From the NY Times:
For the past several months, a number of elderly Korean patrons and this McDonald’s they frequent have been battling over the benches inside. The restaurant says the people who colonize the seats on a daily basis are quashing business, taking up tables for hours while splitting a small packet of French fries ($1.39); the group say they are customers and entitled to take their time. A lot of time.
“Do you think you can drink a large coffee within 20 minutes?” David Choi, 77, said. “No, it’s impossible.”
And though they have treated the corner restaurant as their own personal meeting place for more than five years, they say, the situation has escalated in recent months. The police said there had been four 911 calls since November requesting the removal of the entrenched older patrons. Officers have stopped in as frequently as three times a day while on patrol, according to the patrons, who sidle away only to boomerang right back. Medium cups of coffee ($1.09 each) have been spilled; harsh words have been exchanged. And still — proud, defiant and stuck in their ways — they file in each morning, staging a de facto sit-in amid the McNuggets.
“Large group — males, females — refusing to get up and leave,” read the police summary of one 911 call placed on Jan. 3 at 2:30 p.m. “The group passed a lot of sit-down time. Refusing to let other customers sit.”
Neither a Burger King nor another McDonald’s, both within a few blocks on Northern Boulevard, has the same allure.
Workers at the restaurant say they are exasperated.
Don't fret, Ron Kim is on it.
36 comments:
They enjoy the coffee and apple pies. Nothing wrong with that. Why not put up signs in English and Korean announcing a time limit. I believe 30 minutes is standard and satisfactory.
The other two nearby McDonald and Burger King also have elderly Korean seating in there. They do not cause problem like this one is because they have much more seats than this one.
They won't try this in a Korean owned store because it would be bad for the business of their fellow landsman. Anyway way you look at it they are a colony within Queens and are getting very aggressive with their ways and who can blame them they operate with impunity.
They call it "fast food" for a reason....so they can cook it fast, that way you can leave out faster.....They do the same thing in the McDonald's on 204th and northern blvd too. But atleast that McDonald's is big enough that it does have plenty of seating because it's two floors! All these people do is sit and drink one cup of coffee, they think it's a social meeting place. ...i don't blame that McDonald's, that is a very small restaurant.
Are they North Koreans?
Why are we paying for senior centers and adult day care if some elders prefer McD's as their hangout?
That story, in yesterday's NY Times and today's Daily News, was first reported in the "Korea Times" on January 7, with an update on January 10. But neither the Times nor the News gave credit to the Korean newspaper for first reporting it.
" Anyway way you look at it they are a colony within Queens" Wrong! WE are the colony & THEY are the colonizers.
A creative way of dealing with this would be set up a live webcam and have viewers track the seat turnover.
Put a timer on each table that cannot be reset by the customer and when it reaches zero, the customer has to leave the premises and not return until the next shift.
By the way, this happened to a Starbucks-wannabe in Woodside: If you bought something there after 5pm until closing, there was never a place to sit. Out of curiosity, I observed 15 minutes elapsed where they did not ring up a single sale with a full house of "customers". It went out of business of course.
This is intentional. They are being paid to do this in order to kill business and force the sale of the property.
INVESTIGATE
They won't try this in a Korean owned store because it would be bad for the business of their fellow landsman.
They probably go where they can afford to go - I don't think coffee is $1 at Korean cafes like Koryodang or Tous les Jours.
The bigger question, why the fuck would anyone want to hang out at McDonald's or for that matter eat there.
The bigger question, why the fuck would anyone want to hang out at McDonald's or for that matter eat there.
Free heat in the winter, and free air conditioning in the summer - and a bathroom.
Went there several times, and saw those old Koreans. They did not cause any trouble. But the McDonald there is the slowest in the world. It is not uncommon to wait 20 minutes for a burger, and fries always not fully fried. What a shame.
Koreans tolerate it because it is their own doing this nonsense. But their management are incensed when the outsiders display this same behavior in their businesses. The police will harass the schoolkids, homeless, and other ethnicities who linger and loiter, but why not these folks?
Captain Obvious has got his finger on the pulse.
What about all those bullshit Korean churches where the Koreans buy up gorgeous old homes and run them into the ground and kill thei neighborhood (all along Bayside Ave)? Why don't they take care of their own? You know they don't pay taxes. They're just money laundering fronts!
Why can't they put in a coffee pot in the basement and let them sit there all day long?
This is nothing new or unique to Koreans. McDonalds is a social gathering spot for seniors in many places.
I agree with the poster who says these people are being paid to destroy the business so a Korean overlord/slumlord can buy up the property cheap.
Just like the older Chinese they are probably loan sharking and gambling.
Send them back to Korea, they will be so much happier there. Tell me that they are all illegal aliens who shouldn't be in the country in the first place.
The aggression of the Koreans in NYC is appalling and frightening. Please note, they are not crowding and loitering in a Korean owned business because they would be physically harmed.
Would be funny if a shady adult daycare center was pocketing Medicaid funds and dumping seniors at local McDonald's. Reminds me of the groups of disabled people who shuffle around Target in College Point while their "teachers" do some shopping.
There is a halfway house of sorts in Bayside that does something similar. They kick the people out for the day and yell at them if they come back. They have phones with the number of the house, but the staff there never picks up. Things like this need to be investigated.
I don't understand why they don't go to the Flushing Library? It's quite nice, really.
Oh come on Big Mac, add a few more benches for the old folks, you can afford it!
Vibrant and diverse.
The bigger question, why the fuck would anyone want to hang out at McDonald's or for that matter eat there.
Because not everyone is a fancy-pants yuppie who can afford the over-priced offerings at smug establishments such as Starbucks.
Come to think of it, they should also evict all the douchey white people who set up camp at Starbucks with their laptops and sit around all day nursing a $4 latte.
Elderly whites do the same. Check out Forest Hills where they have or had a Chinese bakery and these elderly white women just hung out there.
Agree with post #17! Put those Korean churches to a lot. They ruined a lot of beautiful homes and beautiful blocks forbthose churches. We need to get other people interested in these neighborhoods of NE Queens before more is destroyed!
What's the name and/or address of that halfway house in Bayside?
If only those money-hungry, penny-pinching tightwads would shell out some of that laundered cash to purchase more of that toxic food, they might actually die off quickly and free up some seats.
"If only those money-hungry ..."
That's nice.
Hope you drop dead soon too!
I don't understand why they don't go to the Flushing Library? It's quite nice, really.
Maybe they can talk louder at McDonald's.
When the elderly do this, the media says they should be respected.I bet if the kids from Flushing High School came in and started doing this, they'd be labeled as hooligans.
Mcdonalds is a business, not a senior center. They are here to make money. These elderly either needs to find a new hang out place or spend at least 5 bucks worth of meal every half hour they waste.
Frankly, the Library is not doing its job if this is happening.
That institution is one of a handful of coddled non-profits that suck up all the borough's funds.
The same crowd used to occupy the McD at Roosevelt and Main
Take away the tables . Make them stand at a counter. They won't stay as long or they will find a new place.
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