• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

MacDonalds refused to give me my food, which I paid for, while likely hypoglycemic

Status
Not open for further replies.
I actually find it quite insulting that you are going to use a condition you don't have and that people who do struggle with on a daily basis to get one over on a fast food outlet just because they didn't jump to your demands.

You didn't have your receipt, you didn't know what you ordered, you we rude and threatening to both staff and a customer - get over yourself
 
Did we just have a non-diabetic explaining hypoglycaemia to a bunch of diabetics?

Just checking in case I’ve misread :shifty:
You may have misinterpreted what you read
We may just have someone who may or may not have diabetes (but appears to have a medical condition which needs to be checked out), try to empathise with a group of people who definitely have diabetes about the struggles of hypoglycaemia?

Or maybe not ... only the OP knows what he meant with his last thread. But I am careful not to put him down after what was a difficult situation for him yesterday.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Well he's got the attention he wanted but maybe not in the way he wanted it.
 
Whilst at college, my 17 year old daughter worked at Mcdonalds to earn some money, 2017/18. She said some of the customer's were so rude, treated her as someone to sound off at, change their order and say that the one she gave them was not what they ordered !!
Did these customer's have medical conditions, who knows and just to add and my daughter knows what a hypo is regarding me, but i am not aggressive.
It was not a great job and a few of the manager's were appalling, often swearing at staff and just over £5.00 an hour, so pleased she left the company.
 
@MacDonaldsFail You think McDonald's are bad? You should try dealing with UEFA lol.

Seriously I would just write a letter or email of complaint to McD's Head Office and then go to Burger King in future (their fries are much nicer anyway :))
 
Part of the reason for posting my experience here is that the experience gave me some insight as to what some experiences might be like for people with hypoglycemia and there is a somewhat similar story posted here.

You. Literally. Have. No. Idea.

Being a bit hangry because you can't be bothered to feed yourself properly is in no way comparable to having a lifelong condition where a serious hypo can actually kill. What makes you think it's acceptable to appropriate a condition you freely admit you do not suffer from, namely a failure of an essential organ? Do you think it would be ok to use a disabled parking space if you'd stubbed your toe, because it "gave you some insight"?

Edited to add: you called the POLICE? You seriously thought it was appropriate to call the emergency services over this? Pro tip - carry glucose tablets. That way you can quickly solve low blood sugar, perceived or otherwise.
 
Last edited:
Am I right in assuming that type 1 hypos and reactive hypoglycemia hypos are different in how they appear to those around them?

I had reactive hypoglycemia (RH) in my 20's. When I had a hypo, I was angry, extremely anxious, somewhat functional but very demanding, and would do whatever I needed to get food. (After a few episodes of that, I learned to carry nuts and fruit with me whenever I left the house).

My type 1 friends express a different experience. They describe struggling to maintain consciousness as they administer glucose and asking for help from anyone available before losing consciousness (and possibly dying).

I think it would be helpful to explain to the OP what a hypo is like for a type 1 and what it is like for someone who has a RH hypo or simply a hypo due to eating carbs WITHOUT protein and a healthy fat followed by a severe down swing in glucose.

I think it's also important for the OP to fully understand that he/she created the circumstances he/she found himself/herself in by not taking proper care of himself/herself. By that I mean erratic eating or NOT combining carbs eaten with protein and some source of healthy fat at every meal to avoid further downward glucose swings.

But again. There may be a serious health condition underlying all this. And the OP won't know until properly evaluated by a health care professional.

Hope the OP gets over need to ALWAYS be right, seeks medical attention, and soon.

I'm going to hazard a guess that the customer who took the food did so in the hope of bringing the incident to an end for the staff and customers. I might have considered doing the same, that is if I had a adequately physically intimidating presence, which I don't.
 
Am I right in assuming that type 1 hypos and reactive hypoglycemia hypos are different in how they appear to those around them?

I had reactive hypoglycemia (RH) in my 20's. When I had a hypo, I was angry, extremely anxious, somewhat functional but very demanding, and would do whatever I needed to get food. (After a few episodes of that, I learned to carry nuts and fruit with me whenever I left the house).

My type 1 friends express a different experience. They describe struggling to maintain consciousness as they administer glucose and asking for help from anyone available before losing consciousness (and possibly dying).

