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.
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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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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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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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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Radio program/music director
Do radio stations have to pay royalties to artists to play their songs?
Border Patrol Agent
How easy is it to forge a US passport?
Programmer
What lessons can you share about past and present start-ups you've worked with?
This differs depending on the operation. Most franchisees and corporate offer 1 free meal per day that you work, up to anywhere from $5 to $10, though most that I know of are in the $7 range. Some franchisees do not offer this, and they're completely jerks for it. As for "eating for free while working", every manager is required to taste pretty much every product during the course of the day. You need to make sure the fries taste right at various times during your shift, taste breakfast food items to make sure they're coming out correctly, taste burger patties and completed product, test some shake of various flavors, try all the flavors of drinks from all the different dispensers in the store. It really does get old at times, because you're not enjoying it, you're testing it. It was common for me, when I was working, to get people I relied on to do this. So, if someone mentioned they're hungry or something, I'd have them place a "complimentary" order (required manager override to get it to ring up at $0.00 for inventory management purposes) and go eat it. We didn't have people eating full prepared items endlessly, but in the course of a day at least 25% of the various food items would be made completely and someone would eat them. We, for obvious reasons, didn't make things like Double Quarter Pounders, and it's unlikely the fancy Angus burgers (which we did not have when I worked there) get made and tested, but it's likely about 4 times a day someone's trying the Angus patties for quality.
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This is entirely dependent upon the franchisee and the market. In general, standard crew members do start off right at or barely above the minimum wage. Managers have several pay brackets and most of it is based off experience. You might have two people with the exact same job title and responsibilities working in the same store with a $2/hr difference. Depending on the market the store is in, and how many qualified applicants there are, pay might be as much as $9 for crew, or it might be bare minimum wage. Store managers might make anywhere from $27k to $75k a year depending on the market, performance, and many other factors. As far as raises, there were 6 months reviews for crew and lower tier managers, annually for store level managers. At these reviews someone would receive anywhere from nothing to 25 cents an hour pay increase. Usually it was about 5 to 10 cents. For assistant and store managers, the range was nothing to $1 per hour, with 50 cents being the norm. Keep in mind, assistant and store managers also got bonused (as explained in a previous post).
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Some restaurants have switched to ketchup tubs, like the various nugget type sauces have available. Heinz apparently is in a court case over this very thing right now, because they appear to have violated someone else's patent by marketing these. This could seriously be a dissertation on ketchup - ketchup packets are a really important part of American fast food society. I know that sounds silly, but Americans are generally very "nostalgic" people. We do many things in a nostalgic way, the way our parents and grandparents did them, for no reason other than that's how we've always done it. This could turn into a diatribe about vertical toasters and gasoline combustion engines, concrete roadways and steel-beam bridges - but it won't. Suffice it to say that the ketchup packet, while annoying, tiny, and an undesirable expense to owner/operators, they are also the most effective balance of cheapness, convenience, and nostalgic ketchupy goodness.
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