Gambler

Not wanting to sound harsh, but why are you so shocked, you can't just do what you want because it suits your needs. You decided to take a risk and carried out some building work which requires planning permission and a fee. Now that you have been caught out, you can hardly complain. The council have to ensure that this type of work has been done correctly and that you haven't created a danger to the public for safety and legal issues. Low income doesn't come in to it.

I've been looking at the Mcdonalds franchise for many years, it's the only franchise I would ever consider but always had a few issues. Firstly the investment isn't difficult, at present you only need £50k the rest is loaned by the banks. To start up an independent restaurant or cafe could cost you a lot more than this initial payment with zero brand recognition. As for the site and planning permission, this is all handled by Mcdonalds. From what I understand, you don't really have a say where the property is located as Mcdonalds handle all this, they already have researched the areas and know where the best locations are. It's in their interest. The concerns I have always had are: At present, they reckon an average a Mcdonalds franchise is making around £70k profit per year, so if you just have one, after taxes etc, this is a massive amount of hassle and work for the return. However, once you've proven yourself with one, you can open more. You are not allowed to run any other business. Mcdonalds want their franchise to be your only source of income. And as it's a 20 year partnership agreement, that seems very limiting. I guess its a way of life. I asked about ranks in the staff structure because I once heard that long term staff that moved into management have been offered franchises at very attractive discounts, wondered if anyone in the company could clarify that? And finally, my major issue, I love money, but it's not hard to find out that a lot of Mcdonalds employees absolutely HATE their jobs and the company. I've read so many terrible stories online about poor treatment of staff, very high turnover of staff, very bad attitudes and unethical strategy of management which is necessary to keep the burgers flipping. At the end of the day, I don't want to get involved in a business that has to be run so negatively in order to meet financial goals. Life is too short. Which is why I would really love to hear from any current staff that feel the franchise they work at isn't so bad. I'm hoping the mass of disgruntled current and ex-employees is just general whinging from youngsters that don't have a work ethic. I mean, when I was 16, I would have been happy to work my socks off at Mcdonalds for a year or two.

Anyone know if all the Mcdonalds restaurants in Sheffield are franchise owned?*Also, if anyone on the forum works at Mcdonalds and has any views on life as a Mcdonalds employee. Anyone worked there for a few years? Do they have ranks for the staff. Mcdonalds franchises are offered to anyone with a good business background / track record and around £200k to invest. Anyone know if franchises are ever offered to long time serving employees that have risen through the ranks? If so are discounts on the franchise fees offered? Would love to hear from those within the company if possible.

Hey Mickey It's great to have your own business, be your own boss etc, but be careful, the last thing you want to do is just buy yourself a mind numbing job under the banner that you run your own show. I did this exact thing myself when I was younger and wasted a great deal of time and energy. Buying any business that relies upon you working lots of hours in a premises with the income solely being generated by customers that may or may not come through the door, can get very very tedious indeed even if the money is good which often in this type of store it isn't. I don't know what type of businesses you are looking at or if you have some kind of passion for a certain lifestyle venture, but seriously consider whether you are actually buying a business, or just a job. If it's just a job, go and get a job, a lot less hassle.

Went 18 months ago, waited 2 hours for main, won't be going again, ok food but too cramped and nothing special at all.

Cheating has such a bad name, so much so it's even called cheating. If people were honest with each other in the first place, there wouldn't be any need to "cheat". We have such high unrealistic expectations of our partners it's just silly. If you think that you will totally satisfy all of your partners sexual desires and fantasies forever then you almost deserve to be cheated on. And so to answer the question, I would forgive my "cheating" girlfriend as long as she practiced safe sex. In reality if she wants to stay with me but have the odd encounter with someone else, good on her for telling me and I'll look forward to hearing all about it. How erotic and exciting. And of course, it works both ways. A little refreshing truth.

I suppose it really depends on what the wishes of the person were for their funeral. If it was me that would be my main consideration. I have no problem discussing the cost of the funeral I handled in 07. The 4k+ was for a burial, The service, cars, and various other items. There are a lot of people that make a lot of money if you buy into the whole hoopla, the experience left me feeling that funerals are to death what valentines day is to love, it's a crock, but if we don't comply we look mean, cheap and less caring.

are you kidding, I want a magical funeral, its at night, candles, string quartet, big statue of me with very attractive females crying their eyes out below it, hell yeah but, you don't need to have a funeral. I remember the last funeral my family went through, it cost 4k+ and it was nothing special, I remember thinking I'm so in the wrong business.

Really liked him in goodfellas, cape fear, jacky brown and more so in casino which I'm going to watch again tonight actually as I haven't seen it for ages. Some websites state that the f word is used more than 350 times during that movie lol. I also remember seeing de niro in a film called the fan which was quite good.