McDonald's employee reveals the purpose behind the buttons on cup lids

The buttons help you from guessing which drink is yours when you order more than one Coca-Cola

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Every single day, thousands of people across the North East order from McDonald's.

But while tucking into your Big Mac meal, have you ever wondered what the buttons on your drink's plastic lid mean? If, like many, you have no idea, then the answer has finally been revealed.

The Mirror Online reports that the buttons save you from guessing which drink is yours when you order more than one Coca-Cola, Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Most cups feature buttons designed to identify each drink in the tray.

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The answer came when a Reddit user took to the platform looking for help. It turns out staff don't always use the correct labels on the buttons, leading to the confusion. But several reportedly use the same system which is pretty straightforward once you've figured out how it works.

Explaining in a post, the confused customer wrote: "My question is about the McDonald's drink lids which have the 'buttons' on them. I just ordered two drinks, one Diet Coke and one Coke Classic, and on one of them had the number '1' button pressed.

"The buttons are the numbers 1 and 2, no caff, diet/light. The only one pressed was the number 1. Which one is diet? Should they have just pushed the diet one in? The number 1 means nothing to me but is important I know which is which. Thank you!"

One replied: "Yeah seems to be different for every store but we usually just push 1 random button for Diet Coke and then either 2 random or all 4 buttons for Coke Zero.

"It's just faster to push random buttons than spend the time to actually find the diet button on every lid I guess."

Luckily, McDonald's employees were on hand to explain the unexpected way they use the system.

A second agreed: "We press one for Diet and either two or four for Zero."

So, there you have it. Next time you visit a McDonald's, it is well worth checking for the buttons.