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.
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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Check out my blog, I give a ton of information there. It's in the description at the top.
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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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Well, yes and no. There were expectations and projections that each store should achieve. Each day-part (Early Morning/Breakfast/Lunch/"snack" hours/Dinner/Late Night) all had different projections based on historical sales, promotions and what was going on in the real world, such as holidays or local activities. These are subject to a variety of influences, though the McDonald's plan really considers the critical, manageable factors primarily. These are (and everything within McDonald's is) QSC&V. Quality - Service - Cleanliness - Value. All negative changes in a McDonald's restaurant, short of there being some significant, tangible external effect, are thought to be due to shortcomings in QSC&V. It's really true, when you think about it. Do you ever drive out of your way to go to that McDonald's that has the really fresh french fries all the time? Ever avoid the one with the filthy bathrooms and stained, old seats? How about that one McDonald's that you will *never* return to because no one smiles and they give you dirty looks when you ask for more napkins? I personally have boycotted a franchisee that started charging 25 cents for 4 packets of ketchup (I kid you not, those things come in 1000 count boxes for about $11 in 2008). A very large amount of planning is based off all these projections. Short and long term product stock, short and long term staffing, hours of operation, and much more. I'll get more detailed in the planning based off those projections. Long term stock means everything from how many wrappers, containers, bags, condiment packs, straws, cups, napkins and "Bag-in-a-Box" sodas are stocked to the number of french fries, hamburger patties, eggs, tomatoes and other food is based off projections. Short term stock means how many pieces of bacon are cooked for a 12 hour period, how many cooked hamburgers and chicken nuggets are prepared and waiting to be prepared and served by 15 minute periods, how many gallons of ice cream/shake mix are poured into the machines in the morning, and how many cups, straws, napkins should be stocked accessible to busy workers in a rush period. Long term staffing refers to how many crew members work at the store in total, how many managers there are, and whether or not the store needs full time maintenance and lobby staff. Short term, this might mean how many individuals there are working in each day-part and even more short term, when breaks can be scheduled without interrupting the flow of business. Hours of operation might mean whether or not the store is 24 hours, or if it isn't if they close at midnight or 1 am, do they close the dining room an hour before or two? Should the store open at 5am or can it open at 6am? In some franchises and in corporate stores, management teams may or may not make bonuses for exceeding expectations in a positive way. This might mean reducing wasted food to under 2% of total sales, or reducing labor below 17%. Maybe this is exceeding sales by 5% over last year, or improving service times by 10 seconds in the Drive Thru, or perhaps it's simply achieving a 45 minute store closing routine. Again, all of these things can be achieved and improved upon by improving QSC&V (which is applicable to internal customers such as crew members and management, as much as it is to actual paying external customers).
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Pharmacist
Have you ever given someone the wrong prescription?
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What was the strangest lobbying request you've ever received?
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Is fighting in hockey good or bad for the game?
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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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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Most people call it the worst job they ever had because the work is hard, the pay is relatively low, and most stores aren't run by rock stars like me. But seriously, there rarely are positive work influences at McDonald's. The training is available but poorly implemented, and many of the people working there (as I've mentioned in other posts) are not society's best and brightest - although sometimes they are. Because you have few highly educated or well trained people, and few leaders to look up to. This, in my experience, is no different than most work environments, however. I think a large part of the reason many people hated their McDonald's work experience comes down to one of two facts. First, many people work at McDonald's as their "first job" or their "first real job". This means this is their first taste of not having their time be their own, their first experience of exchanging their mortality for a few dollars. That's never a good feeling, especially if you've spent your life having everything handed to you. So, they're learning the real value of their time, taking orders for the first time, have obligations and expectations for probably the first time in their life, and it's not quite what they think it should be. Yes, this all sucks - but it's not McDonald's fault. Second, many people work at McDonald's as a "last resort" type job, and is not the job they would have if they had their preference. These are people who would prefer not to be doing this demanding, sweaty job with many policies and procedures to adhere to. They may have to take direction from a some "kid" who has been on the planet half as long as they have. Yes, this all sucks - but again, it's not McDonald's fault. I'm a firm believer that perception is reality. The job I had immediately before McDonald's paid me about 50% more in base pay, and I received frequent bonuses and commissions. My title was "Vice President of Sales". My third month at the company I worked at immediately before McDonald's I won a contest and got a three-nights-two-days stay at a $250 a night resort for myself and my family, free food and drink, and room service. While working at McDonald's (I mentioned this in another thread about injuries), my boss bought me $175 shoes and it was the best fringe benefit I got. I was dozens of times happier at McDonald's than I was at that company (until my last two days that is). Perception is, I reiterate, reality.
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