Since I was 16 years old, I've worked on and off at two different Burger King restaurants. To be honest, I never thought that this would be my part time career but after a rough start and a breezy transition, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Fast food has taught me some life lessons, helped me make friends and aided in my transition into a successful adulthood.
1. Get over the smell and the sight.
Sometimes, some things smell funny or have a weird look to them. For example, the sink. Cleaning the sink is disgusting, slimy and honestly cringing. I can't tell you how many times I've touched some water logged pickle or tomato and almost puked. After doing the dishes multiple nights in a row, I finally got used to the textures and "hidden gifts," in the sink. Along with that small thing, comes all the other things. Such as the smell. I can't tell you how many times I've rushed home, thrown off my uniform and hopped into a boiling hot shower in an attempt to get all the "grease smell" off my skin. In reality, the smell isn't on your skin, it's everywhere. Once I came to the conclusion that upon leaving work and the smell would follow me home, I kind a got over it. I mean, you're either in the kitchen all day or cleaning up the dining room. Either/or, you're going to smell like something rank.
2. Timing is always key.
Coming from someone who has worked in Fast Food and also had a job at a food store, I can say that fast food is much harder than simple tasks. Everything at a Fast Food job is timed to a T. For example, at my restaurant, our drive thru time must be under three minutes every day. This means taking an order has to take one minute maximum and handing out food takes another minute and a half. It can get a bit confusing and congested at times but as long as you have a good crew, things run smooth.
3. You're going to make friends and you're going to make enemies.
Just like every other job out there, the staff is swarming with different types of people. My advice to you would be to speak up and talk to them. I've met a lot of people at my job and made a lot of new friends. It's nice to actually see some of them outside of work rather than at work when they're flustered. Besides that, working with some people can be challenging: especially if they're lazy. So another tip would be to push them aside, do the work and tell a boss. So what if they get mad? They were slacking off and work is no place to do that.
4. The calm before the storm.
Previously I mentioned slacking off should never occur. You should always be on your toes even when the store is dead. At my restaurant we like to call it the "calm before the storm,". This means to us that in around thirty to forty minutes a rush of people are going to show up and were going to get killed. So we prep our boards, fridges, meats and sauces and get ready. If we're all locked and loaded smaller tasks can be done to aid in closing down the store.
5. Late hours? Who cares?
My last point kind of goes with a few of the others. If I've learned anything from my job, it would be that the BK after hours are the best. I used to hate closing the store because it was all cleaning, dumping and sweeping. I hate doing that, but once I figured out a way to quickly cover the cleaning, closing ran smoother. Also, after doing it a few times, I got good and I was praised. When you close in Fast Food, the crew is very stingy. You have about one to four people working and half of them are managers. Therefore they're counting and you're responsible for more things. All I can say is focus, and get one task done at a time. It may take a bit longer but things will get done properly and no one will complain in the morning.
So all in all, working fast food isn't that bad. I've made some good friends, enjoyed some nasty food and even spent hours off the clock chilling at store, because well.. I love my job. Laugh all you and judge me all you want, but never knock fast food until you try it. Who knows? Maybe you'll even fall in love with it like me.
