As part of my Basic Shift Management training program, I'm obligated to ask the employees for their input into the management team. I've asked questions such as, "What do you expect from your management team?" and "What can the managers do to better support you in your job?". There have been some interesting answers.
I've had two situations with non-English speaking, female crew members who gave me an interesting (in my opinion) response. They both, in separate encounters, broke into giggles and one of them giggled so nervously and hard that she turned purple. I can only assume she got so nervous from being asked such a direct question, and the request for her input. I donno.
One of our newest crew members, who was being eyed for management after two months or so of working at one of our groups other stores, told me she felt that there was no team feeling in the restaurant. Basically, she feels it is most apparent at the management level, and that the crew is full of people who don't care. I'm flattered she felt like sharing her observations with me, especially when she gave me some positive feedback on my performance. But what could I tell her, really? My response was, "Well, as far as I can see, that's basically life, right? A smattering of exceptional people trying to do the best they can and being hindered by stupid. Legions of stupid." It really is that way. If you disagree, it's probably because you're part of the herd, not the smattering.
Another employee told me, "Michael, I am very angry over this" in his incredibly soft-spoken and faintly Spanish-accented voice, "I work hard to keep this area clean, and other people don't respect it. None of the managers stop it from happening. I am very angry, my friend."
One of my favorite employees is a woman who works at two stores, has two kids and is always taking up any opportunity to get things done. She is phenomenal, and always has a bright and positive attitude. She's always willing to help out and make sure the team is running well. Her response to me was to get inside of my personal space, and patted my belly (an incredibly frazzling situation every time she does it) and says, something in Spanish that I'm told means "Your head is going to blow up". I think. She's a strange one, but she's one of my favorite people.
So depending on the outlook of the individual, either there are many Opportunities to Improve for the management team or just a few Opportunities to Improve. Either way, it's going to be a rough go - I'm not that great of a team builder, honestly, being so "Me" oriented, and I think that if I can help develop a more team-like environment at my store, it will be a great accomplishment.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I Truly Am a Control Freak
I'm discovering that I truly am a control freak.
My symptoms are simple yet incredibly clear. When I am attempting to give control to other people, I feel so.. so... Out of control.
It's very difficult to be asked by someone who I think of as a professional, someone who does a damn fine job, someone who I am glad to call my colleague tells me to lay back and let others lead the pack. Well, I am trying, and what I'm experiencing is watching something I have recently become dedicated to being mistreated.
Our shifts have been hectic the past few days, and they've been horribly, horribly slow. Things seem to be run by scrambling from one emergency situation to another. It could be egoism, but a week ago when I ran a Tuesday lunch shift, in general there seemed to be a better rhythm than there was today.
Further, I'm a bit confused. I was asked to give up control a bit on shifts when other managers are working. Three managers in particular, apparently, felt that I was grossly overstepping my bounds. This is possible. I like control and usually feel that someone's feelings can't take precedence over taking care of business. Maybe at times I'm a bit brisk. I know, though, that I'm respected by most of the people I work with - I know this because the crew trust me to help them take care of their problems (business related only, thank you). Also, a couple of the more intelligent people I work with have given me positive feedback on how I give positive feedback to others! Hot damn! Pardon my digression - I'm confused because I was spoken to sternly over leaving an hour early with huge labor and no business, and two managers on the shift. The words actually used were, "I wanted you to be in control of Sunday." From the same manager who asked me to exert less control over shifts.
However, the past week or so of hanging back and exerting a lesser amount of control over the store during my shifts has been difficult.
I've noticed there are quite a few more business-related problems that the crew are having. There's something of a standing grudge happening between the Production team and the Service team. And little things with schedule issues or personality disputes have been arising much more.
I don't say this is entirely because of my restrained direction. But it certainly has a large impact on the existence of the situation.
There are a grand total of 8 managers at my store: the General Manager, 1st Assistant, myself, and 5 swing managers. Of those, only one manager other than I, does all of the things they are supposed to document correctly. There's a pre-shift checklist, a once-per-hour travel path, a twice-per-shift people travel path, a production checklist, a service checklist, and the owner has a system of giving managers responsibility for the cleanliness of the store by making us sign off on 4 major areas of the store, including a every-3-hour sweep and mop of the entire store. So only 2 of the 8 total managers always do all of a shift's checklists and travel paths.
I feel if one of us is not on a shift, then it's just not getting done. I'm sorry, you did it but couldn't take the added 30 seconds to document you did it? It's easier to think (especially when you see it -not- happening right before your eyes) that, much like the documentation, you did not do the work. And because I've been asked to take a step back, it feels like even if I'm there, it's not really getting done. I'll ask another manager if they're going to do a travel path that hour and they'll certainly say yes, but the only traveling I see happening is from the HLZ to the Presentation window. What about the other 80% of your store that you cannot see from the front counter? Sorry. It's frustrating.
