Lola R
Auckland, NZ
Female, 18
I've been working at McDonald's part-time for over a year. My job involves the basic obligations of a crew member, while also training new staff and assisting managers to execute shift goals and targets for the store. Despite the drama, the stress, and the general annoyances of customer service - I love my job, and the opportunity to develop as a leader is what I love the most.
Sure, what are the questions?
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Completely depends on each person, how hard you work, and the needs of the restaurant. If you work hard as a Crew Member, I think the average amount of time it would take to move up to a Crew Trainer would be about one year. Most managers I know only became managers after a few years, however there are always exceptions. If you have a great management team looking out for the crew's best interests, then they will most likely put your development as their top priority. It's not really that desirable to move up too quickly - there's a LOT to learn, and you need to know everything if you want to be able to effectively run a restaurant - but jobs like this have high turnover rates, and waiting until your staff are 100% ready to be promoted isn't always possible. Crew Trainers exist as an "intermediate" stage between Crew and Management because it allows crew to take on minor leadership roles in a restricted way.
If the restaurant has a McCafe, then being a barista is probably a step up from a standard Crew Member. I don't know much about the selection process for cafe - I got my cafe uniform after working for about 5 months, and at that point I barely knew how to make coffees. Pretty sure I lucked out there because we just needed baristas.
After management, you can become an Assistant Restaurant Manager, and then like, a legit Restaurant Manager, if you're good enough and they need one. If that's not enough pure power for you then you can get snatched up by Head Office after that, but that's a whole other barrel of fish.
My own aspiration would be to become a part-time manager, gain a little more experience, and then quit. I love McDonald's, but I don't see myself here forever. I've seen far too many managers who stayed too long and regretted it. It can be a great career - but the key word there is career. If you want to stay, go all the way to the top. Our current franchisee started as a Crew Member, and now he's like, a millionaire or something. It can happen. But don't get stuck in the middle.
The best advice I've ever received from a manager was this: "Don't stay in this job too long. Do you know what happens to fries after their 7 minute holding time? They get old and gross. That could be you."
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Yeah, absolutely. It's a first job for many people, and although there are a lot of people who take it seriously and understand that it can be a great stepping stone to whatever career you really want, there are lots of kids who think they're "too cool" for it, and just think of it as something they have to endure to get their paycheck at the end of the week. It's immediately obvious when someone has this attitude - it's disrespectful to the customers and to your other employees. Yes, it's not exactly a dream job for most people - it can be hard work with seemingly little payoff - which is exactly why your attitude towards it is a total reflection of your character. Luckily we don't have many people like this at our store anymore - they've all moved on to bigger and better things *cough* leeching off their parents *cough*. Good question! :D
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Personally, I find chicken nuggets disgusting. They make me feel sick. They sit around in the UHC for ages and they're all greasy and don't even taste like chicken and ugh. I also never eat fries - they're covered in an insane amount of oil and salt; once you prepare them yourself they won't look appetising to you anymore.
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It's a high pressure environment sometimes, and people are dependent on me occasionally. I'm not going to talk up McDonald's like it's the most stressful job in the world, because it really isn't - it can be stressful, and difficult, but most other jobs can be too. Something which was hard for me to get used to was the idea that every second counts. Cars need to be out of the drive-thru within 210 seconds, fries have to be thrown out after 7 minutes...everything is supposed to be really precise, and that in itself is stressful. The pressure can come from managers, but customers, too. No offence, but customers can be assholes. I mean, I'm usually pretty nice to customers. If you didn't like your coffee, I'll make you another one. If you're a dollar short, I'll pretend I'm mathematically incompetent. But a large part of the pressure comes from customers who find it necessary to constantly berate and degrade our crew. If a customer complains to your manager, you're screwed. Even if the customer is lying, you could absolutely get a written warning. I can't even count the number of times I've been yelled at by a manager for something I didn't do. But we have this thing, that if a customer is unhappy, you have to do your best to suck them off- I mean, transform them into a loyal, happy consumer. So often you'll get a situation where a manager yells at you in front of a customer to prove that they're on the customer's side, regardless of what you did or did not do. Pretty sleazy.
I'm not that of person. I understand it's a business but it's obvious when a customer is being disrespectful on purpose. There are many places you can go be a dickhead for free. McDonald's should not be one of them. As a customer of any store, you have the opportunity to take some of that pressure off the staff. Just smile and be polite, and you'll make everything much easier.
As for dependence, I kind of like it. Crew trainers are the backbone of the management team. Feels good to be valued.
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Sometimes. It has a lot of negative connotations and when you say you work there, people tend to assume the worst about you straight away. Let's be honest here, McDonald's doesn't always attract the best and brightest employees - however, I do work in New Zealand, and the attitude towards fast-food places is a little different than it is in America. Actually, if you went to Australia, heaps of people would be proud to say they worked at there - their pay rate for crew is incredibly high, their service is amazing, and their staff actually look geniunely happy to be there. Weird.
It doesn't bother me much these days to say I work at McDonald's. It's a part-time job while I pay my way through school and it doesn't have to define who I am in the slightest.
When I first started working, I tended to avoid serving customers who went to my school. Even the most ratchet little pricks look down at you if they see you in uniform, and I preferred to just not get involved with that. But one day, I was sweeping the lobby, and this chick a couple years younger than me walks in. I knew of her because she was kind of infamous for being a heinous bitch. She was particularly infamous as of late, because she had some kind minor violent outburst in class with her craft knife. Anyway, she looks me up and down apprehensively, then scoffs and says, "You work at McDonald's? Wow."
Without missing a beat, I'm like: "Didn't you stab someone last term?"
She never came back. lol
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Nope, I don't have the authority to fire someone or seriously discipline staff in any way, and I would never want to. If Crew Trainers see crew who aren't following procedures in some way, we have the right to tell them what they're doing wrong and how to fix it, but actual serious discipline is usually left to managers. I have occasionally had to "train" crew who are older than I am, or tell crew who have worked here longer than I have that they're doing something wrong - it can be difficult, because I don't want to come across as obnoxious. I'm a little different to many Crew Trainers because I avoid telling crew what to do - instead I tell them what needs to be done, and then help them to do it.
But back to the firing thing...if a crew member was ever in serious trouble, I would be standing by their side. Crew Trainers are your allies! :D
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