No matter how much you think you know about a company, there’s no way you can no everything unless you work there. There are always secrets that only the employees know. Some of these are secrets because they seriously don’t want the employees to tell customers. Other things are secrets simply because the employees never thought to share the inside scoop until someone asked.

Reddit user Yung_Mulann365 asked, “Employees of Mcdonalds, what secrets did you discover while working there?” Many former employees of the popular fast food chain eagerly shared secrets. These secrets range from fun discoveries to some rather interesting facts. Some of these tidbits are probably true for every location, but a few of them may only be true for the location where the particular employee worked.

Scroll down to learn 15 secrets shared by former McDonald’s employees. You may never look at the fast food chain the same way again.

1. They Don’t Use a Grill

   Reddit user 9fingeredbandit96 wrote:

   Before I worked there , I always thought they used a grill . Turns its more of a heated press machine

2. Saucy Secrets

   thomsomc shared:

   Sauces for sandwiches have the craziest dispensers. Ketchup and mustard are in these really rudimentary plastic funnel things that have a paddle in the handle, when you squeeze it gravity pushes just the right amount of sauce through holes. Doesn’t seem like it’d work well but it does if you apply the proper amount of jigglin.The Mac sauce, mayo, and tartar though, they’re in basically caulk tubes that get loaded into basically caulk guns. You pull the trigger on the handle and a reeeeaally satisfying ratchety clanking delivers a powerfully saucy surprise for the awaiting buns. Problem is, it takes a bit of finesse because if you hit that trigger too hard you’ll blow the bun and the wad of creme right through the condiment station and onto the wall 8 feet away. No joke, the first couple tarter splurts of a fresh tube came out so hot I’d fire a shot or two in the trash to avoid premature splatulation during the lunch rush. The first salvo, properly elevated and adjusted for wind, could clear the whole kitchen and take out the McInfantry on the cash register.

3. Tossing Pickles

   MikelGazillion added:

   The pickles are surprisingly aerodynamic. They stick to walls and (if you have the stones) managers shirts pretty well.

4. Custom Creations

   abbazabba answered:

   Worked there in high school. Found out that if you put the middle of a Mac bun in the fryer and then add soft serve and strawberry topping, it tastes just like a funnel cake. Custom creations were the best part of working there.

5. Real Eggs vs Frozen Eggs

   AmbivalentWaffle wrote:

   Sandwiches with round egg use real, cracked eggs. Folded and scrambled come from packaged goods in the freezer or fridge.

6. Sweet Tea

   TheGingernational shared:

   I worked at McDonalds when they first introduced sweet tea and remember that it was brewed in a large bucket mixing hot water with a full bag of granulated sugar. It makes me sick to think about but I still sometimes crave that disgustingly sweet tasty garbage.

7. No Chopping Onions

   HawkTheHawker explained:

   Dehydrated onions, you put them in a metal thing and just add waterThe thing is they still taste great! But I was shocked and happy that I didn’t have to go cut onions

8. A Variety of Pretty Positive Secrets

   Radthereptile added:

   Burgers are kept in a warming area for no more than 15 minutes then thrown out and new ones are made.You get a free meal from anything except the salads. Meal is a sandwich, medium fries and a medium drink. At the end of the night all the cooked meat is thrown out. If you want you can use it to make burgers and take them home with you. Specific tools and grill section for cooking chicken vs beef to make sure they don’t cross for those customers who don’t eat beef. The Hindu coworkers were very vocal about this rule if you worked the grill.

9. No Flipping Burgers

   BearWithScales shared:

   anyone who says they messed with food was lying, unless it’s something boring like, “we left patties in the warmers too long”One thing I was SHOCKED by (this was pre-internet forums being widely used so it was just info from people working there) was that no burgers are flipped. you put your 10:1 patties or 4:1 patties on the grill and hit a couple buttons and a second grill comes down and both sides are cooked for you. I loved scooping a big tower of them off the grill to plop into the warming trays.

10. Much Cleaner Than You’d Think

    Hi_Vincent wrote:

    I started working at McDs when I was 15.. the secret is that it’s probably one of the cleanest restaurants in your city. The standardizations and routine practices leave little room for employees to think for themselves. It was a way cleaner restaurant than the 30-50$ per person place I would work at later.

11. Burger Differences

    Yoozelezz_AF explained:

    10 to 1 Burger patties. Every 10:1 is a tenth of a pound of beef. These go in most of the smaller burgers. A McDouble and a Big Mac have the same amount of beef to them. The difference between them is the Mac Sauce instead of ketchup and mustard, the middle bun, sesame seeds, and lettuce. The difference between a Double Cheeseburger and a McDouble is 1 slice of cheese.

12. Fast Food Addict

    Asapgerg answered:

    That you don’t get grossed out by eating the food all the time, you just become addicted to it

13. A Great Place to Work

    dawnmountain wrote:

    Frankly the company was fine. They offered to give you scholarships, pay for you to get your diploma if you didn’t have one, always paid above minimum wage (though sometimes barely), and it was easy to get a promotion if you asked and put in the work.

14. Glitch

    neily777 shared:

    There is a glitch with the McDonalds app. There is a ‘deals’ section and it usually has a coupon for a free cookie or free apple pie with any order. Add it to your order and you get the free cookie. Then, the next time you order from the app, just reorder your last meal (you can add/subtract whatever you want) but the free cookie will still be there. The glitch is that you can add another free cookie from the deals section, and now you have two free cookies. Evidently there is no cap to this. I now get 5 free cookies with each order. (I stopped at 5 because I felt that any more than that would be overkill)

15. Ice-Cream

    taka_282 added:

    That the ice cream machines aren’t actually broken 99% of the time. They’re typically powering up because someone forgot to turn them on at the appointed time. We just say that they’re broken because it’s short and concise way to express that you’re not getting your ice cream for the next few hours.