The narrow focus on whether a Big Mac costs 15 cents more, and if it does, shouldn’t you yell at the people behind the counter, is a distortion, and a tired one, that should have been retired long ago.
I don’t live in California but where I live prices jumped up about 30-40% since Covid. Given that a meal now costs between $12-15, along with the fact that workers are just as apathetic as ever (and honestly, why shouldn’t they be, given the way they are treated), I have stopped eating at McDonalds and most other fast food places.
McDonald’s around here starting pay was $22 per hour before the pandemic. After the pandemic it was $22 per hour. But prices have doubled. Huh?
In n out is the only burger worth my $.
They make an affordable decent burger. Unfortunately they’re not up here. We get all of our burgers at a little local burger shack. They’re pretty expensive, but they’re probably the best burgers we’ve ever had. McDonald’s burgers taste like compressed napkins.