn't seem to understand and angry woman gave her bag which had fresh flowers in it a shove across the counter.
Both security guards are in full view only about 10 feet away but choose to say nothing.
I get my food and walk around the corner to sit down to eat, angry woman is still being very vocal and has now moved on to shouting that she wants to see a manager, asking the person she is talking to(who I can't see) if they are dumb and being generally aggressive.
During this time I'm watching the security guards, one very large man and an equally large woman, neither look particularly timid but they also both stand and watch this woman intimidate both customers and staff without intervention.
Seconds later a middle aged guy walks past angry woman and she explodes, accusing him of barging into her, he appears to have no idea what she's talking about and turns to the security guards, I assume for help, the female one immediately tells him that he should apologise to the 'lady' because he was in the wrong, guy tells Guards he has no idea what they are talking about and then both guards and angry woman are ganging up on him and keep repeating ' just apologise you were out of order' this went on for a couple of minutes, guy looked quite intimidated and unsure how to react as he really hadn't done anything wrong, the place was busy and people were coming and going.
As angry woman left she said in a very loud voice "thank you very much for your help" to the guards and they replied " you're welcome" once she had left the female guards turned to her colleague and says " this is not a steakhouse, it's McDonalds- you want good service go to a proper restaurant" and they both laughed.
As I sat there I really wanted to approach the guards and ask they why they stood and watched one woman harass and intimidate both staff members and customers without doing a thing, are they just paid to be present rather than active? I'm sure it's a job that is very confrontational and they must be used to those kind of situations, the people the angry woman chose to shout out were all quite vulnerable, elderly, young, English not their first language ect.
I'm considering writing to McDonald's to tell them.
Not sure if I'm overreacting but it was really horrible to see.
I'm aware that I could have spoken to angry woman, but surely that's the actual job of the security staff?
Any thoughts?