[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by Thoran: [img]smile.gif[/img] Well I'm an expert since as a youth I worked at McD's, BK, and Pizza Hut (pretty much the only way a 16 year old could earn $120 a week where I came from). SO... my vast qualifications... um... qualify me to make some observations. Since McDonalds is a franchise you will see WIDE variations from area to area... even from store to store within a franchise you'll see differences based on the quality of management (they don't tend to get too many Harvard MBA's). Even 15-20 years ago when I worked there... McDonalds ONLY used 100% Vegi Oil for frying, I think the confusion is that they found traces of animal fat in the fries themselves (apparently added for flavor). I tend to think overall the quality of McD's has been declining. When I worked there our store was spotless, if you weren't servicing a customer you were cleaing. The managers kept us hopping... if you were on the Big Mac/Regular Burger station and you couldn't keep two dozen burgers going at once you weren't on that station for long. These days when I've been in a McD's (very rare) I see people standing around BS'ing when the bathrooms look like crap, theres stuff all over the floor... nasty. They also switched to using a Microwave which IMO was the kiss of death for them... the only thing they ever had going for them was that you could get a hot fresh burger, now you get a rewarmed dry frisbee.

I can definitely relate to that experience, Thoran. I also worked at my hometown McD's for 6 yrs. The owners were a young couple and this was their first store. It was also the ONLY McDonald's in a 75 mile radius...so we were always hopping.

I know exactly what you mean about the work ethic we had compared to the work ethic I see there now. I'm sure you're familiar with the popular phrase - "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean". One of our managers came up with another one - "If you've got time to gripe, you've got time to wipe".

My wife and I use to go by on Sunday mornings before church for breakfast, but it got to the point where I couldn't stand to sit there and watch these slackers they have working now just stand around talking and BSing. We stood in line one morning for almost 10 MINUTES!!! I was tempted to go behind the counter myself and show these jokers the job was SUPPOSED to be done.

The husband that owned the store when I worked there was killed in a car wreck several years ago. His wife (who was co-owner), kept the store for a couple more years, but then sold it. That's when it started going downhill. [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]