Working at McDonald’s can be either the best job, or the worst job. It all depends on the employee’s attitude and the people with whom you work. If the employee tries to have fun on the job, while doing everything properly, working can become quite enjoyable. It helps a lot when there is music playing over the stereo, because you can sing and dance along while you work. If other people are having a good day, they are most likely to join you in having fun. There are many stereo-types at McDonald’s, such as unsanitary behaviour, selling food that has spoiled, and what employees do to the food. These I assure you are not true. Since I have worked there, I have not witnessed one unsanitary, or unsafe act. It takes a great deal of team work to get the job done. There is a whole manual dedicated to procedures at McDonald’s that is about 400 pages long. This is only a basic set of instructions for training, serving customers, and working window (on which I will elaborate further).
Training is one of the most difficult stages to go through while working. If you can make it through the training, and impress the managers with your work, you are almost guaranteed a position. There are many stations that you can be trained on at McDonald’s. Some examples are window: that is serving customers at the counter; table: where the food is prepared; buns: toasting appropriate buns for the burgers; meat: grilling the appropriate burger patties; drive-thru: self explanatory; lobby: cleaning tables, chairs, floors, outside, mopping, and sweeping; and fries: also self explanatory. There are many complicated pieces of machinery that help employees do these jobs. They also must be used safely and in an appropriate manner.
Before you start actually working, you must watch a video on how to operate the machinery with which you will be dealing. This is all a part of the wonderful training program at McDonald’s. Employees are periodically tested for proper use of machinery, and behaviour on the job. You as the trainee, will have a Crew Trainer employee working by your side with you constantly for about two weeks. When the Crew Trainer is assured that you have the skills to work on your own, the Crew Trainer allows that you do so. The new employee receives a one month probation, for the managers to decide if they are a benefit to the restaurant. Generally most people continue working after probation.
Before you the employee starts work, you must take some steps to ensure cleanliness and sanitation. You must arrive in plenty of time to start, normally fifteen to thirty minutes prior to when their shift starts. Your uniform must be complete, including proper black treaded, rubber soled shoes, black socks, black pants, tee-shirt with name tag, and a visor or a baseball hat. The restaurant provides all, except the socks and shoes. When your shift starts, you punch in using the “Mc Time Clock TM” with your own numbered punch card. Once this is complete, the employee is immediately to wash their hands with “McD Hand Soap TM” for approximately the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. Then you rinse your hands with water, and dry with a paper towel. When hands are dry, squirt one pump of “McD Sanitiser Gel TM” on their hands and rub in completely. If you are working window, you must get a fresh float from a manager before serving customers. If you are working anywhere else, you just go to your station.
Working window is probably the most difficult position. Dealing with grumpy customers, and people having no respect for employees, after all, they are “just McDonald’s workers.” There are ten main steps to working window. First you must greet the customer politely and ask, “Hi, how may I help you?” Then you proceed to punch into the till what the customer orders. You must also double check that what the customer ordered matches what is on the screen. When finished, you then take the money from the customer, and give appropriate change shown by the till. If the order is to stay in the restaraunt, you set up a plastic tray, with a paper liner on it. If the order is to go, then a drink tray is set up. You then continue to pour the drinks from the appropriate drink dispensers, depending whether the order consists of shakes, pop, iced tea or lemonade.
The amount of drink that comes out of the dispenser is pre-measured, so that you can do other things while the drinks are pouring. Such things are to call for appropriate fry orders to the person working the fry station. The drinks are placed on the tray, with lids on them. The food orders show up on a screen above the table station that comes directly from the till screen. All food is prepared only upon order. You then put the ordered food on the tray behind the drinks (if to stay), or in a bag (if to go). Then fries or ice cream orders are put on the tray or in the bag last. Napkins must always be placed on the tray or in the bag. When the order is complete, you give the items to the customer, and you invite the customer to come back. This is the very beginning of working window. There is much more to it, but that is all to read in the manual.
McDonald’s is a great place to start working as a young adult. It gives people incredible training and skills that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. On most rsums, if a person has Mc Donald’s down as work experience, the employer is more likely to become interested in this applicant. Although I only gave a brief insight to what really goes on at McDonald’s, you can tell that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. I just wish all people had an understanding for McDonald’s employees, and would not see them as lazy people who could not get a job anywhere else. If you have what it takes, you can make management in no time at all. Working at McDonald’s can be the best experience, if you work hard are enthusiastic and show a positive attitude.