McDonalds employees past present and future.

[blake]

if you think these kind of fast food chains typify the food scene in America, you had better think again. It is a total travesty that Mcdonald's, KFC etc have become synonymous with what foreigners think Americans eat, just because they see these successful brands exported on to their High Streets. Though the gap has narrowed significantly in the past 20 years and the UK has caught up, restaurants in the USA are still much superior to the UK, with more choice, better service, and they are also less expensive.

[CorkerSWFC]

I worked in Maccy D's while I was at college when I was living in Wales, absolute slave labour at the time, I don't know what it's like now mind...

[aliceBB]

if you think these kind of fast food chains typify the food scene in America, you had better think again. It is a total travesty that Mcdonald's, KFC etc have become synonymous with what foreigners think Americans eat, just because they see these successful brands exported on to their High Streets. Though the gap has narrowed significantly in the past 20 years and the UK has caught up, restaurants in the USA are still much superior to the UK, with more choice, better service, and they are also less expensive.

 

Well, I was in the States for a month last summer - travelled fairly extensively - and I wasn't impressed. The service was good but the food wasn't and there are some towns where you struggle to find a decent supermarket selling good fresh fruit and veg. 'Delis' which are everywhere, sell fizzy pop, fat and sugar-based snacks; every second retail outlet in most towns is a Dunking Chicken or an Coronary Cafe (or similar)..there's no wonder they are even more obese than people in the UK. Even in the places like San Francisco where you'd expect more choice and quality, you had to look hard for it.

[Resident]

I worked in Maccy D's while I was at college when I was living in Wales, absolute slave labour at the time, I don't know what it's like now mind...

 

It all depends whether you were in a company store or a franchise. I worked in both.

 

In a company store there were a range of rewards for working hard. There was a quarterly trip which the company would draft in staff from other stores to cover so everyone could go & would pay towards eg Alton Towers, Cost to employee - £14 included entry and coach travel. There would be on-shift "competitions" with prizes such as an extra 15mins paid break upto the dizzying heights of a £20 bonus.

Also an Xmas party with a few free drink tokens at Xmas (sounds daft putting it that way but read on)

 

Oh and also in a company store, things like working conditions/times were strictly adhered to.

 

If something broke, it was fixed. All H&S concerns were addressed immediately.

 

Contrast that to the franchise I moved to:

 

No quarterly trips, despite being marketed towards new potential employees during a hiring phase, it was always "oh I'm trying to get it sorted" from the franchisee

On shift comps still continued however the prizes tended to be a bank-busting chocolate bar or a free Mcflurry.

 

Oh and we still had an Xmas party, in February and the staff ended up making most of the arrangements.

Franchisee constantly trying to avoid paying for necessary repairs/attempting to make employees exceed worktime limits and poor working conditions.

In one instance the heating system for the 1st drive-thru window (before the shouty box) broke, mid-winter, temps got into the minuses but he refused to have the heater fixed as it cost money to run it.

 

Also several H&S breaches & licencing violations.

 

All of which was reported to authorities and HQ but nothing was ever done.

[Dozer]

Resident: It all depends whether you were in a company store or a franchise. I worked in both.

 

Great post, Resident, very interesting. As a customer, is it possible to tell whether a particular McDs is a company store?

[littlebasher]

It all depends whether you were in a company store or a franchise. I worked in both.

 

In a company store there were a range of rewards for working hard. There was a quarterly trip which the company would draft in staff from other stores to cover so everyone could go & would pay towards eg Alton Towers, Cost to employee - £14 included entry and coach travel. There would be on-shift "competitions" with prizes such as an extra 15mins paid break upto the dizzying heights of a £20 bonus.

Also an Xmas party with a few free drink tokens at Xmas (sounds daft putting it that way but read on)

 

Oh and also in a company store, things like working conditions/times were strictly adhered to.

 

If something broke, it was fixed. All H&S concerns were addressed immediately.

 

Contrast that to the franchise I moved to:

 

No quarterly trips, despite being marketed towards new potential employees during a hiring phase, it was always "oh I'm trying to get it sorted" from the franchisee

On shift comps still continued however the prizes tended to be a bank-busting chocolate bar or a free Mcflurry.

 

Oh and we still had an Xmas party, in February and the staff ended up making most of the arrangements.

