McDonald's employee left stunned by miserly 'Christmas bonus' that's practically useless

The Christmas season is a time for exchanging gifts with friends, family and co-workers. Many working professionals in regions where Christmas is celebrated look forward to seasonal bonuses or perks from their employers. Naturally, employees at some of the world’s biggest companies also expect something in return for their year-long hard work. However, as u/MMS37 on Reddit can attest, many are often left heavily disappointed when Christmas arrives.

The Reddit user strongly implied that they work for McDonald's, one of the largest fast-food chains in the world. While many might assume that the chain's employees are entitled to generous holiday packages or Christmas bonuses, the employee took to the platform to reveal what they actually receive in terms of bonuses. The Reddit community was shocked to learn that the company doesn't even offer monetary bonuses to their employees. "I work for one of the biggest companies in the world. This was my Christmas bonus," the employee captioned their post.

The employee then shared a picture that was sure to shock everyone, particularly those in the service industry. They revealed that they'd received a thick cardboard bag emblazoned with the McDonald's logo, which could easily "disintegrate" if it got wet. Along with the bag, the employee was given a free cinema ticket to the Foroxity movie theater in Roermond, Netherlands. "Getting to the other city would cost more as opposed to just buying a cinema ticket for the city I live in," the employee noted. They also appeared to have received several pinup badges featuring the thumbs-up emoji.

People in the community were stunned that a company like McDonald's wouldn't even attempt to create a decent Christmas package for their employees. Many McDonald's workers joined the conversation in the comment section, confirming that they too had received nothing better than a pitiful Christmas "bonus" similar to the one shown in the picture. u/ShiftWorth5734 revealed, "I actually appreciated when my company just stopped doing Christmas bonuses altogether. It's actually more dignified than this insulting stuff." u/godefroy15 mentioned, "What's with this cardboard backpack thing? My girlfriend's mum got some from her job and gave me one. Unpractical as hell. Wore it a few times, and it's all crumpled."

u/CategoryKiwi criticized, "Even calling it branded company merchandise feels generous. They're trying to make their employees into living advertisements. They should be (separately/additively) paying people to use that garbage." u/rustys_shackled_ford recalled, "In the '80s, McDonald's used to give every single employee a turkey for Thanksgiving and a ham for Christmas." u/BraveInflation1098 remarked, "Living advertisements, exactly! It won't work, though, thankfully like, who in their right mind would actually use it in public? It must be bad enough already for the poor souls slaving away at McDonald's who have to hear that stupid 'da da da da da I'm loving it' everywhere they go." u/life1sart added, "And totally failed by giving it cardboard bags in the Netherlands. Those will disintegrate in the rain in a day."