A Day in the Life of the Fast Food Worker

The weather was over cast at 3.00 PM when I came into work at the glorious establishment known as McDonalds. As surprising as it may seem this was not my initial job of choice. I am a junior in college and had a paid internship lined up for the summer, however the last week of finals it fell through. So with the glorious economy and the fact that I am only in town for the summer you can't be that picky. Rejection after almost 30 applications can do that to you. Be happy if you have a job. I make a 25 minute commute to make minimum wage at McDonald's because the Mickey D's right by my house and almost every other job outlet by me was not hiring but at least I get a free meal at work. Yes I have to look for the silver linings otherwise the situation just seems sad.

So I started off at the front register this particular day. I have been broken in over the last month and a half so I pretty much have the jest of what is going on. I am the guy that stands between you and your Big Mac, Hot and Spicy, and Mc Double. "Hi, Welcome to Mc Donalds" that's me. So the time went by slowly at first, customers would come in and I would take their order and then pick up their food once it was prepared. Sometimes we would get a rush sporadically and now and then some people would start to pout with the cross hands when the order takes a little time to prepare. Despite popular belief, I can't snap my fingers and click my heels three times and have food appear. Granted I have not tried this while working the front counter but I figure my guess is fairly educated.

So after some time the manager told me to go in the "Hole". For those of you who don't know the "Hole" is the god forsaken place in the drive thru where they hand you your food and drink. No one likes working in the "Hole". For one, when the order is not taken down correctly or the customer suffers an exuberantly long wait of 3 minutes for their meal, the full on assault is thrown in said direction. For example, a customer says they wanted two McDoubles but they only got one. Then, I grab their receipt and what do I see, one McDouble. So then there is the daunting task of doing mental math and figuring out how much it would cost, $1.08 by the way, and then commandeer a register to order the missing item or just grab a manager if the customer is particularly upset over their McDouble and feels that they should get it for free. Yeah, the customer is always right and I fight crime and live in a mansion. Secondly, you have to assemble a huge array of drinks. Thirty-two ounce cups should not be allowed to exist. I serve out diabetes like it's my job, oh wait it is. Thirdly, people like to change their order at the payment window. We get the print out list of the order when you leave the talking box so we don't really know that your order changed unless we happen to see it change on the screen prompter, the order taker yells back about to us about it, or when the customer tells me that their quarter pounder was supposed to be a double quarter pounder and people get very angry when it comes to food. Now, rather then choosing to be phased by this I remind myself that my products are burgers and drinks, hardly something fret about and I will worry about something when it amounts to more then what I make in an hour or two which actually covers a lot even with minimum wage.

So as I entered the "Hole" the weather changed in anticipation. The once sunny sky became over cast and work continued on. The slight drizzle did not scare off the customers. Then when the drizzle became a down pour people still were not deterred. Little can come between a man and his Big Mac. Now Mother Nature is very funny. If it was a straight downpour I would be safe in my drive thru window of solitude, but wind makes rain go side ways. It got to the point to where I would lock eyes with the customer well knowing that the fate of their food and any semblance of dryness was in both our hands and then when the dire seriousness of the situation was realized we both opened our windows and made our exchange. Each delivery was a punch in the face to hunger and the elements.

Then the unthinkable happened. The power grid went out. The neighboring Kroger's and every other store around us and the street lights went out. But McDonald's still had its power on. Maybe a second light flicker for kicks but nothing to stop the Juggernaught which is McDonalds and rather then be deterred by the lack of power and non functioning street lights customers continued to flock as if McDonalds was their fast food promise land or their beacon of greasy hope and we continued to answer their prayers. Until finally around 10 PM the rain died off and I stocked up the condiments for the next day and then clocked out. All in a days work.

Some sell cars, others build sky scrapers, others work miracles on the operating table, but only the select few and sometimes otherwise unemployed can say, "Welcome to McDonalds, How May I Help You".