Steven Hansen WebLog » McDonalds

McDonalds. Problems with Systems

Steven — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:26:51 +0000

McDonalds is very organized. The corporation hands down to each little franchise very thorough training videos and instructions. Machines are designed with specific tasks and preset timers in order to prepare everything the same each time.

They even have specific schedules for routine tasks, like taking out the trash, cleaning the equipment, etc. Tonight, however, this was a problem. At 9:15 I wanted some Hot Chocolate. McDonalds now serves hot cocoa! Unfortunately, it appears it is in the instruction manual that the hot cocoa machine is to be cleaned at 9:15 or so each night.

After driving through multiple McDriveThroughs only to be told the machine was being cleaned, I just went home for Hot Chocolate instead of searching for another, that would probably also be cleaning the machine when I stopped by.

My Last Day.

Steven — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 21:10:19 +0000

Well I showed up a little late. Of course the clock at McDonalds is about 5-10 minutes ahead of anybody’s clock. I spent about the first 2 hours working the drive through. That was pretty much my normal spot while I was there. I got pretty quick with the drinks and making sure everything got out the window. The last 2 hours or so I spent in the grill area. I made some more eggs and burritos frios! I chatted with the grill girls; Sonia, Rachel, Elizabeth. I was relief to be walking out of there knowing I would never have to come back, but at the same time I felt a bit of sadness leaving my new friends. I may not like eating at McDonalds, but the people who work there really are people, not just robots that make burgers. And most of them are really nice people. McDonalds is quite the place. Very organized. Special mechanisms for everything, nothing takes longer then seconds to complete. 1000′s of sandwiches can be made and served to the customers desire every day thanks to some great machinery but those would not work without the dozen of willing humans to slave away at the many monotonous task found within a McDonalds. Well Mr. Kroc thanks for everything. Here you go, have a nice day, please come again, thank you for choosing McDonalds!

I can help you here.

Steven — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:09:45 +0000

I spent quite a few hours taking orders today. I never take orders from the drive through, but I can handle most of the orders in the Lobby, that way I can sit there and chat with them to make sure I get them the right thing and I can see what is handed to them to make sure I ordered them the right thing. A few people got kind of peeved that we only accept debit cards and we charge them 50 cents to use those. Oh well. I only messed up a few peoples orders. But with the normal things I got pretty good with the buttons today. It just takes a few hours of doing it and you can get it down easy enough. Aja was happy today. She didn’t swear and cuss at me. I think she thinks I am nerd. That is just fine with me. She does a good job at Managing things.

McDonalds at 6:00 AM

Steven — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:09:15 +0000

Well today was the earliest I ever started. They scheduled me at 6:00 AM so I showed up right on time. It was just one cook, one manager, and me that was there at that early hour. And after a little while Brad showed up. It turned out to be a no Managers day because they all had a “meeting” that was more of a party. So Aja, Cassie, and Jacalin were all gone the whole day. Brad did a good job of keeping things going. We kept everything going pretty well. I was done by 11:00 but 5 hours of McDonalds that early in the morning is insane.

Long day at the drive through

Steven — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:08:41 +0000

I worked for about six straight hours today handing people food out the window. I have seen a large collection of people I know through that window. Let’s see:
Dennis Peterson, Pres. Hoyt, Laura Willis, Ray Tuckett, Kyle Wangemann, Sean Bowman, Sean’s aunt and uncle, John Tucker, and more. Plus all of the McDonalds regulars that I started to make friends with. I love waving at the kids in the back seats. And if somebodies food is delayed I prefer chatting with them for a minute rather that parking them.

Labor Day

Steven — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 21:08:07 +0000

Well, holiday pay does not exist when you only make 5.75 per hour. I worked 4 hours today. It wasn’t as busy as Saturday. Many thought that since it was a holiday it would be extra busy, it was a steady flow of people people but never too extremely busy for extended periods of time. I have learned some of the other task like making the eggs for the breakfast sandwiches. I also made quite a few burritos. One of the grill girls now calls me burrito frio. Because I tried to give a customer a cold burrito. I was never told you had to microwave them first!

Saturday Breakfast

Steven — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 21:07:35 +0000

I never knew how many people love to eat at McDonalds. Saturday is one of the most busy days ever at McDonalds. !00′s of people come to McDonalds for breakfast on Saturday. Much more than on normal days. The most amazing thing happened today. An order was called in for 20 Big Macs, 15 CheeseBurgers, 15 Hamburgers, and 25 medium fries. The McDonalds went into frenzy mode and amazingly in under 15 minutes over 50 hamburgers plus the regularly ordered ones were put together with 1000′s of fries. Loads of sandwiches all being done by these simple McDonalds employees. For having one of the worst reputations for food quality, they sure get a lot of business.

Burritos

Steven — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 21:07:07 +0000

I learned to make burritos today! Did you know that they make the breakfast burritos in the morning and lots of ‘em. They make them cold however, and then they are only warmed up in an expensive microwave when you order them. So if you really want to get on McDonalds nerves. Order a $1 burriton with no cheese. That will throw them off. In fact they may even tell you no.

I quit today!

Steven — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 21:06:33 +0000

Well I gave my notice. After talking with a few of the other employees that seemed to have some experiance at quiting McDonalds (however, somehow they worked there again), I found out that you really do not need to give any kind of 2 week notice. So at the end of my shift I went in the the Store Manager and told her “I have some bad news.” And like it was not even a surprise she said, “You’re quiting.” I was almost surprised at her atitude towards it. But she kindly asked me to finish the days I had already been scheduled for (which is to the end of next week.) So my duration at McDonalds will be 2 weeks. Though I felt finished today after only 12 hours of working at McDonalds.

My next 2 hours

Steven — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:06:05 +0000

I can’t believe I work at McDonalds. It is one of the best run businesses in the world. Very organized in uncountable ways. A system that is worth duplicating and has been. Protocol and procedures are found in every and any aspect of the entire business. Some employees have incredible talent in remembering all of the menu items and where they are located on the touch screen, as well as others that have an incredible talent to remember what items go on every different sandwich.
BUT! I am beginning to feel as if my degree of intellectual processing is being degraded. Any orginal thinking is definantly not required when working at McDonalds. It can be used, but it will not get you further in life any quicker. In short: I feel stupider when I work at McDonalds.
I spent two hours today, cleaning windows, and picking up cigaratte butts around the drive through window. Why is it that everyone decides to throw out their cigarette but right at the window at McDonalds?