The fact is, I've given over control to these managers who said I was stepping on their toes. I've even bluntly said, "You are in control of this shift, what should I do" and gotten either a denial of their control or a vacant stare and a shrug. To me, the reality is, no one else decided to take control of anything and so the position (of leader) is open to whoever wants it - that's me.
So, I'm going to get my control back, and show how things run smoother when I'm there. If that doesn't bluntly bring home the point to the gentleman expert who asked me to relieve some of my exertion of control, that I, in full-power mode, am an extremely beneficial part of the team ... Well, then I'm just going to go and re-assess why exactly any manager would have asked someone to be a less motivated and active a part of the team.
My symptoms are simple yet incredibly clear. When I am attempting to give control to other people, I feel so.. so... Out of control.
It's very difficult to be asked by someone who I think of as a professional, someone who does a damn fine job, someone who I am glad to call my colleague tells me to lay back and let others lead the pack. Well, I am trying, and what I'm experiencing is watching something I have recently become dedicated to being mistreated.
Our shifts have been hectic the past few days, and they've been horribly, horribly slow. Things seem to be run by scrambling from one emergency situation to another. It could be egoism, but a week ago when I ran a Tuesday lunch shift, in general there seemed to be a better rhythm than there was today.
Further, I'm a bit confused. I was asked to give up control a bit on shifts when other managers are working. Three managers in particular, apparently, felt that I was grossly overstepping my bounds. This is possible. I like control and usually feel that someone's feelings can't take precedence over taking care of business. Maybe at times I'm a bit brisk. I know, though, that I'm respected by most of the people I work with - I know this because the crew trust me to help them take care of their problems (business related only, thank you). Also, a couple of the more intelligent people I work with have given me positive feedback on how I give positive feedback to others! Hot damn! Pardon my digression - I'm confused because I was spoken to sternly over leaving an hour early with huge labor and no business, and two managers on the shift. The words actually used were, "I wanted you to be in control of Sunday." From the same manager who asked me to exert less control over shifts.
However, the past week or so of hanging back and exerting a lesser amount of control over the store during my shifts has been difficult.
I've noticed there are quite a few more business-related problems that the crew are having. There's something of a standing grudge happening between the Production team and the Service team. And little things with schedule issues or personality disputes have been arising much more.
I don't say this is entirely because of my restrained direction. But it certainly has a large impact on the existence of the situation.
There are a grand total of 8 managers at my store: the General Manager, 1st Assistant, myself, and 5 swing managers. Of those, only one manager other than I, does all of the things they are supposed to document correctly. There's a pre-shift checklist, a once-per-hour travel path, a twice-per-shift people travel path, a production checklist, a service checklist, and the owner has a system of giving managers responsibility for the cleanliness of the store by making us sign off on 4 major areas of the store, including a every-3-hour sweep and mop of the entire store. So only 2 of the 8 total managers always do all of a shift's checklists and travel paths.
I feel if one of us is not on a shift, then it's just not getting done. I'm sorry, you did it but couldn't take the added 30 seconds to document you did it? It's easier to think (especially when you see it -not- happening right before your eyes) that, much like the documentation, you did not do the work. And because I've been asked to take a step back, it feels like even if I'm there, it's not really getting done. I'll ask another manager if they're going to do a travel path that hour and they'll certainly say yes, but the only traveling I see happening is from the HLZ to the Presentation window. What about the other 80% of your store that you cannot see from the front counter? Sorry. It's frustrating.
The fact is, I've given over control to these managers who said I was stepping on their toes. I've even bluntly said, "You are in control of this shift, what should I do" and gotten either a denial of their control or a vacant stare and a shrug. To me, the reality is, no one else decided to take control of anything and so the position (of leader) is open to whoever wants it - that's me.
So, I'm going to get my control back, and show how things run smoother when I'm there. If that doesn't bluntly bring home the point to the gentleman expert who asked me to relieve some of my exertion of control, that I, in full-power mode, am an extremely beneficial part of the team ... Well, then I'm just going to go and re-assess why exactly any manager would have asked someone to be a less motivated and active a part of the team.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Black Weekend.
I had the expectation that the day after Thanksgiving would be slow. It fulfilled, and surpassed, my expectations. Saturday, and also today, Sunday.
