Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Tauranga McDonald’s worker tells customers to halve order and ‘ration it’

Chris Marriner
By Chris Marriner
NZ Herald·
6 May, 2025 11:54 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A Tauranga woman who made a late-night run to Maccas was told by a worker to cut her order in half and 'ration it'. Video / Reremai Cameron

A Tauranga woman who made a late-night run to Maccas was told by a worker to halve her order and “ration it”.

Reremai Cameron filmed her encounter at the Cameron Rd branch of McDonald’s in Tauranga after visiting about 3am on Sunday.

She told the Herald she was travelling with two other carloads of mates after a night on the town, with sober drivers delivering tipsy pals for a much-needed fast-food fix.

Two cars waited in the carpark while Cameron and her friends went through the drive-thru, planning on ordering two dinner boxes.

The share meals, which contain four burgers, four fries, and four drinks, were exactly what the revellers wanted.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But upon reaching the drive-thru, a note of unhappiness crept into the meals.

A McDonald’s spokesperson said they were aware of a video on social media, and looking into it to establish "what might’ve happened”.
Photo / Reremai Cameron
A McDonald’s spokesperson said they were aware of a video on social media, and looking into it to establish "what might’ve happened”. Photo / Reremai Cameron

They asked for their dinner boxes and were told “no, can you just order one?”, Cameron claimed.

After a second refusal, Cameron began to record the encounter.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Have you only got one?” a voice from the car asked.

“I could do two, but it would be nicer for me if you did one,” a weary voice responded.

After being told there were a lot of people waiting, the drive-thru worker responded.

“I’m sure you could ration it,” he said.

Eventually, he relented and instructed the group to move to the second window to pick up the full order.

A McDonald’s spokesperson told the Herald: “The restaurant has been made aware of a video on social media, and is looking into it to establish what might’ve happened”.

Cameron said she understood that working a night shift at the weekend must be challenging.

However, the worker had displayed a poor attitude and also threw the Eftpos machine into the car when they reached the pay window.

“He was over it,” she added.

She said they had given him no reason to be antagonistic, and his behaviour was “not normal”.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Cameron said her advice to the worker was that he should “question it in your mind, not out loud”.

And the food?

“There’s nothing you want more than a burger and chips after a night out in town, and that’s why it was so frustrating.”

Cameron reports the burgers were “top tier”. But the chips were “stale as”.

Chris Marriner is an Auckland-based journalist covering trending news and social media. He joined the Herald in 2003 and previously worked in the Herald‘s visual team. His usual Maccas order is Quarter-Pounder combo with Coke No Sugar.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
Bay of Plenty Times

'Frightened all the time': Inside a $3m kiwifruit tax evasion scam

16 May 05:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

14 rescued from launch sinking off Tauranga coast

16 May 04:06 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Building momentum: Ōtūmoetai College's legacy spans six decades

16 May 04:01 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Premium
'Frightened all the time': Inside a $3m kiwifruit tax evasion scam

'Frightened all the time': Inside a $3m kiwifruit tax evasion scam

16 May 05:00 PM

'Money mule' was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted after threatening to blow the whistle.

14 rescued from launch sinking off Tauranga coast

14 rescued from launch sinking off Tauranga coast

16 May 04:06 AM
Building momentum: Ōtūmoetai College's legacy spans six decades

Building momentum: Ōtūmoetai College's legacy spans six decades

16 May 04:01 AM
Soldier in a hen house: Battle of Crete veteran's memories shared

Soldier in a hen house: Battle of Crete veteran's memories shared

16 May 02:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP