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North Surrey
McCheesed: Teens grimace at forced exit Jacob Zinn
I’d understand having people who aren’t buying food and asking them politely to leave, but we still had our food and were in the middle of eating. We weren’t being rude or impolite at all.
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Mitchell Gerry hasn’t returned to the McDonald’s across the street from North Surrey Secondary since he and his friends were kicked out during their spare block, seemingly for being teenagers. He feels the franchise is discriminating against his age group, even though he and his friends have been respectful, paying customers. (Photo: JACOB ZINN) six kids playing cards and one of them had ordered a drink and they had been there for over an hour,” said Gibson. “The owner had to actually go into the group of kids and ask them if they were going to be there much longer, and if they were just loitering around, he would have to give them a bit of a time limit to exit so another customer could then utilize the space.” He said a compliance officer from the school visits the restaurant during
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the lunch hour to mitigate loitering by students. “We would never want to turn away customers or make them not feel welcome, but at the same time, it’s gotten to the point that where we need to engage with the school to make sure that our actual customers have space in the restaurant,” said Gibson. But Gerry maintains that he and his friends never took seats from others or
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spent extensive amounts of time in the restaurant. “We’re always very quiet and polite and make sure to clean up after ourselves because we don’t want to make any issues,” he said. According to Gerry, this isn’t the first time students have had a problem with this McDonald’s: a few years ago, the restaurant offered a free coffee promotion, but he said students were only allowed to get small coffees between noon and 2 p.m. – after the school’s lunch break. Since the time-limit incident, Gerry has not returned to the Golden Arches. He acknowledged that there are other students who go to the McDonald’s without buying anything, but he doesn’t think their actions should affect the other 1,700 students at North Surrey Secondary. “I’d understand having people who aren’t buying food and asking them politely to leave, but we still had our food and were in the middle of eating,” he said. “We weren’t being rude or impolite at all.” jacobzinn@gmail.com
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A North Surrey Secondary senior is not lovin’ the McDonald’s near his high school after he and his friends were treated like a side of fries during a recent spare block. Mitchell Gerry, 17, said he and some classmates were kicked out of the Mickey D’s across the street from NSS on Nov. 29 when they bought food and sat down to play cards. “We walked in one day and they told us that we had 10 minutes to eat our food and then to get out because we weren’t allowed to be playing cards in the McDonald’s anymore,” he said. “Apparently, the owner said that students at the school are no longer allowed to be sitting in there during their spare blocks or during lunch.” Since the start of the semester, they had played cards at the fast food restaurant between classes without issue. Despite being respectful, paying customers, Gerry and his friends now aren’t allowed to spend time there within school hours. He finds the removal to be ageist, considering he’s seen many adults and elderly people go to the McDonald’s, order a small coffee and spend hours in the restaurant without incident. He feels he and his friends deserve an apology and an invitation to eat at the establishment like any other paying customer. John Gibson, communications manager for McDonald’s in Western Canada, said he spoke with the owner and manager of the chain’s location and was told that the number of students hanging out at the restaurant without ordering has become a problem. “They gave me the example of a group of