Our store is at a real low as far as customer counts and gross sales are concerned. It's the very first time I've experienced a slow period that lasted multiple days. We're getting all sorts of things cleaned up, and the store's equipment and Front-End storage areas are being maintained well while we're slack in customer counts.
This morning, I was running a bit later than I normally do and also left early - before our lunch even started - my labor was high, things were slow, and they had more than enough staff for the projected sales. I got to pick my kids up from the sitters early, and I get to hit the internet up for the first time in days (life's busy even if the store isn't!)
I feel a lot of ownership for my McDonald's. I want the store to be the best it can be, not to just do well, but great. I like being a part of a succeeding team. I don't believe the world runs itself - there has to be intelligent, thoughtful, careful human intervention into an environment before it will operate in it's intended manner. Especially in a McDonald's. If there is no careful direction given to the individual team members, the team won't exist. I enjoy being the giver of direction in a team. I can and will take direction, though not as well. It's been a difficult week by not stepping in and taking control of every situation that I encountered. It was part of a deal I made with my store manager.
I've mentioned my need for control, but it's not as though I feel I need to wrest control out of the hands who hold it and use it responsibly. I have no problem letting someone else who is doing something very well continue to do so. I would probably seek this person out as a friend, as a counselor and as a mentor. However, I have little respect (often none at all) for those people who have the control and do not appreciate it and use it with responsibility. There are plenty of people who abuse power, but power for power's sake doesn't interest me. I will assume control or leadership if no one else maintains control for something integral to what I do.
Some things I have taken control of, and even during my week of "not taking control" I have still maintained include: our dry stock area, organization and cleaning; receiving deliveries, often alone for all or part of the delivery; tracking speed of service times on a whiteboard, 3 shifts per day everyday; and a crew training program which is the one thing I'm not maintaining as well as I could be. I waited for a couple weeks for resources and my steam kind of petered off. I have, however, also been training three Crew Trainer candidates, and we're at a point where they have to do some self-study.
So, again, I think it's important that all aspects of my store be in control of someone capable and willing to do a job well (which usually means extra or harder work). I don't for a second doubt that each of the managers I work with, and nearly every single crew person, has the ability to do their job phenomenally. It's the character of willingness that I feel is in short supply.
Our store is at a real low as far as customer counts and gross sales are concerned. It's the very first time I've experienced a slow period that lasted multiple days. We're getting all sorts of things cleaned up, and the store's equipment and Front-End storage areas are being maintained well while we're slack in customer counts.
This morning, I was running a bit later than I normally do and also left early - before our lunch even started - my labor was high, things were slow, and they had more than enough staff for the projected sales. I got to pick my kids up from the sitters early, and I get to hit the internet up for the first time in days (life's busy even if the store isn't!)
I feel a lot of ownership for my McDonald's. I want the store to be the best it can be, not to just do well, but great. I like being a part of a succeeding team. I don't believe the world runs itself - there has to be intelligent, thoughtful, careful human intervention into an environment before it will operate in it's intended manner. Especially in a McDonald's. If there is no careful direction given to the individual team members, the team won't exist. I enjoy being the giver of direction in a team. I can and will take direction, though not as well. It's been a difficult week by not stepping in and taking control of every situation that I encountered. It was part of a deal I made with my store manager.
I've mentioned my need for control, but it's not as though I feel I need to wrest control out of the hands who hold it and use it responsibly. I have no problem letting someone else who is doing something very well continue to do so. I would probably seek this person out as a friend, as a counselor and as a mentor. However, I have little respect (often none at all) for those people who have the control and do not appreciate it and use it with responsibility. There are plenty of people who abuse power, but power for power's sake doesn't interest me. I will assume control or leadership if no one else maintains control for something integral to what I do.
Some things I have taken control of, and even during my week of "not taking control" I have still maintained include: our dry stock area, organization and cleaning; receiving deliveries, often alone for all or part of the delivery; tracking speed of service times on a whiteboard, 3 shifts per day everyday; and a crew training program which is the one thing I'm not maintaining as well as I could be. I waited for a couple weeks for resources and my steam kind of petered off. I have, however, also been training three Crew Trainer candidates, and we're at a point where they have to do some self-study.
So, again, I think it's important that all aspects of my store be in control of someone capable and willing to do a job well (which usually means extra or harder work). I don't for a second doubt that each of the managers I work with, and nearly every single crew person, has the ability to do their job phenomenally. It's the character of willingness that I feel is in short supply.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Gobble, Gobble.
It's incredibly surprising how busy McDonald's is on Thanksgiving.
It surprised everyone, including the owner and the store manager, who cut hours down to literally nothing. Then, during breakfast from 8 all the way to 10:30 breakfast cut-off, when we were really busy, and short-staffed, it surprised our customers, as well.
Lunch was like a normal mid-week lunch. This surprised me more than anything. Breakfast I understand. You're cooking up a storm for dinner, who wants to cook a breakfast too? But lunch? At 1:30 PM?
In my family, and everyone I have spoken to about this, Thanksgiving Dinner is usually eaten early afternoon, 2, maybe 3 o'clock. How exactly is it normal for people to be coming in in well-dressed groups of 4-6 family members, ordering $25-$30 worth of food? How is it normal for people to swing through Drive Thru ordering 20 Double Cheeseburgers and 10 Hot N' Spicys?
It's insanity, but at least we were closed at 2:00, and I was able to make it home for a lovely dinner with the family.
I'm thankful for my loving wife, who takes better care of me than perhaps I deserve. I'm thankful for my two children, both intelligent (if they don't always use it to it's fullest potential), both have all the right parts in all the right places, and both are incredibly cute and well behaved around strangers. I'm thankful for my McDonald's opportunity and all the prosperous future that it holds for me.
Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for those around you. Be thankful for every day you wake up - another day on this side of the ground means you've won.
It surprised everyone, including the owner and the store manager, who cut hours down to literally nothing. Then, during breakfast from 8 all the way to 10:30 breakfast cut-off, when we were really busy, and short-staffed, it surprised our customers, as well.
Lunch was like a normal mid-week lunch. This surprised me more than anything. Breakfast I understand. You're cooking up a storm for dinner, who wants to cook a breakfast too? But lunch? At 1:30 PM?
In my family, and everyone I have spoken to about this, Thanksgiving Dinner is usually eaten early afternoon, 2, maybe 3 o'clock. How exactly is it normal for people to be coming in in well-dressed groups of 4-6 family members, ordering $25-$30 worth of food? How is it normal for people to swing through Drive Thru ordering 20 Double Cheeseburgers and 10 Hot N' Spicys?
It's insanity, but at least we were closed at 2:00, and I was able to make it home for a lovely dinner with the family.
I'm thankful for my loving wife, who takes better care of me than perhaps I deserve. I'm thankful for my two children, both intelligent (if they don't always use it to it's fullest potential), both have all the right parts in all the right places, and both are incredibly cute and well behaved around strangers. I'm thankful for my McDonald's opportunity and all the prosperous future that it holds for me.
Happy Thanksgiving. Be thankful for those around you. Be thankful for every day you wake up - another day on this side of the ground means you've won.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Last of my 3 days off.
I spent today running all over town, read a whole book (600 pages+! I don't even know how I pulled it off, and I'm an avid reader), and I return to work tomorrow. 9 AM for a managers meeting, and an 11-7 shift. It's currently almost 4 AM and I can't sleep. Grrr! Tomorrow's going to be a rough one, but, as always, a good one.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
World Children's Day
I was scheduled off for World Children's Day (today), but went in to get my paycheck anyhow. My store had a local Tucson radio station doing promotion outside the restaurant, with a very, very, very cute afternoon DJ working presenting food in the Drive Thru. That was incredibly special. Much better than the neo-slacker, Jamaican-flag-colored-hat-wearing bearded production assistant and the butter-face production assistant manning the booth outside the restaurant with a little spinny wheeley thing with prizes ranging from a radio-station ball-point pen, to free coffee Be Our Guest cards. Hopefully it drew some attention, and I heard the other radio stations in town were speaking heartily about the McDonald's World Children Day effort as well.
The owner of my restaurant, and 4 others in town, offered $0.10 per $1.00 donation that crew garnered from our customers. One of my staffers, a very gregarious woman named Jamie who is just fabulous had 240 at last count (that was a couple days ago, as I had the past 3 days off). She's going to love the bonus she gets on her paycheck. I believe our store out of the 5 our owner owns did the best. I have to believe that, because we've got some serious, dedicated, professional rockstar crew members interacting with our customers. Not all of them, but most.
My boss, the owner of my restaurant, is a phenomenal man. He truly has this phenomenal sense of thankfulness for the McDonald's opportunity, and it's rubbing off on me, in the few interactions we have together. This Thanksgiving, I'm certainly going to list the McDonald's opportunity and all the brightness that the future holds for myself and those around me within McDonald's' opportunity for success.
The owner of my restaurant, and 4 others in town, offered $0.10 per $1.00 donation that crew garnered from our customers. One of my staffers, a very gregarious woman named Jamie who is just fabulous had 240 at last count (that was a couple days ago, as I had the past 3 days off). She's going to love the bonus she gets on her paycheck. I believe our store out of the 5 our owner owns did the best. I have to believe that, because we've got some serious, dedicated, professional rockstar crew members interacting with our customers. Not all of them, but most.
My boss, the owner of my restaurant, is a phenomenal man. He truly has this phenomenal sense of thankfulness for the McDonald's opportunity, and it's rubbing off on me, in the few interactions we have together. This Thanksgiving, I'm certainly going to list the McDonald's opportunity and all the brightness that the future holds for myself and those around me within McDonald's' opportunity for success.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Three Days Off.
Today is the first day of my "Three Days Off", which I've been thinking about since the tail end of last month when I saw this month's manager schedule! W00t.
Day 1: Spending with the kids.
Day 1: Spending with the kids.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
My First Current Post!
This is a special post, because it is the first time I am posting about the goings on of today, when posting. I've still got a bit of a backlog of the two months I worked for McDonald's and did not post, but I think I can fulfill what I feel I need to "put to paper" as it were as asides of posts concurrent to the days that the things occurred. Mostly.
I don't often work close shifts.
Usually, there's one manager, who leans like a cholo, that closes 5 nights a week and a couple others who rotate the remaining closes between them. Last month, the main closer mentioned to me that he is getting burned out. So I volunteered to close one Friday and Saturday per month to give him some time to go enjoy living.
In all things I do, the watch word is professionalism. Professionalism to me means doing things right, every time. Follow correct procedures at all times, especially when things are tough or difficult. That is why the procedures exist, to get you through the toughest of times, and take what could become a bad situation and make sure it ends up a great situation. The truest meaning, to me, of professionalism is paying attention to the details, especially when a more macroscopic viewpoint shows a difficult or challenging situation.
I try to encourage my team to be professional, and try to encourage the other managers to be professional as well. One or two of the crew members have picked up on it with me. Juan-tastico is one of those guys. I really, truly enjoy working with the guy, because I know if I ask him to do something, he'll get it done. Even when there are 1,000 other things going on, he'll ensure that the details of the one thing I asked him to do get done.
Tonight's shift I worked 7-close, which is not a "normal" closing shift, but I've been clocking some serious overtime, and when my store manager made my schedule, he knew (I think) that I'd be getting up there in hours at this point of the week. Our store closes at 1 A.M. The manager who was working a 2-10 shift, B., told me she couldn't stay until 10 o'clock and had to leave at 9. I made it very easy and possible for B. to leave much earlier than that, at 8 o'clock. The outward justification was that labor was high and we weren't busy. Really, I don't like whiners. The hilarious fact of this matter is, she sat around the restaurant waiting for a ride until after 10:15 - sat around not getting paid.
It was a slow night, and I have the responsibility of making sure the entire kitchen gets detail cleaned and is kept clean. Two days ago, I had my Production team members detail clean portions of the kitchen. One person cleaned the wheels and legs of all the tables, another cleaned the UHC in detail. Today, I had one person clean the top of all the machines: the friers, the grills, the UHC, the HLZ, the reach-in freezers (half of which are wall-mounted, cupboard style freezers, with a 3 inch clearance from the ceiling). Another person cleaned the sides of all those machines. Meanwhile, I detail cleaned our dual shake/ice cream machine top and all sides and our on-the-floor model reach-in cooler. On top of this cooler sits the Iced Coffee accoutrement, and right next to it is a shelf upon which rests our McFlurry mixer and a mini-ice cooler for the Iced Coffee.
This is a very syrupy, messy area (if you've ever made an Iced Coffee, you know. You know!) that never (apparently) gets attention and basically took all my free time throughout the night. While I was doing this, I also got the area we store our Happy Meal toys in detail cleaned by a Service crew member - it's right in front of our HLZ and gets a huge amount of debris in it. Which led me to see that the HLZ was horrible. Under, around, behind, it was disgusting. I mean, it had to be weeks, maybe months worth of crumbs, lettuce debris, all sorts of crap. There was even a chicken McNugget stuck in between the metal plate that stops the food, and the HLZ slide. That sucker looked like it was at least a week old.
Like most Friday nights, we were busy (for our store), running a couple of $250-300 hours. I like Fridays because many of the people coming in are going out somewhere. So there is usually a lot of interesting things to look at. My favorite tonight was the group of seven women, all obviously family from the facial features and body types, ranging in ages from approximately 14 to 40 or so. They were very Italian women, all set to looking good with makeup done, (big) hair done up and almost ... in matching clothes. Each of them wore incredibly skin-tight jeans that looked just painful. They all had white belts on, they all wore high-heel shoes and all of them were in slope-necked, black, 3/4 sleeve shirts that showed off their varying amounts of cleavage. Quite a sight.
