British citizens were crestfallen over an apparent shortage of milkshakes at several McDonald's locations in the U.K.
To cover the alarming scarcity of milkshakes–apparently due to "supply chain issues"—ITV News correspondent, Peter Smith, was tasked with asking disappointed customers how they felt about the shortage.
You can watch the ITV News report, here.
According to BBC News, many businesses in England, Scotland, and Wales have reported inventory issues due to driver shortage.
McDonald's said they were "working hard" to diminish impact on deliveries and customers and has removed some items from the menu during this time.
The fast-food chain issued a statement, saying:
"As reported, a number of issues are impacting retailers in the UK at the moment, one of which is the nationwide shortage of HGV drivers."
A spokesperson for McDonald's said the problem was due to a "historic driver shortage" exacerbated by the pandemic cancelling truck drivers tests, and Brexit contributing to the loss of overseas drivers.
"When the sun is shining and you come to a McDonald's drive-thru, this is the one thing you don't expect to happen," reported Smith, who was behind the wheel.
He pulled up to a Mickey D's drive-thru teller and ordered two strawberry milkshakes. Unsurprisingly, the location was all out of the good stuff.
"We saw how the McDonald milkshake shortage was affecting others," said Smith after interviewing glum customers.
One guy said he was "disappointed," and when asked what he was going to do about it, he said he would go to the "ice cream shop around the corner."
Smith said of the guy's backup plan:
"Just got to try and figure it out all by yourself now. That's a shame."
He also interviewed a woman from her car who was also bummed out since she always gets a milkshake from the Golden Arches.
One customer gave a succinct response to express how he felt.
"Distraught," he said.
Twitter user "Rach", who goes by the handle @R_xchh, was amused by Smith's urgency in his reporting on the dearth of dairy delights.
She tweeted an excerpt of the ITV News footage with the caption:
"ITV News making the McDonald's milkshake shortage out like a global pandemic."
ITV News making the McDonald\u2019s milkshake shortage out like a global pandemic pic.twitter.com/HwihSGQXMH— Rach (@Rach) 1629827787
After her tweet racked up more than 47,800 likes and 440 retweets, others joined in with their observations.
Many commented with a little size-comparison humor by pointing out how Smith looked noticeably larger-than-life than the folks he was interviewing.
Bloody hell how tall is the news reporter..pic.twitter.com/mnwYyY41Gd— Harry wood (@Harry wood) 1629835673
Land of the giant\u2019s pic.twitter.com/OiA6dI4Lqj— Quo Vadis. (@Quo Vadis.) 1629891249
Did ITV need permission from the last guys parents for that interview?— Big Bore (@Big Bore) 1629881525
More hilarity ensued.
"Of course I remember the Macdonalds milkshake shortage of 2021 - you just dont forget an awful thing like that"pic.twitter.com/wF7j2KF85c— J Higgins (@J Higgins) 1629882572
I am still dying at this. The sincerity in the way the reporter says "you've got to figure it out all by yourself" when the guy says he's going to look for a milkshake around the corner is the bit where you think it HAS to be a sketch.https://twitter.com/R_xchh/status/1430227518963998722\u00a0\u2026— Gopesh Pathak (@Gopesh Pathak) 1629967629
How close was that women to her steering wheel??!— Milan Parmar (@Milan Parmar) 1629872748
Smith, himself, gave in to the hubub by retweeting Rach's tweet.
He wrote:
"We just go wherever the story takes us."
We just go wherever the story takes us https://twitter.com/r_xchh/status/1430227518963998722\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/jhGGCbnku4— Peter A Smith (@Peter A Smith) 1629841028
Eventually, during his news coverage, our intrepid reporter got the sweet ending to his story.
Smith's "tour of drive-thrus in the name of journalism" finally paid off when he managed to find a McDonald's with the last remaining order of milkshakes.
But instead of guzzling the prized treats with his crew in tow, he decided to "do the right thing," by not leaving his interviewees empty-handed.
He personally gave each of them the coveted milkshake.
"That made my day," said the woman in the car, and the first customer he interviewed said he was "the lucky one today."
As for Mr. "Distraught," he gave another one-word answer in response to receiving the icy treat.
"Nectar," he said, followed by a big grin on his face.
And with that, the reporter's work was done.
