MrSchroeder
Lombard, IL
Male, 33
I *was* an assistant manager for a McDonald's Franchisee in Tucson, AZ from 2007 to 2008, and was hired with the explicit intention of being management and not a standard crew member. I worked hard in learning the procedures and processes of the corporation, with a goal of a much longer career than I actually had. My every day life evolved while I was there, starting from the least desirable position to overall operations. I wrote a blog detailing my experiences as well.
Check out my blog, I give a ton of information there. It's in the description at the top.
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Thanks for noticing. The next paragraph is going to sound boastful and pretentious. I'm not being such, I'm just putting some details out there. I was invited into MENSA at age 7 (but didn't join because my parents couldn't afford the membership fees). At 16, I tested with an IQ so high that if I post it, everyone will think it's a lie anyway, so I won't. I had several works of poetry published by major publishing houses in magazines and anthologies before I was legally of age to enter my writing for publishing. I've read on the order of 2,000 books in my 32 years, and as a hard-working father of 3 with a serious gaming habit and a demanding wife, I still managed 45-65 books a year over the past 5 years (most of them hard sci-fi and fantasy, but many of them in hard sciences such as physics, quantum mechanics and psychology). Yes, I worked at McDonald's and it was a bright spot in my life (not as regards pay). I also worked at many less savory positions - I once spent a month literally digging ditches for $5/hr cash under the table. The school system really let me down when I was a teen (putting me in remedial classes because the advanced classes were "full" and other examples). I was very disenchanted with the world by 16 or so, and didn't want any part of "their" programs and plans and processes for education - so I dropped out of high school and went to work. It's only now that I'm working on beginning a formal higher education so I can pursue my dreams of being an astrophysicist. I'm the meantime I exercise my mind with writing and hope to have a couple books completed in 2013, possibly 2014. More to the point of the question: it's very difficult when people around you are not as intelligent as you are. You expect people to be and do so much more than they are and do. Very intelligent people often have a hard time relating to people, and get frustrated easily with normals and stupids. I'm very lucky to have a best friend of 22 years whose IQ is but 9 points lower than mine, who reads even more than I do, and remembers many more things than I do (having caused much less self-induced chemical attrition to his brain cells than I have). He's always there to remind me that I shouldn't and cannot expect the same from others as I expect from myself. He's much more tolerant than I am, and I try to emulate him when I get frustrated in this regard. All that being said, I think that while it's frustrating to work with less-bright individuals, I've grown accustomed to it over the years. I change my speech and the words I use to try to match the people around me. That sentence is a good example: in other media I'd have written or said that as "I modulate my vocabulary to better suit the company within which I am". I think I'm a relatively good judge of peoples' intelligence and capabilities, and try hard to keep expectations as well as coaching/guidance/topics of conversation relevant to what I perceive as their capability. When they modify my perception of them, I adjust accordingly. As it's very relevant to McDonald's, there really are a variety of complex, multi-step functions that a manager or an advanced crew member is expected to execute in the course of a shift and a career. Some things that may sound simple, but actually have a degree of difficulty include: properly maintaining inventory, ensuring that sales projections are on pace with expectations, matching food production with projected sales and modifying as real sales volumes occur, learning how to manually time and average transactions (because each transaction has multiple parts to it that are 'weighted' in averaging differently), and maintaining equipment. McDonald's does a remarkably thorough job of presenting these complex, multi-step functions in a way that is not threatening and in a way that, through repetition, the most average of intellects could grasp and execute well over time. Also, the basic 4-part training/coaching process is designed to address and appeal to very base (and very common) psychological realities. These don't often differ based on intellect, training or capability. This process boils down to the following: Identify the opportunity, privately communicate and demonstrate the correct method, have them demonstrate the correct method, publicly praise them for doing it successfully later on (reinforce often). This appeals to anyone, no matter background, intellect, experience, or any other factor (barring a severe unwillingness to do well and continue receiving paychecks) and addressing people with the right tone and vocabulary while executing these steps helps to level the playing field as it were.
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Since their information is entirely proprietary, and is taught in the form of several *hundred* hours of preparation training (in four gigantic 3" binders full of info, and several other resources), as well as dozens of hours of class time and hands-on training, I'd say - go through the training yourself. You can also read Ray Kroc's book "Grinding it Out" for a brief overview of the tenets upon which the company was formed and the corporation still operates, but this is not a detail of the processes and systems used.
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Depends on what you mean by obligated. Was there some policy that said if a person with special needs came in, we had to hire them before other candidates? No. If someone with special needs came in, met the job requirements we had and could perform the job? Yes. Some Owner/Operators prefer to staff their store - at least for lobby attendants during busy periods - with special needs workers. They feel they are doing their part to an underserved part of the community, that can be and definitely are hardworking team members. Equal Opportunity Employment laws do not allow for turning someone away from a job they can perform without considerable modification/assistance, simply because they're special needs. Funny story, we had this one guy who worked for us, mostly evenings, mostly doing order taking in the Drive Thru. He was young, in high school still, this was his first job, and he was a really hard worker. Well, after about 3 months of working there, he made some pretty silly mistake - I can't remember what it was - that could have resulted in equipment getting damaged and/or a person getting hurt, but did not. Basically it was a close call. One of the other managers screamed at him, "What are you stupid?!" and he retorted, "I'm not stupid, I'm just retarded." Turns out he was special needs the whole time, no one knew and he didn't make a big deal about it. He was high functioning autistic and had some other disorders along the autism spectrum.