So, throughout, I was chit-chatting while cleaning and stocking the Front Service area, and explaining to my hard-working Production team members how we were going to leave the place sparkling, so the next day when the opening team came in, and the morning team came in, they would think to themselves "Who closed last night?! This place is great!" In one of the Production team members, Juan-tastico again, I saw a desire for recognition. I know I had a desire for recognition of a job well done. But the other Service employee and the other Production employee just ... they didn't get it. The look on their faces told me they could care less if someone thought they did a good job (even though one straight out asked me for a compliment on her work earlier in the evening, and I was able to give one, because she did a great job of it). But to me...
My passion for doing things the right way will hopefully rub off on enough people around me. My passion for doing things the right way, the McDonald's way, with correct procedures and to the best of my ability (which is damn great, might I add!) will assuredly lead me not only to recognition, but to success. That's my goal.
All in all, it was a good night, and much got done that really needed it, for our store to be clean and sanitary for all of our guests.
I don't often work close shifts.
Usually, there's one manager, who leans like a cholo, that closes 5 nights a week and a couple others who rotate the remaining closes between them. Last month, the main closer mentioned to me that he is getting burned out. So I volunteered to close one Friday and Saturday per month to give him some time to go enjoy living.
In all things I do, the watch word is professionalism. Professionalism to me means doing things right, every time. Follow correct procedures at all times, especially when things are tough or difficult. That is why the procedures exist, to get you through the toughest of times, and take what could become a bad situation and make sure it ends up a great situation. The truest meaning, to me, of professionalism is paying attention to the details, especially when a more macroscopic viewpoint shows a difficult or challenging situation.
I try to encourage my team to be professional, and try to encourage the other managers to be professional as well. One or two of the crew members have picked up on it with me. Juan-tastico is one of those guys. I really, truly enjoy working with the guy, because I know if I ask him to do something, he'll get it done. Even when there are 1,000 other things going on, he'll ensure that the details of the one thing I asked him to do get done.
Tonight's shift I worked 7-close, which is not a "normal" closing shift, but I've been clocking some serious overtime, and when my store manager made my schedule, he knew (I think) that I'd be getting up there in hours at this point of the week. Our store closes at 1 A.M. The manager who was working a 2-10 shift, B., told me she couldn't stay until 10 o'clock and had to leave at 9. I made it very easy and possible for B. to leave much earlier than that, at 8 o'clock. The outward justification was that labor was high and we weren't busy. Really, I don't like whiners. The hilarious fact of this matter is, she sat around the restaurant waiting for a ride until after 10:15 - sat around not getting paid.
It was a slow night, and I have the responsibility of making sure the entire kitchen gets detail cleaned and is kept clean. Two days ago, I had my Production team members detail clean portions of the kitchen. One person cleaned the wheels and legs of all the tables, another cleaned the UHC in detail. Today, I had one person clean the top of all the machines: the friers, the grills, the UHC, the HLZ, the reach-in freezers (half of which are wall-mounted, cupboard style freezers, with a 3 inch clearance from the ceiling). Another person cleaned the sides of all those machines. Meanwhile, I detail cleaned our dual shake/ice cream machine top and all sides and our on-the-floor model reach-in cooler. On top of this cooler sits the Iced Coffee accoutrement, and right next to it is a shelf upon which rests our McFlurry mixer and a mini-ice cooler for the Iced Coffee.
This is a very syrupy, messy area (if you've ever made an Iced Coffee, you know. You know!) that never (apparently) gets attention and basically took all my free time throughout the night. While I was doing this, I also got the area we store our Happy Meal toys in detail cleaned by a Service crew member - it's right in front of our HLZ and gets a huge amount of debris in it. Which led me to see that the HLZ was horrible. Under, around, behind, it was disgusting. I mean, it had to be weeks, maybe months worth of crumbs, lettuce debris, all sorts of crap. There was even a chicken McNugget stuck in between the metal plate that stops the food, and the HLZ slide. That sucker looked like it was at least a week old.
Like most Friday nights, we were busy (for our store), running a couple of $250-300 hours. I like Fridays because many of the people coming in are going out somewhere. So there is usually a lot of interesting things to look at. My favorite tonight was the group of seven women, all obviously family from the facial features and body types, ranging in ages from approximately 14 to 40 or so. They were very Italian women, all set to looking good with makeup done, (big) hair done up and almost ... in matching clothes. Each of them wore incredibly skin-tight jeans that looked just painful. They all had white belts on, they all wore high-heel shoes and all of them were in slope-necked, black, 3/4 sleeve shirts that showed off their varying amounts of cleavage. Quite a sight.
