Let me be the first to say, kudos to you my friend. Because even one day as a fast food employee will drain your soul to literally nothing. I (very happily, I should add) quit my fast food job today after working there for 2 years. First let me defend myself, I am not a drop out nor am I troubled - I graduated with a 4.0, have never been in trouble, and am generally a happy person HOWEVER ever since I have worked fast food, my spirit has been non-existent. I got this job shortly after quitting my first job, and I was in need of money. Of course, being the typical high school student I jumped on the first opportunity I was offered. Unfortunately, this opportunity was to be a crew member at the infamous rival to McDonalds, Burger King. For those of you so fortunate enough to never have to experience this figurative hell on Earth, let me shed some light on this glamorous career.
1. Regardless of being part time or full time, expect to be on your feet for 8 hours (and more often than not, longer) STRAIGHT. I give props to the laborers out there who do 12 hour work days doing nothing but back breaking work, but the next closest thing to that sort of agony is working fast food. There were many times I thought "I think I'd rather be pouring concrete than be stuck here." Mind you that you need to serve ALL of these customers in under 3 minutes or less, regardless of how packed you are, how short staffed you are, or how gigantic an order may be (and I have seen many an order that exceeded $50). You are constantly shuffling around at a fastwalk pace, mindlessly running around with one goal in mind "SERVE THE CORRECT ORDER AS FAST AS YOU PHYSICALLY POSSIBLY CAN". And your goal for that whole 8+ hour shift is that and only that. And don't you dare ever come in to work expecting a break, there were numerous times I worked long hours without a break because we just couldn't afford to be one body short for a half hour.
2. Yes, a half hour break. For 8+ hour shifts. And to add on to that, you still get to pay for your meal! So you work an hour, and you can afford to pay for your break! Joy to the world!
3. Minimum wage is plenty to sustain comfortable living - said no fast food employee ever. I was promised a raise every 3 months I was there. I was there for 24 months and I sure as the s word did not get one single penny as a raise. At the time I quit I was still busting my hump for a measly $7.25 an hour. While I did everyone else's job too. Plenty to live off of, right?
4. You will never meet a more disorganized, dysfunctional management team than those who are put in charge in the fast food industry. Many of them sat on their rears in the small corner of the building called the "office" for their whole shift, only emerging from the depths of their dungeon to moan and groan about how slow we are, how we need to be faster, how lazy we are, and to demand us to clean something. Then trudge back into their cave. And the higher the management goes, the worse it gets. Don't even think about complaining to corporate about your working conditions, you will be blown off or maybe even laid off. Our corporate representative told me one day while I was making sandwiches that the pickles HAVE to go on before the ketchup, and if I put them in the wrong place again I would be fired because I am disposable. This brought me to tears for an hour, and thinking back on it now, I should have told her to buzz of and to stick those pickles somewhere where the sun don't shine.
5. There will be rude customers everywhere you go and at any job. It just so happens to be that all of them choose to meet for lunch at fast food joints every day all day. I think there is a secret rule that you cannot order fast food unless you are already pissed off and are ready to blow a gasket on a poor employee. I have had customers tell me that I'm worthless, I am trash, I am a no body, I will be stuck there forever, and even had a parent tell his child that he will end up like me if he doesn't straighten up - all of this right to my face. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't think I could ever say that to anyone I didn't even know. Some will look at you with this pathetic look on their face as if they owe you some sort of sympathy for the hell you are enduring. You are required to smile, be friendly, and suggest sales constantly all while running around like an idiot to get this 3 minute goal accomplished. Some customers are too good to please, thank you, or have a nice day, some don't even speak one word to you or acknowledge your existence. Their eyes never leave their cell phone as they reach their arm out the window and snatch their grease bag from your hands. Customers who expect to order, as I mentioned before, $50 worth of burgers each one made a specifically different way, and be in and out in 3 minutes. Once that 3 minute mark is surpassed, your time is short to make amends and do SOMETHING, ANYTHING before the dam bursts and you are drowning in a wave of hate and anger. Or who come through the drive through with 10 cars in front of them, order a coffee, and somehow think that they were there before everyone else just because they have a small order. Let me tell you something, if you do not want to wait in the drive through or wait for some poor guy to attempt to speed cook your food, take your $50, go buy some burgers and buns and ketchup (which will not take all of your $50 trust me) go home and cook them yourself.
