An ex-McDonald's employee has revealed why the ice cream machine at the chain's restaurants are allegedly broken so often.
Many customers have had the experience of marching up to the counter, smacking their lips at the thought of a McFlurry, only to be told the ice cream machine is not working.
But now, as reported by the Liverpool Echo, the world has been let in on a big secret: the machines are not usually broken - staff just want to avoid cleaning them.
A former employee spilled the beans on social media this week, prompting a frenzied reaction.
Since Will Doyle's tweet was posted on Monday (October 21), it has generated more than 10,000 retweets and more than 70,000 likes.
He wrote: "Btw, I used to work in McDonalds. The ice cream machine was never broke, it just takes 3 hours to clean so we used to say it was broke so we didn’t have to serve you lot. Cheers x".
Another alleged former worker shared the same story the following day.
Michael Asizi wrote: "As an ex McDonald's employee, the ice cream machine was always working it just took too long to clean it so we used to tell everyone it was broken hahaha."
The official McDonald's Twitter account has even waded into the controversy to explain the cleaning process.
Responding to a customer's tweet, it said: "Our shake and soft-serve ice cream machines undergo heat treatment cycles every 24 hours - they're disassembled, sanitized and cleaned every 14 days. We're sorry for any inconvenience."
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