"I...touch screen...no receipt...a receipt please..."

A senior citizen with an Asian appearance was struggling to get his message across, only to be rebuked by the busy manager:

"Sir, you get a receipt only when you pay at the cashier counter."

Frankly, this McDonald's manager was lying to his customer's face. I couldn't go on finishing my cup of coffee. Gently but firmly, I reminded the manager that his customer was entitled to a sale receipt. Stone-faced now, the manager came up with the requested receipt in a matter of seconds. 

I ventured to ask the senior citizen if he came from the Chinese-speaking world, judging from his accent. Before we knew it, we started a conversation in Putonghua. I wondered aloud if he wanted to file a complaint with McDonald's Corporate. He nodded, hesitantly though. I took it as a yes. I then walked him through the complaint form on the McDonald's app and translated his feedback into English. 

I was impressed by the complainant who just laid out the facts precisely and concisely, avoiding emotion-loaded words. We met again in the same McDonald's a couple of weeks later. He showed me a stored value card courtesy of a McDonald's franchisee and offered to buy me a coffee. I declined, smiling.

Author: Lingyang Jiang