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Zookeeper and Animal Trainer
Why are some people so protective of endangered species?
Antiques Dealer
What's the most profit you've ever made from a single item?
Subway Store Manager
What do you think is the healthiest option on the Subway menu?
Not a thing, based on how it's prepared. Everything is pretty much prepared the same way, either on the grill, fried, hand-made (salads, parfaits), out of a machine (coffee, shakes, ice cream), or baked (cookies, muffins, biscuits, pies). There are a few things I don't enjoy. I dislike the Quarter Pounder meat - even though it's remarkably similar to the smaller patties, something about the texture in that size doesn't appeal to me. I also am not a huge fan of the McWraps. While the tortillas are delicious when they're served in the breakfast burrito, the fact that they're served unheated just puts me off. I like my tortillas at least warmed so they soften up.
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Most of this comes from coaching people. The process for coaching is to first identify the issue, then to explain the proper way to do something. This can be done very easily by simply taking them aside for a moment, without other crew or customers hearing and saying something like, "Hey, please remember to smile and be nice to the customers. Fake it if you have to!" The next part is to demonstrate the behavior - which means having that employee see you doing exactly what you explained. That may be passive by simply doing it and when they're around, or it can be active, "Hey, let me show you what I mean, go around that side of the counter for a minute" then demonstrate the expected behavior. Last is follow up. Catch the person doing it right later on, and give them feedback immediately in front of peers and customers when they're doing it right. The real reason so many people are grouchy in customer service positions is they get paid jack diddly squat. It's sad and stupid really, that most customer-facing positions in customer service enterprises pay between $7.25 and $10 an hour. That low wage translates to poor attitude, which translates to a lethargy about doing well, which itself turns into a lack of effort. Without effort, there's no growth and without growth there's nothing but a sense of stagnating in terrible, and if you're stagnating in terrible, how likely are you to engage the next stupid bleepy-bleep-of-a-bleep that walks up to you with their "Gimme a ..." BS? However, if the management team encourages trying hard, rewards it with praise, recognition, growth and more recognition, people will be willing to grow. I know for a fact that I turned at least 3 people who hated their jobs into motivated, hard working *team members* who took pride in their ability to do their jobs very well and even train and encourage others to do that job as well as they did - all without changing anything about the physical environment or the compensation for the job. It just took a change in attitude.
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Meh, we knew where we were working. I don't know of anyone who felt personally attacked by any of these movies, not even Owner/Operators. Some of the corporate folks probably got their panties in a bunch over it, but for the most part I don't think anything about either of those movies really changed anyone's minds about McDonald's or other fast food. If they did, you'd have to be a pretty dim individual to not comprehend that greasy, cheap food is not that healthful nor does it deliver good nutrition. Let's be real here - it's relatively low quality food (compared to what you might make at home, but this isn't true for everyone) for really cheap (making it very appealing to poorer people) and those people they're marketing to are truly ignorant of the facts of basic nutrition (sorry for calling those people dim, but it is what it is). The fat/sodium content is really high in these products, and that's most of what makes them so delicious to our programmed-to-survive palates. For people who are the "perfect storm" of ignorant, poor, lazy, and easily addicted, McDonald's and other fast food can be very harmful. But so could trying to cross a busy street. For everyone who relies on McDonald's as their main food source, and say it's because it's so inexpensive, I say Mac & Cheese, an apple, and a banana. Go hit up the grocery store. You can find store brand Mac & Cheese for 45 cents, apple and a banana cost maybe a buck together- $1.70 with tax and you have a more wholesome and satisfying meal than McDonald's offers for a higher cost. For $5 you can get a loaf of bread, peanut butter, and a few apples. I know several bachelors who live on peanut butter on bread and fruit. Clean protein, moderate carbs, fruit - you'll feel great and look like an Adonis while not spending much on food. It's just much more convenient to swing through the Drive Thru and spend $5 off the Dollar Menu, or if you have a couple kids, $25 for dinner, than it is to go home, prepare food, and sit down for dinner. It's even more convenient to claim that somehow this is cheaper than the alternative. I think that anyone who eats nothing but fast food isn't very wise, and anyone who feeds their kids McDonald's 3 or 4 times a week is just doing it wrong. That said, it's a delicious treat, hits the spot, and as long as you pace yourself and don't eat out regularly, you should be fine. That, and there actually are quite a few really healthful items on McDonald's menu, and lots more in the past 2 years. Even back in 2007/8 I'd say 25% of the parents who came in with kids under 8 or so got Apple Slices instead of French Fries for their kids. People know about these options, and choose them if they want. Then again, I'm a big, mostly sedentary fat guy these days, so what do I know? (Although I don't eat fast food except maybe once every two weeks, because I don't want my 3 kids getting addicted to it.)
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