Fast food put me in a deep state of depression. Not only was there abuse from customers, but also co-workers. I understand NOBODY wants to be here, or to work here, but come on. It isn't my fault. I'm in the same boat you are in, don't take this out on me. However, they did, and there were some things said I have written down and kept track of just incase I needed to defend myself on the abuse I was facing. I was in a rut that seemed like I would be in forever. I spent every day all day in that place. 9-8, 6 days a week, and on the day I was off I usually got called in anyways. It had gotten so bad that I would cry when I got home at night, and cry in the morning before clocking in. I could not take this place anymore.
This morning I was crying putting my greasy uniform on, hoping and praying for something, anything to come through and then it happened. I got a call. A job offer, a good job offer in an office making more money with (gasp) WEEKENDS OFF. I haven't had a weekend off since the day I took that forsaken job. I cried while accepting this job offer, put my head in my hands and sobbed for a half hour after I got off the phone. Then I gathered up my Burger King costume, bagged it up, made my way to the store and said I QUIT. And I have been the happiest I have ever been for 2 years now. A huge weigh is off my shoulders. I can feel the stress rapidly leaving my body, and it is the best feeling.
So I think the point I am trying to make here is: be kind to those you encounter in fast food, because they may be in tears all day because of this job. They may be struggling to make ends meet for a family, only degrading themselves to this point to support themselves and their family. Fast food is NOT an easy job and is one of the worst industries out there. Be considerate. And if you are a fast food worker please know that you are not in such deep a rut as you think you are. There are ways out. You do not HAVE to work any shift tomorrow, you have the freedom to cut yourself free from this place. Just be smart in doing it, make sure you can get another job, if possible, wait until you have another job. But know that you are not stuck there. GET OUT.
So for the first time in a long time, until Monday when I start my new job, I will be enjoying my first weekend off!![:)]( ":)")
1. Regardless of being part time or full time, expect to be on your feet for 8 hours (and more often than not, longer) STRAIGHT. I give props to the laborers out there who do 12 hour work days doing nothing but back breaking work, but the next closest thing to that sort of agony is working fast food. There were many times I thought "I think I'd rather be pouring concrete than be stuck here." Mind you that you need to serve ALL of these customers in under 3 minutes or less, regardless of how packed you are, how short staffed you are, or how gigantic an order may be (and I have seen many an order that exceeded $50). You are constantly shuffling around at a fastwalk pace, mindlessly running around with one goal in mind "SERVE THE CORRECT ORDER AS FAST AS YOU PHYSICALLY POSSIBLY CAN". And your goal for that whole 8+ hour shift is that and only that. And don't you dare ever come in to work expecting a break, there were numerous times I worked long hours without a break because we just couldn't afford to be one body short for a half hour.
2. Yes, a half hour break. For 8+ hour shifts. And to add on to that, you still get to pay for your meal! So you work an hour, and you can afford to pay for your break! Joy to the world!
3. Minimum wage is plenty to sustain comfortable living - said no fast food employee ever. I was promised a raise every 3 months I was there. I was there for 24 months and I sure as the s word did not get one single penny as a raise. At the time I quit I was still busting my hump for a measly $7.25 an hour. While I did everyone else's job too. Plenty to live off of, right?
