Former McD's employees...

I worked there in high school,it was fun.I knew I worked there too long when the only food I wasnt sick of was the ice cream.

I put in some time as a McD's employee, too, back in high school. This was in the late 80's/early 90's, and they let me keep my dyed-black punkish hair and wear Dr Martins to work, but the rest of the uniform had to be exactly like everyone else's. Come to think of it, maybe that's why I worked the grill, not the register.... I was also one of the few--usually only--girls on the grill, and I was too young to work closer shift, so I got to do breakfast instead. Coming in at 5 am, making tray after tray of biscuits, piles of salads (people got them for lunch when they drove through for their Egg McMuffins and coffee), breakfast burritos....the biscuits then were made more or less from scratch, with huge 5-gallon bags of buttermilk. Each batch had to be mixed by hand. I still have scars from the ovens we baked them in, the turnover was so fast we'd just grab the pans and slam new ones in. The pancakes were also scratch, more or less. We'd always make "defective" pancakes smaller than the required dimensions, so we could eat them. I only lasted a few months--biking to work at 4:30 am was not appealing at 16--but I've done other restaurant work since then, and I still prefer back of house to front. And I still like their pancakes, but that's about it!

Back when I was in college in the early 1990s I got my first job at a McDonald's in Hamilton, Ohio, my hometown. I only worked summers, usually either on lobby detail (cleaning up the floor and wiping off tables, and at the same time chatting with the customers) or preparing the French fries (or, if on the breakfast shift, the hash browns).

I'll tell you about the French fry machine I worked. I remember the machine with the liquid containing fat in which we put the fry containers was always 335°F or 168°C, probably because the Fahrenheit figure was one less than twice the Celsius figure in this case. (Plus, I had a thing with math and numbers, LOL!) After about a minute of soaking in the mixture the screen (with red LED lights) lit up the letters SHAKE, with the accompanying beep, and after hitting the button to tell it I recognized the need to shake the fry container, it went two more minutes, then lighting up the letters REMOVE, again with the accompanying beep, after which I transferred the fries to an area where they were bagged and placed under heat lamps. If a bag of fries sat under the lights for ten minutes the letters QUALITY would come on, again with a beep, meaning I had to throw them away.

Fortunately I never injured myself on the job. The worst thing that happened to me was touching a fry container that was hot, as if it had been sitting in the fry mixture for an extended period of time. I've heard horror stories from coworkers about touching the grill (which was a "clamshell" model that fried both sides at the same time, eliminating the need to "flip burgers") and really burning their hands and/or arms.

Because of this experience, any trip into a McDonald's is a special treat for me, partly because I know what went on on the other side of the counter. I once said here that I would like to visit at least one McDonald's in all fifty states, even though it's a stretch and I prefer the local fare in certain places like seafood-rich New England. My old nickname on this site was McFan, as a matter of fact.

I too, worked some breakfast shifts and made biscuits. Back then they were homemade with real buttermilk! We went through those things so fast! The rare occasion I have one anymore, they sure don't taste the same (big shock, I know!).

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Rushmore Jr.

quote:

Originally posted by Scorereader

Supposedly, a relatively high number of franchise owners are former employees. It's clearly not the norm, as one needs quite a bit of capital to open a McDonald's. But it must, at least a little bit, be apositive reflection on the company.

Actually, all franchise owners are former employees. You need to work for a few years before they will hand you the keys.

Actually, you simply need the capital and solid restaurant management/business ownership experience. With that, they give you training. Some of the training takes place at a restaurant 9-18 months (not a few years) while receiving other ownership training, but it's not the same as being hired as an employee who eventually buys a franchise - which is what they were talking about. Different things altogether - otherwise, McDonald's would be advertising that ALL of their franchises are owned by former employees.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/franchise/whyMcdonalds/worldClassTraining.html

http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/franchise/whyMcdonalds/trainingMap.html#preparing

I worked at McDonald's in the early 80's and had no trouble coming to work presentable. Nowadays, I generally choose one McDonalds over another based on service and cleanliness. . Call me crazy, I'd rather not be served my food by someone that looks like they need a bath. So essentially, I disagree.