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McDonalds and Star Trek's "Red Alert" sound
I played a game of the Free Stars demo with my son recently, and when your ship is close to exploding, an alert very similar to the Star Trek red alert sounds starts playing.
My son instantly said "it sounds like McDonalds", and I was a little shocked because the first place I heard that sound was on TV when a captain called for Red Alert. But for him, it's completely different: you hear the same sound used as an alarm behind the counter at McDonalds, and that's his association.
Just a short anecdote, I'm sad that McDonalds has co-opted that sound. I do wonder though, is that only in McDonalds in Australia, or is it in places like the US too?
Under the assumption that it is this one then I've never heard that in a McDonalds in Denmark at least. Sounds extremely stressful to have blaring in a work environment unless shit's actually deadly serious. What is the context of the alarm in the Australian McDonalds? Like on a scale from "Frying oil on fire" to "Ice cream machine is broke (again)"?
edit: removed my profile from the link - thank you to the person below me (updawg) for catching that.
Here's that link without your YouTube profile included:
https://youtu.be/dV8S_2lwDkQ
And this is the only McDonald's alarm sound I know of:
https://youtu.be/X4gsN4CnMA8
In New Zealand we have the red alert sound, not the alternating tones in your second link. I suppose it makes sense that we'd have the same sounds as Australia, but it's strange that they're different to what seems to be the rest of the world.
It's also strange that you have that alarm at all to me! Isn't it stressful? I understand that McDonalds might not be where one goes for a nice quiet meal, and maybe more of an in and out joint, but the red alert sound isn't a detergent?
Locally, McDonalds are boasting/claiming/branding that they are one of the best if not the best place to work in the country, I'm guessing to counteract the obvious stigma of being a ibternational fast food joint. Obviously they couldn't do that with the red alert sound.
Are Australia and New Zealand being used fir some productivity A/B testing here? How is the job as a fast food worker, and people who are fast food workers viewed where you are from?
Would also be nice to hear from someone who''s actually worked with the alternating tone alarm to learn if it also seems mild to them in comparison to the red alert one, or if knowing the context of the alternating tones makes them seem just as stressful. Any current or former McDonalds workers around?
This was many years ago, but I worked at McDonalds in NZ, and recall them changing over to the 'red alert' sound. I can't remember the sound it made beforehand, but I do remember coming into work and being baffled by the choice to use such a distinct, alarming sound. I don't think it made work more stressful though -- maybe any sound you hear nagging at you repeatedly through the day will have a similar psychic impact.
I do think it's more obvious to customers than the previous sound. I don't think customers would have conciously noticed the near-constant tinkle of the old sound, but it's hard not to notice the current one. And I have to assume it makes it a less pleasant place to dine at. Just passing one at a food court, with all the sounds and bustling movement behind the counter, stresses me out.
Yeah, the second one is also the one I've heard before. With the tones alternating and being reminiscent of the beeps from tills at supermarkets, I've always registered it as busy background noise, and thought it was multiple different alarms, different patterns for different messages.
All McDonald’s kitchens sound like hospitals to me. Which is something like ironic. Generally the whole vibe inside a McDonald’s feels like waiting in a hospital hallway.
Yeah, it's that sound, though it only plays the rising tone once, if I remember right.
And I don't know anyone who's worked there, so I don't know what it is used for exactly, though it's common enough that you might hear it a few times each time you visit.
The internet says it's for a new order.
(By the internet I mean, someone who claims to have worked at Maccas on reddit.)
Ahh ok, that makes sense. I agree with everyone else, it's the wrong sound for something that happens so often.
That's a wild alarm to use outside of like a fire alarm? At least for McDonald's. I have never heard it at a McDonald's in Canada or America, but I don't know the context of when it's used at yours.
I agree, I wish I knew what triggers it! Until yesterday I had kind of assumed it was a global thing. I've never noticed what it was meant to signify, but it is common enough that it isn't some major emergency.
Is this a recent (post-pandemic) change? I used to find McDonald’s dining rooms to be comfortable enough places to enjoy a meal, but I won’t go near them now. They have become consumer-hostile to an almost satirical degree.
All ordering must now be done in the app or on a kiosk. The kiosks are slow, frustrating systems that multiply my ordering time compared to the efficiency of just telling an employee what I want. There is never anyone working up front, so if you need anything you have to wait awkwardly at the counter and hope to catch someone’s attention back in the kitchen — and they will usually ignore you or give you the gen-alpha stare. That the whole situation even needs to happen now is absurd but for some reason all of the napkins and ketchup packets and other things you might need, which used to be within easy reach near the drink station, are now locked away from customers behind the front counter. Also somehow the kitchen seems louder and more chaotic than ever, I guess with everyone rushing around to fulfill drive-thru and DoorDash orders, and anyone unfortunate enough to be dining in is just an afterthought to them.
I realize that’s not going to be the experience everywhere but in the areas I've been, the rapidness and unpleasantness of the transformation really stands out to me. The thought of klaxons blaring in the background doesn’t honestly seem out step with any of the rest of the changes McDonald’s has been rolling out, if you ask me.
No, it's been around for quite a while in Aus at least. But all the rest you mentioned is very true here too, though I think some places still let you grab your own napkins etc...
Much like every other company, fire half the people, push the work into the customer and call it an App.
Where I grew up there was a petrol station called Speedway. When ever someone tried to activate a pump the ring collection sound from Sonic played behind the counter.
It's funny that I knew exactly what you were talking about just by reading the title. I have never worked at a maccas nor do I know anything about Star Trek. I also recognise the sound as being from Tux Typing's 'comet zap' gamemode.