Franchisee constantly trying to avoid paying for necessary repairs/attempting to make employees exceed worktime limits and poor working conditions.

In one instance the heating system for the 1st drive-thru window (before the shouty box) broke, mid-winter, temps got into the minuses but he refused to have the heater fixed as it cost money to run it.

 

Also several H&S breaches & licencing violations.

 

All of which was reported to authorities and HQ but nothing was ever done.

 

I'll agree with that, the store i worked as was sold as a franchise a year after opening. Everything got much cheaper from that point onward and being handy with the tools, anything broken was only fixed if i fixed it!

 

Some examples....

 

Nobody thought to get the cess pit emptied, so i had to rod it frequently to stop the toilets overflowing, then arrange to have it emptied. Effluent had been emptying into a local water course as a result (and the local paper found out about it). I was given a £50 note to go down and clean up the outflow with a scrubbing brush before the EA turned up.

 

Grease trap pump failed, my job to replace it (and got electrocuted thanks to a numpty resetting the breaker)

 

Repaired drive through window motors and replaced fan heaters (mentioned above)

 

Replaced hydraulic pump on trash compactor

 

Replaced failed fan in chiller unit

 

Fixed leaky flat roof.

 

All jobs that should have been left to the professionals, not that i minded tbh.

 

 

On the other hand, being young and in a position of power(!) meant that i had proper loads of girlfriends while working there

[Tommo68]

KFC in some, not all of their outlets, are selling halal chicken.

Also a sandwich shop on chapel walk is all halal meat

 

Needless to say I won't be customer of any of those again.

 

Though to be honest I always though KFC was a great idea until you've just had some and are wondering why?

[JFKvsNixon]

Also a sandwich shop on chapel walk is all halal meat

 

Are you sure, can anyone confirm this? Do the authorities know? Just think of the children.

[salsafan]

Well, I was in the States for a month last summer - travelled fairly extensively - and I wasn't impressed. The service was good but the food wasn't and there are some towns where you struggle to find a decent supermarket selling good fresh fruit and veg. 'Delis' which are everywhere, sell fizzy pop, fat and sugar-based snacks; every second retail outlet in most towns is a Dunking Chicken or an Coronary Cafe (or similar)..there's no wonder they are even more obese than people in the UK. Even in the places like San Francisco where you'd expect more choice and quality, you had to look hard for it.

 

I also went to the US too last year, and I could and feel for myself for the very first time, what it means to be an American and truly see into the life and history of the country. "Fast food" and "drive through" is indeed an American concept. As my bf said, the nation is truly made for driving. The kind of basic nomadic life, and finding an odd eatery, a cafe in the middle of nowhere as a stopover is almost a Godsend to many who has to drive so much across the country. Even in modern day American life, commuting by plane is actually quite a common thing ? I did not realise how much people travel.

 

If I recall, McDonald and their produce did not used to be SO bad. Even when the first one opened in The Moor, it had real decent burgers at that time. Before they got into this heavy franchaising business and threw away that decent ethics in their recipes and food manufacturing side of things. These days, I also try to avoid the place as best I could. Even though they are everywhere, and you cannot but be pulled in for a decent but cheap coffee, especially when everything else is so expensive.

 

There is also another food revolution in the US too. Another chain called "Five Guys" are really bringing back their food to be more home-made and fresher.

 

Let's be honest. McDonald has lost their manufacturing base now. But what they have gained in the West, is now being used and tried in the East. In the East, they do not serve a cheap burger. They do sell other items, and their names are not truly seen as American. That is to capture their own market share out there.

 

A friend once said that a McDonald in Novo Scotia actually sells McLobster buns ! I am sure that they do too. In the Netherlands, they also serve their local delicacies as well which differs to the UK.

[Resident]

Great post, Resident, very interesting. As a customer, is it possible to tell whether a particular McDs is a company store?

 

Well store, whether it's company or franchise should be displaying it's late night opening licence, issued by the local authority. On the first page if it says "McDonalds Restaurants Ltd" then it's company. If it's so-and-so T/A McDonalds then it's franchise.

 

Franchises used to have to display a small plaque near the tills. But it's been years now so I dunno if they still have to or not.

 

IIRC the only company ones in Sheffield are city centre, handsworth and Meadowhall.