My Experience as a McDonald's Employee
Lily Hwang
Dear McDonalds,
I love you guys. I eat yo' food and I served yo' customers.
The two and a half years I worked at McDonalds was an experience that I will never ever forget or regret. I wouldn't change it for the WORLD.
Now you may think, that is completely ridiculous, why would I enjoy such a low paying, crappy job? Well, I didn't. It sucked. A lot. You learn things about people, all kinds of people: old, young, mean, nice, rich, poor. Anyways, it wasn't about liking my job, it was about learning.
I worked at McDonalds in a tourist city. It was the closest Mickey D's to all the bars, clubs, sketchy downtown areas, etc. So after the bars and clubs close at 2am, guess where the party moves to? Rotten Ronnies of course! Bring on the shoeless women who couldn’t walk in their heels anymore or obnoxious men who are ready to pick a fight.
Some thoughts if you are ever desperate enough to get hired:
1. You clean. A lot. There are always children peeing down the slides and drunk people throwing up after leaving the club to get some grub. I've seen it all, cleaned it all.
2. If they could pay you less than minimum wage, they would. But they can't. Just to remind you what a valuable member you are to their team!
3. Welcome to McDonalds aka Dairy Queen aka Tim Hortons aka Starbucks aka everything. McDonalds is trying to take over the world -- sort of like Google. They have cappuccinos, muffins, ice cream, poutine, oh and burgers too. They want all the customers. So be prepared to serve crying children and CEOs. Never underestimate the power of the Golden Arches.
4. People will get mean because they have the power to. There’s something about being a consumer that makes a person feel like they’re in power and you’re their servant. "15 CENTS FOR SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE?! THAT'S ABSURD. PICKLES ON MY BIGMAC? I'M ALLERGIC TO PICKLES!!" Yes, but it’s not your fault. Yes, you apologize because you can't do anything else. Yes, you charge them fifteen cents for sauce while they proceed to tell the next customer how much of a "ripoff it is". People flip out on you because the cooks do not realize that the person in front of you will break out in hives if they consume pickles. You get people like this ten times a day, you ain't got time for them, but the company pays you and you won't get anywhere by arguing with the customer.
5. They make you work nasty hours --12 hours a day dealing with orders like: “Bigmac sauce on a hamburger with no meat and double the cheese” (So a grilled cheese with bigmac sauce? OK.) It’s just a lot of greasy, greasy stress. Don’t even get me started on the midnight shifts. I was scheduled Friday night from 11:30pm til 6am on Saturday. Then rinse and repeat for Saturday night til Sunday. Therefore, your weekend will consist of seeing the party animals at 2am, not BEING the party animal. I don’t even stay up til 6am to do my assignments in university… The struggle is real.
Now that you’ve read all this, you’re probably thinking, “why did she enjoy this?!”. Yeah, I dealt with this for 30 months. It wasn’t easy, but definitely rewarding and I learned a lot about life and people. Simply, I cannot imagine what life would be like if I never worked here. Some people view McDonalds workers as lowly, but we have to deal with things that others will never have to put up with. Anyways, onto the good things: I made some awesome friends, established connections (which later got me a job somewhere else) and hosted birthday parties for children. Not to mention the crazy discounts! 50% off anything in the restaurant? Who wouldn’t wanna work here?!
Lily Hwang
Dear McDonalds,
I love you guys. I eat yo' food and I served yo' customers.
The two and a half years I worked at McDonalds was an experience that I will never ever forget or regret. I wouldn't change it for the WORLD.
Now you may think, that is completely ridiculous, why would I enjoy such a low paying, crappy job? Well, I didn't. It sucked. A lot. You learn things about people, all kinds of people: old, young, mean, nice, rich, poor. Anyways, it wasn't about liking my job, it was about learning.
I worked at McDonalds in a tourist city. It was the closest Mickey D's to all the bars, clubs, sketchy downtown areas, etc. So after the bars and clubs close at 2am, guess where the party moves to? Rotten Ronnies of course! Bring on the shoeless women who couldn’t walk in their heels anymore or obnoxious men who are ready to pick a fight.
Some thoughts if you are ever desperate enough to get hired:
1. You clean. A lot. There are always children peeing down the slides and drunk people throwing up after leaving the club to get some grub. I've seen it all, cleaned it all.
2. If they could pay you less than minimum wage, they would. But they can't. Just to remind you what a valuable member you are to their team!
3. Welcome to McDonalds aka Dairy Queen aka Tim Hortons aka Starbucks aka everything. McDonalds is trying to take over the world -- sort of like Google. They have cappuccinos, muffins, ice cream, poutine, oh and burgers too. They want all the customers. So be prepared to serve crying children and CEOs. Never underestimate the power of the Golden Arches.
4. People will get mean because they have the power to. There’s something about being a consumer that makes a person feel like they’re in power and you’re their servant. "15 CENTS FOR SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE?! THAT'S ABSURD. PICKLES ON MY BIGMAC? I'M ALLERGIC TO PICKLES!!" Yes, but it’s not your fault. Yes, you apologize because you can't do anything else. Yes, you charge them fifteen cents for sauce while they proceed to tell the next customer how much of a "ripoff it is". People flip out on you because the cooks do not realize that the person in front of you will break out in hives if they consume pickles. You get people like this ten times a day, you ain't got time for them, but the company pays you and you won't get anywhere by arguing with the customer.
5. They make you work nasty hours --12 hours a day dealing with orders like: “Bigmac sauce on a hamburger with no meat and double the cheese” (So a grilled cheese with bigmac sauce? OK.) It’s just a lot of greasy, greasy stress. Don’t even get me started on the midnight shifts. I was scheduled Friday night from 11:30pm til 6am on Saturday. Then rinse and repeat for Saturday night til Sunday. Therefore, your weekend will consist of seeing the party animals at 2am, not BEING the party animal. I don’t even stay up til 6am to do my assignments in university… The struggle is real.
Now that you’ve read all this, you’re probably thinking, “why did she enjoy this?!”. Yeah, I dealt with this for 30 months. It wasn’t easy, but definitely rewarding and I learned a lot about life and people. Simply, I cannot imagine what life would be like if I never worked here. Some people view McDonalds workers as lowly, but we have to deal with things that others will never have to put up with. Anyways, onto the good things: I made some awesome friends, established connections (which later got me a job somewhere else) and hosted birthday parties for children. Not to mention the crazy discounts! 50% off anything in the restaurant? Who wouldn’t wanna work here?!