So, throughout, I was chit-chatting while cleaning and stocking the Front Service area, and explaining to my hard-working Production team members how we were going to leave the place sparkling, so the next day when the opening team came in, and the morning team came in, they would think to themselves "Who closed last night?! This place is great!" In one of the Production team members, Juan-tastico again, I saw a desire for recognition. I know I had a desire for recognition of a job well done. But the other Service employee and the other Production employee just ... they didn't get it. The look on their faces told me they could care less if someone thought they did a good job (even though one straight out asked me for a compliment on her work earlier in the evening, and I was able to give one, because she did a great job of it). But to me...
My passion for doing things the right way will hopefully rub off on enough people around me. My passion for doing things the right way, the McDonald's way, with correct procedures and to the best of my ability (which is damn great, might I add!) will assuredly lead me not only to recognition, but to success. That's my goal.
All in all, it was a good night, and much got done that really needed it, for our store to be clean and sanitary for all of our guests.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Manager on Vacation - the Conclusion.
For the first time since I worked at McDonald's I was scheduled two consecutive days off following that first horrific shift. However, the very next morning I got a call from the owner.
He said something to the effect of, "Michael, I'm altering the scheduling. You're going to be working tomorrow, and you'll have Sunday off. I just want to make sure you're successful and can run a shift well before you're running a shift yourself when I or the Operations Manager are not available (Like the coming Sunday I was originally Scheduled)."
What I heard was, "You did a terrible job, and I am NOT leaving you alone in my store this Sunday!"
So the next day, Wednesday, I went in, and Lo and Behold, I was running the shift. I was still going to be short two people (and for the rest of the week, as they both "quit" by no-call-no-showing 3 days in a row). That day went phenomenal. I had better average order times than the assistant manager typically has. I had not one complaint. I did 20% higher sales for my lunch hour than the week before. The operation ran smoothly, like an expensive and well-oiled machine. The Operations Manager hung around all throughout lunch, and when it was over I initiated a conversation that started something like, "So, quite a bit different than my very first shift on Monday, hey?"
He told me in his no-eye-contact, hard-to-read way that it was much better, and that I had performed at the standard. Awesome!
Thursday was almost exactly the same, only with yet another person no-call-no-showing on me (thankfully this one was not in an integral position). There was one major difference however. The Assistant Manager, R., was running the shift. Now, I have some control issues but I'm working on them, and allowing others to do what they have to do, even if I know I could do it better.
R. asked me, about 2 hours before lunch, if I had done a shift preparation, with everyone placed where they would work through lunch. She seemed surprised at my surprise, I thought she had the floor! She asked me if I minded running the rest of the shift, and if she worked in the kitchen. Of course I didn't mind. Lunch went swimmingly, the rest of the shift was great as well.
Friday was an exact repeat of Thursday, with R. working the kitchen and I had the floor. My average Drive Thru time was right on target for our store (not for the McDonald's standard, but for our store). I had only one complaint and it was a guy who spent $2 on a Double Cheeseburger and a small Coke who didn't want pickles on his burger but got them anyway. Pick 'em off! You paid a buck!... I mean, "Sorry sir, let me fix that for you! We look forward to seeing you again, sir"
So, Friday is winding down, it's about 4:15, my evening schedule looks a little slim, but I'm discussing with the closing the manager how he can keep things moving, with the staff he has. I get off at 5:00 (which really means 5:30), and was looking forward to leaving. The phone rings. It's our delivery driver!! He's going to arrive at about 5:45.
I don't have the crew to do truck, no one is scheduled to do truck, what the hell! So I stuck around, and had one of my favorite crew members (I'll tell you all about him in another post, his name is Juan-tastico! I gave him the nickname because he's fantastic) start to help me. The closing manager came to me and said, "Dude I need help up there..." So I gave him Juan-tastico. I was going to do the truck by myself.
It was an incredibly efficient and simple process. 300 boxes in under an hour, since I was doing it all, I knew it was all being done right. The driver sure helped, he kept it paced right for me, giving me just enough time between boxes to get them offloaded from the rollers and into either the right spot or the best spot for now. I was actually surprised, because it went better than other trucks I had done (and I'm sort of taking full control of the trucks at this point). So, I spent another 1 1/2 hours putting away dry stock and getting the tops of all the boxes - ALL the boxes - in my dry stock area opened with a cutter, so they'd be clean. The only thing I asked for help with was clean up, I asked Juan-tastico to sweep and clean up all the little box-litter that happens with truck. No problem, he told me.
