I would like to start off by saying that I worked at McDonald's for almost a year/year and a half and a lot of people speak bad about those that work at McDonald's, but as a teenager out looking for her first job McDonald's was a pretty good choice, especially with them paying more than others. At the time, my only thought was how much money would I get at the end of the two weeks? I was a very material person.
Being my first job, I was just winging it most of the time, and having no previous experience, I was learning something new and how to support myself. However, working at McDonald's you come to expect some things that happened like clockwork in your store. Below, are a few of those things.
1. If you are a woman, older men will hit on you.
Mutiple times a day at the least. You will get dinner offers, crude comments, sexual innuendos, the whole lot. Trust me, older men know more than they let on and if they like you, they aren't afraid to hit on you. No matter your age.
2. You revel in the days you get to work different shifts just for the promise of a different meal.
Working at McDonald's, you eventually get tired of the same old thing. Once you've had everything on the lunch menu, first shift and the breakfast menu starts to sound real promising.
3. We only tell you the ice cream machine is broken so you stop ordering so many cones.
After a while, getting ice cream all over your hands and the floor gets tiring. Especially when they have to look a certain way or we have to throw them away. Please stop ordering so many, there's Dairy Queen for a reason.
4. $9.10 an hour is not worth half the shit you put up with on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong, I loved my job at McDonald's but you have to have a certain amount of patience to work there. Rude customers are normally a big turn off when it comes to a job. Most of the time us service people are practically begging to learn table or grill so they put us somewhere else.
5. The regulars always seem to make you smile.
My favorite part of going into work every day was seeing all the familiar faces of people I worked with and the regulars. I know it sounds cheesy, but it really was like a family. You grow to enjoy seeing them every day.
6. It is majorly stressful trying to take an order from a kid.
Yes, I know you're proud of your child for saying their first words, so proud that you want to show them off. But when you're in a crowded McDonald's and the cashier is just trying to do their job, taking orders from a child is hard. Especially when they change their mind multiple times.
7. High numbers are the cause of many stress related anxiety attacks at McDonald's.
I know, at the McDonald's I worked at. We were constantly pushed to keep low numbers, that was especially hard to do when you have gigantic orders on both the drive thru and the lobby screens. Table people are working overtime trying to get them out while the service people try to get it bagged and handed out in time to keep the customers happy. Your numbers ar going to rack up if everyone isn't working as a team, and that leads to a bad review for the boss.
8. Sometimes you have to be skilled in everything.
If they offer to teach you something new, do it. Eventually, you'll get tired of being in the same place every day. You'll want to do table or grill just to get off the headset or out of the window and it's always a plus to be able to do almost everything in the store.
9. Drama.
Now you know there's bound to be relationship drama in such a close knit circle of people. Everyone's getting together or breaking up. People are arguing and getting fired. If someone isn't fighting at least once a day, fire the whole crew, someone's planning to blow you all up.
10. You form a special kind of bond with all your coworkers.
Talk to each other outside of work, you'll be spending most of your day with these people and they can grow to become your best friends, one day someone will either be fired or quit, that doesn't mean you have to lose them in the process.
