- McDonald’s jobs, like all jobs, provide employees with many learning opportunities.
- McDonald’s staff members share with Business Insider what they learned from working at the restaurant chain.
- Lessons range from treating everyone with kindness to learning how to work with others.
McDonald’s food may be very similar around the world, but employees’ experiences can vary greatly.
Of course, the atmosphere of each store depends a lot on the customer base, the staff, the management and the franchise owner. But there is a common feature that links McDonald’s jobs. Like all jobs, McDonald’s jobs serve as a learning experience, for better or worse.
Business Insider has spoken with several current and former members to discover what they learned while working at the restaurant. Former McDonald’s employees also posted on Quora their work experiences.
This is what the McDonald’s team members have learned from their jobs:
The job is a crash course on the basics of how a restaurant works.
“McDonald’s can provide essential skills for working and people can use this as an advantage on their next resume,” wrote Sherwin Balugo, a former McDonald’s team member at Quora.
According to what has been said, such skills include:
- Manage and maintain restaurant equipment.
- Teamwork and communication skills.
- Food and kitchen safety.
- Task prioritization.
“This can be easily overlooked as most people see McDonald’s as an unremarkable job, professionally speaking,” Balugo wrote.
Teamwork makes the McDonald’s dream work
A former team member who worked at the chain for five years has explained to Business Insider that There they learned about “teamwork” throughout their time in the company.. Adding that they developed many friendships with their restaurant colleagues.
“In addition to learning about the actual tasks at McDonald’s, making burgers, fries, customer service, you learn how to work alongside other people,” wrote the former McDonald’s employee and userQuora, Chuck Chan.
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Employees learn to ‘show no fear’ when dealing with customers
Working in the fast food industry can be difficultsometimes. Some customers will give you a hard time.
But a member of the Minnesota squad has advised him Business Insider who learned to “show customers that they are not afraid.”
The employee added that they have become experts in act as “happy” as possible while working a shift.
McDonald’s manager Cody Zeman has written in Quora that employees should always try their best to interact with customers and diffuse any potential tension.
“Ask them how their day is going,” Zeman wrote. “Always smile. Always come to work in a clean uniform. Always keep an open mind.”
Being kind to others counts for something, especially in the service industry…
“I learned to be patient and respect people who work any type of job facing the public.because kindness and respect make people in those jobs feel good about what they’re doing,” a former Virginia team member told Business Insider
The former employee added that he always tips 20% these days, even when the service is below average.
“Sometimes people are having a rough day, and I don’t want to make that any worse,” the former employee said. “To the people who go to McDonald’s: be kind, be patient. A little kindness goes a long way, especially when things have been tough during a shift.”
Chan also addressed how Working in the fast food business can increase one’s rapport with restaurant employees.
“The problem with service jobs is that often the customer doesn’t consider all the factors at play, and the blame usually falls on the person they’re interacting with,” Chan wrote. “Things happen, and usually the restaurant or server will apologize, maybe make up for it by giving away something for free if they can, and try to maximize their dining experience, or at least try their best. This is only considered by the customer on some occasions.”
…and humility is also key
“Working at McDonald’s is a very humbling experiencewhere one can learn and appreciate many aspects of life,” Chan wrote in Quora“I learned to really respect and appreciate the hard work and sweat that goes into doing those jobs, especially when you need to do it on a bad day.”
McDonald’s is not a place where everyone can make a career
McDonald’s has been the target of a recent wave of protests over the salaries of some of its staff.
The Fight for 15 organization has been working hard to push McDonald’s to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, around 13 euros. Activists argue that the fast food giant does not pay its employees a living wage.
In 2016, Richard Eiker, a former McDonald’s employee and Kansas City resident, told The Guardian why he participated in a series of protests against his company.
“This movement believes that no one who works full-time should have to rely on food stamps or public assistance to pay basic bills,” he said.
“If you want to make a career out of that, you won’t be able to live off what you earn, most likely.”“former member Michael Lebert wrote in Quora.
A former member of Virginia has told Business Insider that low pay reinforces the popular view that McDonald’s jobs are low-status.
“People may disagree that people who work in the fast food industry deserve a living wage, but The bottom line is that food service workers are people, not servants.“the former employee told Business Insider“The amount of cruel and rude treatment from other people who think they can get away with it simply because they are dealing with someone who works in a low-skilled ‘job’ is unreal.”
Being able to see work as a learning opportunity is helpful
A McDonald’s staff member has told Business Insider that they had learned to have an optimistic view of their work.
“McDonald’s isn’t always a wonderful place to work, but it’s a good place to start,” one Minnesota worker told Business Insider.
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Tags: Advice, Work, Company