Hi @Winnie53 ,

Hypos in some respect are a little like inebriation on alcohol.
I've only ever come close to passing out as a child, managed to treat myself & I vowed never again...

I'm pretty passive. Go either "uber reserved" or spout esoteric nonsense...

I was assaulted by a hypoglycemic customer many years ago as I worked as a cashier on a garage forecourt.
The customer was initially shouting out to switch the pumps on. Fuel could not be delivered untill the hose was out of the cradle.
After instructing the customer to put the hose in the car filler nosel. He came to the booth in a distressed state.
I asked him if he was OK, & it was then he sated he was a diabetic.
He should have not been driving. He did somehow manage to pay for the fuel he'd surprisingly managed to deliver.

After asking if he might need something to eat. He launched across the service desk & grabbed my throat. Leaving visible scratches in the presence of a colleague.
I threw the guy back round the desk against a partition wall opposite & grabbing a mars bar off the display, pitched it hitting him squarely in the forehead.. Stunned he fled off in his car.

About an hour later, he came back through the door looking rather sheepish & apologised for his behaviour.

I shook the guy's hand.
He was just relived I didn't call the law. Though I should have for his & others safety. (5Mmol to drive?)
 
Jaylee, Richard Bernstein, MD, a type 1 diabetic from age 12 and author of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, talks about how he frequently lost his temper with his boss prior to figuring out how to maintain close to normal glucose levels. Can't remember though if his temper was fueled by highs or lows. The man who attacked you could have been type 1 or 2, on medication or not. Too many variables. Wish we knew more. Glad you weren't hurt and were able to defend yourself. Impressed that he returned and apologized.

I'm going to assume that type 1's who are having a hypo do not exhibit aggressive behavior, but this is outside my experience.
 
Jaylee, Richard Bernstein, MD, a type 1 diabetic from age 12 and author of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, talks about how he frequently lost his temper with his boss prior to figuring out how to maintain close to normal glucose levels. Can't remember though if his temper was fueled by highs or lows. The man who attacked you could have been type 1 or 2, on medication or not. Too many variables. Wish we knew more. Glad you weren't hurt and were able to defend yourself. Impressed that he returned and apologized.

I'm going to assume that type 1's who are having a hypo do not exhibit aggressive behavior, but this is outside my experience.

I wouldn’t make that assumption.

I have (had) RH hypos (still have them occasionally, but they are no longer every day), and I have verged on violence too. But the cause of the anger/violence is not (as I understand it) the low blood glucose.

Instead it is the body’s desperate attempt to raise blood glucose as fast as possible, and by any means possible - which is by releasing large amounts of stress hormones to trigger the liver to release its glycogen stores. Depending on the circumstances, all that adrenalin and cortisol may result in rage and violence, whether type 1, 2 or 3. Of course, it can also result in other things too; distress, confusion, sadness, weepiness...

The low blood glucose can also affect brain function, in quite a few different ways.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/affect-of-hypos-on-relationships.html

https://www.thediabetescouncil.com/are-people-with-diabetes-more-prone-to-aggression/
 
Last edited:
Jaylee, Richard Bernstein, MD, a type 1 diabetic from age 12 and author of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, talks about how he frequently lost his temper with his boss prior to figuring out how to maintain close to normal glucose levels. Can't remember though if his temper was fueled by highs or lows. The man who attacked you could have been type 1 or 2, on medication or not. Too many variables. Wish we knew more. Glad you weren't hurt and were able to defend yourself. Impressed that he returned and apologized.

I'm going to assume that type 1's who are having a hypo do not exhibit aggressive behavior, but this is outside my experience.

I've worked with two T1s. Both as bass players in bands. One was a lovely chap (no longer with us.) who would dither when low & be mildly irritating with petty critique when low. Our "code" when he was low was if the music sounds rubbish? Eat. (Insert rule breaking word for rubbish.)
The other was fuelled by a fair bit of angst. & would remove himself from the crowd to treat.. (I sadly couldn't communicate with this guy.)

My self taught "mantra" since a child is "relax, treat, bahave." You can come out of this with integrity intact..

It's a crazy trip for the indevidual concerned. But I feel one brings underlying "emotion" to the party when it happens. Like booze. I can be pretty much exactly the same when drunk..
 
