McDonald’s was first established in Singapore in 1979 at Liat Towers, heralding the beginning of their growth into a multi-million dollar industry in Singapore with a total of 135 outlets islandwide. With over 9,000 staff, McDonald’s serves 1.2 million customers a week—it’s safe to say that Mac’s is beloved by many, many Singaporeans.
Everything’s all well and good until, in the wee hours of the morning on 19 April 2020, McDonald’s Singapore released a statement via their Facebook page that they would be suspending all restaurant operations, including McDelivery and Drive-Thru, until 4 May 2020.
This unprecedented closure comes at the direction of the Ministry of Health, advising them to close after another two employees tested positive for COVID-19 and also as a preventative measure to protect their customers and elderly employees.
Prior to this shock announcement, two days ago, they announced that takeaway services would be stopped for the time being, as an added precaution to reduce contact between employees and customers. Before we had time to fully deal with this initial blow, we are suddenly forced to accept going McDonald’s-less for the next two weeks.
Word of this unexpected and upsetting news is all over social media—you’d think it was the government broadcasting Singapore’s inevitable lockdown or something of that magnitude.
If you were wondering, a complete suspension of all operations for McDonald’s Singapore has never happened before, which speaks of the severity of COVID-19. Apart from the recent cases of McDonald’s employees testing positive for the virus that brings the total to seven, is there more going on behind-the-scenes than they are letting on, to the point where the Ministry of Health has to get involved? Is there more than meets the ice (latte)?
And what does this mean for other fast-food chains around Singapore, or services/restaurants considered less essential than McDonald’s? Will they take away KFC next? Or heaven forbid, Burger King? WILL NO ONE BE SPARED THIS PAIN?
I pondered on these questions and more while trawling through hundreds of comments on McDonald’s Instagram and Facebook posts, and a few of these comments had me laughing out loud, while others had me scratching my head in confusion and some, in agreement.
To try and make light of the devastating news that is McDonald’s temporary closure, I have tracked down the 20 most heartwarming and funny comments to inject some humour into your day during these uncertain and difficult times.
1. Word Play Warriors
2. The Opportunists
3. The Environmentalist (Earth thanks you)
4. The Conspiracy Theorists (Jeng, Jeng, JENG)
5. The Emotional Overexaggeration
6. The Pop-Culturist
7. The Angry Anti-Government
8. The Realists
9. The ‘KFC/Burger King/Mos Burger/other fast-food chain’ Supporters
10. The Budding Chefs
Although we’re still unsure of what the future may hold with regards to the possible extension of the ‘Circuit Breaker’, closure of other restaurants, how long-drawn COVID-19 will actually be, at least we can find solidarity with each other through the power of the Internet.
Here’s to staying positive for the next few weeks and awaiting the reopening of our beloved McDonald’s!
