“Honestly it’s chaos,” the McDonald’s worker said to me.
He was cleaning up the chimpanzee mess of burgers wrappers and drinks strewn across a table.
He kept both worried eyes on Reform Street, through the window, where the mob were cavorting.
They had him rattled, and they knew it. A group of very young people were terrorising the fast food outlet and there was nothing we could do to stop them.
Young people, at an important stage in their development, would seem to have gone a bit radge.
You do see it, post lockdowns. Big roaming groups of 10-14 year-olds. Noisy, often wearing balaclavas, puffing on vapes and looking ready for trouble.
Obviously I – in my 32-year-old male’s body, crabbit of pus and thuggish in demeanour – am unthreatened by them.
But anyone with a bit of vulnerability might easily feel unsafe.
And what is it with the balaclavas?
It might be part of a wider fashion trend but it is intimidating and, for some people, it could be triggering.
6pm in McDonald’s and anything could happen
Teachers, parents and police are wondering how to sort the problem.
I’ve seen a message sent to parents by one Dundee school recently that included the line “there has been a marked and challenging increase in the level of civil disorder amongst groups of youths in Dundee’s city centre”.
It even linked the issue to free bus travel for the under-22s.
And the main locations for this “civil disorder” in Dundee would appear to be the McDonald’s on Reform Street and the KFC on the Murraygate.
Which is how I came to find myself in McDonald’s at 6pm on a weeknight, sitting deep undercover.
I ordered a sad little burger and sat in a quiet corner, watching and listening, before I fell into conversation with the guy cleaning up.
“They just…they just go mental eh,” he said.
“We’ve switched off the wifi, and switched off the order screens. But its no helped…”
This guy had arm tattoos and looked like he could handle himself fine, but he was still clearly shook.
Dundee city centre McDonalds on Reform Street will always hold a special place in my heart x https://t.co/ROSQEA0w8d
— mary queen of thots🥦 (@txbamxnmicxh_s) October 1, 2020
What use is muscle against a babble of bairns bamming you up?
It’s no like he can head out there and gie them all a fat lug like in the old days.
He moved off, and I went back to my undercover vigil, watching through the big window.
Giddiness with an undercurrent of danger
Outside on Reform Street the young folk dominated the space.
They were noisy, scattering in parcels of twos and threes before circling round and reconnecting with the general mass.
They screeched loud and chaotic like a gannet colony.
Passers-by had to decide either to skirt right round the edges of them, hugging the walls of the charity shops, or brave a bisection of the group.
They were so young. Like, really wee bairns. They had that giddiness of youth, all excitement and nerves.
And it did look like fun, in a dangerous way.
Really young boys acting the hard man, pushing and playfighting and then turning on the young lassies of the group to shove or grab or hassle.
But there have been nights when individuals in the group have come into the McDonald’s, caused trouble, and then spat at staff when they’ve been asked to leave.
On the evening I was there, the Alamo vibes never fully developed into an assault.
And as I ate my burger, a dog whistle across the city appeared to sound, and all the young folk rushed off to some other place as one, leaving this particular McDonald’s relieved, messy and deserted.
This generation hasn’t had it easy
In my heart of hearts, I sympathised with the youth.
When I was their age we endlessly harassed the Spar in Carnoustie. Drinking, smashing bottles, nicking stuff, intimidating customers.
Eventually they fitted a supersonic speaker that blasted a loud but very high pitched sound right at the bit where we hung out at.
Anyone over 20 couldn’t hear it because it was at such a high frequency but we found it deafening.
It worked, in so far as we continued our self-destructive behaviour somewhere darker, to the longer-term detriment of several in the group.
So in a way I’m glad these young folk are out there in public.
But there is clearly an issue there that needs to be addressed.
The Covid period has ruined a fat chunk of their lives.
Their schooling, friendships, opportunities for travel and personal growth have all been sacrificed to save the older generations, and they had no say in the matter.
They are rightly in a bit of a huff.
But I saw two children – 12 year old lassies by the looks of it – being locked into a polis van on Reform Street one recent afternoon.
Spitting on folk and trashing restaurants isnae guid but that’s nae use either.
And this boisterous disorder needs approached with a bit of love and understanding after everything this generation has had to deal with.
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