Am I right in assuming that type 1 hypos and reactive hypoglycemia hypos are different in how they appear to those around them?
I know nothing about hypos for people with RH.
However, I know that no one with diabetes is the same as anyone else with diabetes and, likewise, no two people with type 1 experiences hypo in the same way. Some are aggressive, some go quiet, some become single minded, some cannot decide anything, some get extra energy, some feel sluggish, ... and many react differently depending how low their BG is ... or how used their body is to being low.
Basically, there is no way to describe how type 1 hypos appear to those around them.
 
I know nothing about hypos for people with RH.
However, I know that no one with diabetes is the same as anyone else with diabetes and, likewise, no two people with type 1 experiences hypo in the same way. Some are aggressive, some go quiet, some become single minded, some cannot decide anything, some get extra energy, some feel sluggish, ... and many react differently depending how low their BG is ... or how used their body is to being low.
Basically, there is no way to describe how type 1 hypos appear to those around them.

Its the same with Type 2 hypos either with or without taking insulin (I've had both). In fact no two hypos have been identical.
 
I actually find it quite insulting that you are going to use a condition you don't have and that people who do struggle with on a daily basis to get one over on a fast food outlet just because they didn't jump to your demands.

You didn't have your receipt, you didn't know what you ordered, you we rude and threatening to both staff and a customer - get over yourself

None of that is true (apart from the not having a receipt thing, which isn't worth debating, it's impossible to receive a receipt as standard). I had no interactions with customers. The only non-staff I had interaction with was a homeless guy asking me over and over for a pound while I was one the phone. Except that wasn't even a customer. All I did was say "I don't have a pound.". At no point was I rude to anyone least of all threatening.

I've been vindicated going back, talking to the manager and getting reimbursed. I think I was mistaken about that they might know what happened. Their staff (completely different crew to the shift I had problems at) were 110% professional and competent. The efficiency with which they dealt with it betrayed this was a regular mess they had to pick up.

We went through the records. There was no case of false memory. Although I was extremely foggy at the time in terms of things such as recall, there's zero evidence of anything I actually remember, rather than could recall at the time, being wrong. In fact, it was shown that the guy who refused me my food was wrong according the the records they pulled up saving me a SAR.

Though it does give me a bit of insight still. It doesn't take much study to understand that there are different levels of hypoglycemia. It's no doubt the level experienced by people with diabetes and much more easily is more severe. It's certainly right to be very responsible about that. I get it, in the common case like mine (most likely reactive), you're stupefied, in the case of diabetes it's life threatening.

At the same time however I feel a bit sad because the way I'm treated with this, I am sure it's people treating me how they have been. When we lose control or have less control we feel responsible but what if in at least one in ten situations actually the other party was wrong? We should never deny self responsibility but I don't think it's an excuse for people to throw themselves under the bus either. I think especially because that situation makes you quick to anger, then you feel guilty about your reaction, but it doesn't mean you were wrong or weren't wronged to begin with. I can understand it can also be embarrassing if you feel like you overreacted and like people have suggested here, it's normal to feel like you just want to bury it, especially if you don't remember entirely what you might have done. Personally I'd rather be embarrassed, ashamed or heaven forbid even exonerated than to not know but each to their own. Reality can never populate the void of the unknown with anything worse than my own imaginings.

And yes I do need to see a doctor for certain issues like suddenly abscesses and lumps in multiple localities across my body (lymph nodes primarily, in some cases the flesh didn't return) coming and going to the point of knowing I'm not a hypochondriac but that's no one's business here (especially as it's probably not diabetes but something else, probably infection, autoimmune or cancer, nothing some antibiotics wont cure).
 
Last edited:
Perhaps it will gave YOU pause to reflect on the important things in life
 
@MacDonaldsFail You think McDonald's are bad? You should try dealing with UEFA lol.

Seriously I would just write a letter or email of complaint to McD's Head Office and then go to Burger King in future (their fries are much nicer anyway :))

The beauty of living in the capital is that I can just hop on the tube and ten minutes later I'm at the headquarters free of charge because travel card. In those circumstances you don't send a letter, if you do, it's by hand. Though this is disrespect. If they screw up, you have to go out of your way to make up for it? I didn't have to resort to that as I went back to the joint and asked to speak to the manager. When it happened I asked several times to speak to the manager and was blanked. Going back later though I was able to actually speak to the manager and everything was sorted.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top