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.
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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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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This really depends on the store, how common a problem this is, customer flow, and local and state laws. Your best bet is to ask someone who works at your neighborhood McDonald's.
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This really depends on the franchisee's policies and the market. In some locations, they really only hire bright-eyed, fresh-faced, clean-cut and clean-recorded individuals. They do this because they have a volume of people like this to choose from. In other locations, a guy with forearm inks (like myself) and a minor record with no felonies might be the very best candidate they can find. Generally, I would say as long as it's not domestic violence and is not related to stealing, theft or robbery, a record should not inhibit you from being employed at a McDonald's.
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Claims Adjuster
Will you get disciplined if you approve too many claims?
Claims Adjuster
What happens when NEITHER driver is at fault?
CPR Trainer
Are you supposed to perform CPR differently on a man vs. a woman?
Good question. This depends on the market, really. Urban areas or rural areas with generally lower incomes definitely do not experience a downturn in traffic after New Year's resolutions are made. Suburban areas definitely experience this - many pictures are out there on reddit of empty post-New Year restaurants. Areas where shopping happens (near malls, in malls, etc.) *definitely* experience a downturn in traffic after the New Year but mostly because most people are not shopping as much.
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I don't have a great amount of knowledge about this, but I can tell you what I do know. The franchisee I worked for acquired 4 stores in Tucson that were all already existing. Prior to this, he had a single store in Colorado. He either bought out the previous owners because they wanted to sell or was "awarded" the right to buy the franchise based on his previous recorded - awarded by McDonald's corporate, usually this happens when the existing franchisee is not succeeding financially (is unable to pay franchise fees or for inventory), or they fail heavily on the Operations Reviews that occur periodically. I know that one of his 4 stores was turning over $75k in profit per month. Another one, the one I worked at, lost $5,000 the first year he had it (also the first year I worked there). I was actually able, in the first month I was put in charge of managing inventory, to reduce over/under ordering costs by a bit more than $5,000, thus cancelling out his previous year's loss. There are a huge variety of factors in the success or failure of a McDonald's location. I've spoken to franchisees who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the course of a year, and others who made several million dollars. It depends on so many factors - most of them basic principals of McDonald's management. Some unmanageable ones are nearby traffic and location, ease of entry, competition, the neighborhood. Manageable ones include quality of service, speed of service, inventory management, labor management, cleanliness, and more (these are the basic tenants of McDonald's operations, referred to as "QSC&V: Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value"). No actual location will "fail" unless it truly is a loser based on unmanageable factors. Otherwise, if a franchisee fails, McDonald's will either buy back the franchise and make it a corporate store, or sell the franchise to another, more successful franchisee who has demonstrated success and is interested in the location. A fun note on franchises with McDonald's... The franchisee owns everything inside the walls, the parking lot and structures outside (such as trash bins, or external storage areas). Everything else belongs to McDonald's. The land, the shrubbery, sidewalks, signage, flagpoles all belong to McDonald's. As do the walls, windows and doors. The franchisee has to maintain and upkeep all aspects of the property, and is required to purchase all fixtures, equipment, plumbing, seating, counters, signage, food prep and drink dispensers, etc. It's an open secret that McDonald's really isn't in the hamburger business, they're in the property business.
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Several million dollars a year of product testing and development is the short answer. I think the deal is they use seriously high quality potatoes (because they have buying power), and ensure consistent cut size. The fries go through a very thorough cleaning/soak to get some level of starches out of them. Then, they get flash fried (par-cooked), and then flash-frozen. At this point they're packaged and sent to stores. There was a really good "Modern Marvels" episode called "Fast Food Tech" that Netflix probably has.
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