4. You will never meet a more disorganized, dysfunctional management team than those who are put in charge in the fast food industry. Many of them sat on their rears in the small corner of the building called the "office" for their whole shift, only emerging from the depths of their dungeon to moan and groan about how slow we are, how we need to be faster, how lazy we are, and to demand us to clean something. Then trudge back into their cave. And the higher the management goes, the worse it gets. Don't even think about complaining to corporate about your working conditions, you will be blown off or maybe even laid off. Our corporate representative told me one day while I was making sandwiches that the pickles HAVE to go on before the ketchup, and if I put them in the wrong place again I would be fired because I am disposable. This brought me to tears for an hour, and thinking back on it now, I should have told her to buzz of and to stick those pickles somewhere where the sun don't shine.
5. There will be rude customers everywhere you go and at any job. It just so happens to be that all of them choose to meet for lunch at fast food joints every day all day. I think there is a secret rule that you cannot order fast food unless you are already pissed off and are ready to blow a gasket on a poor employee. I have had customers tell me that I'm worthless, I am trash, I am a no body, I will be stuck there forever, and even had a parent tell his child that he will end up like me if he doesn't straighten up - all of this right to my face. I don't know about the rest of you but I don't think I could ever say that to anyone I didn't even know. Some will look at you with this pathetic look on their face as if they owe you some sort of sympathy for the hell you are enduring. You are required to smile, be friendly, and suggest sales constantly all while running around like an idiot to get this 3 minute goal accomplished. Some customers are too good to please, thank you, or have a nice day, some don't even speak one word to you or acknowledge your existence. Their eyes never leave their cell phone as they reach their arm out the window and snatch their grease bag from your hands. Customers who expect to order, as I mentioned before, $50 worth of burgers each one made a specifically different way, and be in and out in 3 minutes. Once that 3 minute mark is surpassed, your time is short to make amends and do SOMETHING, ANYTHING before the dam bursts and you are drowning in a wave of hate and anger. Or who come through the drive through with 10 cars in front of them, order a coffee, and somehow think that they were there before everyone else just because they have a small order. Let me tell you something, if you do not want to wait in the drive through or wait for some poor guy to attempt to speed cook your food, take your $50, go buy some burgers and buns and ketchup (which will not take all of your $50 trust me) go home and cook them yourself.
Fast food put me in a deep state of depression. Not only was there abuse from customers, but also co-workers. I understand NOBODY wants to be here, or to work here, but come on. It isn't my fault. I'm in the same boat you are in, don't take this out on me. However, they did, and there were some things said I have written down and kept track of just incase I needed to defend myself on the abuse I was facing. I was in a rut that seemed like I would be in forever. I spent every day all day in that place. 9-8, 6 days a week, and on the day I was off I usually got called in anyways. It had gotten so bad that I would cry when I got home at night, and cry in the morning before clocking in. I could not take this place anymore.
This morning I was crying putting my greasy uniform on, hoping and praying for something, anything to come through and then it happened. I got a call. A job offer, a good job offer in an office making more money with (gasp) WEEKENDS OFF. I haven't had a weekend off since the day I took that forsaken job. I cried while accepting this job offer, put my head in my hands and sobbed for a half hour after I got off the phone. Then I gathered up my Burger King costume, bagged it up, made my way to the store and said I QUIT. And I have been the happiest I have ever been for 2 years now. A huge weigh is off my shoulders. I can feel the stress rapidly leaving my body, and it is the best feeling.
So I think the point I am trying to make here is: be kind to those you encounter in fast food, because they may be in tears all day because of this job. They may be struggling to make ends meet for a family, only degrading themselves to this point to support themselves and their family. Fast food is NOT an easy job and is one of the worst industries out there. Be considerate. And if you are a fast food worker please know that you are not in such deep a rut as you think you are. There are ways out. You do not HAVE to work any shift tomorrow, you have the freedom to cut yourself free from this place. Just be smart in doing it, make sure you can get another job, if possible, wait until you have another job. But know that you are not stuck there. GET OUT.
So for the first time in a long time, until Monday when I start my new job, I will be enjoying my first weekend off!