It was one of the most productive Friday nights I've had in a long time, and I certainly left there feeling like it was a job phenomenally well done.
He said something to the effect of, "Michael, I'm altering the scheduling. You're going to be working tomorrow, and you'll have Sunday off. I just want to make sure you're successful and can run a shift well before you're running a shift yourself when I or the Operations Manager are not available (Like the coming Sunday I was originally Scheduled)."
What I heard was, "You did a terrible job, and I am NOT leaving you alone in my store this Sunday!"
So the next day, Wednesday, I went in, and Lo and Behold, I was running the shift. I was still going to be short two people (and for the rest of the week, as they both "quit" by no-call-no-showing 3 days in a row). That day went phenomenal. I had better average order times than the assistant manager typically has. I had not one complaint. I did 20% higher sales for my lunch hour than the week before. The operation ran smoothly, like an expensive and well-oiled machine. The Operations Manager hung around all throughout lunch, and when it was over I initiated a conversation that started something like, "So, quite a bit different than my very first shift on Monday, hey?"
He told me in his no-eye-contact, hard-to-read way that it was much better, and that I had performed at the standard. Awesome!
Thursday was almost exactly the same, only with yet another person no-call-no-showing on me (thankfully this one was not in an integral position). There was one major difference however. The Assistant Manager, R., was running the shift. Now, I have some control issues but I'm working on them, and allowing others to do what they have to do, even if I know I could do it better.
R. asked me, about 2 hours before lunch, if I had done a shift preparation, with everyone placed where they would work through lunch. She seemed surprised at my surprise, I thought she had the floor! She asked me if I minded running the rest of the shift, and if she worked in the kitchen. Of course I didn't mind. Lunch went swimmingly, the rest of the shift was great as well.
Friday was an exact repeat of Thursday, with R. working the kitchen and I had the floor. My average Drive Thru time was right on target for our store (not for the McDonald's standard, but for our store). I had only one complaint and it was a guy who spent $2 on a Double Cheeseburger and a small Coke who didn't want pickles on his burger but got them anyway. Pick 'em off! You paid a buck!... I mean, "Sorry sir, let me fix that for you! We look forward to seeing you again, sir"
So, Friday is winding down, it's about 4:15, my evening schedule looks a little slim, but I'm discussing with the closing the manager how he can keep things moving, with the staff he has. I get off at 5:00 (which really means 5:30), and was looking forward to leaving. The phone rings. It's our delivery driver!! He's going to arrive at about 5:45.
I don't have the crew to do truck, no one is scheduled to do truck, what the hell! So I stuck around, and had one of my favorite crew members (I'll tell you all about him in another post, his name is Juan-tastico! I gave him the nickname because he's fantastic) start to help me. The closing manager came to me and said, "Dude I need help up there..." So I gave him Juan-tastico. I was going to do the truck by myself.
It was an incredibly efficient and simple process. 300 boxes in under an hour, since I was doing it all, I knew it was all being done right. The driver sure helped, he kept it paced right for me, giving me just enough time between boxes to get them offloaded from the rollers and into either the right spot or the best spot for now. I was actually surprised, because it went better than other trucks I had done (and I'm sort of taking full control of the trucks at this point). So, I spent another 1 1/2 hours putting away dry stock and getting the tops of all the boxes - ALL the boxes - in my dry stock area opened with a cutter, so they'd be clean. The only thing I asked for help with was clean up, I asked Juan-tastico to sweep and clean up all the little box-litter that happens with truck. No problem, he told me.
It was one of the most productive Friday nights I've had in a long time, and I certainly left there feeling like it was a job phenomenally well done.
First Shift, continued.
So the Operations Manager showed up later, with the sausage we needed, and took about 3 seconds to explain the dynamic of that shift to Jy. - he said, "Jy., you need to get into Drive Thru so Michael can run his shift!"
The rest of the day went smoothly, even though right before lunch our ice cream machine made some horrific yowling noises and came to a shuddering stop. The head of maintenance does all brush cleanings (every 14 days) on the machine and had failed to adequately lubricate the beater inside the machine the day before.
So for my very first shift that I ran, I was short all three key elements of McDonald's success: People, Product, and Equipment. Even so, I left that day feeling victorious. The store hadn't burned down!
The rest of the day went smoothly, even though right before lunch our ice cream machine made some horrific yowling noises and came to a shuddering stop. The head of maintenance does all brush cleanings (every 14 days) on the machine and had failed to adequately lubricate the beater inside the machine the day before.
So for my very first shift that I ran, I was short all three key elements of McDonald's success: People, Product, and Equipment. Even so, I left that day feeling victorious. The store hadn't burned down!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
First Shift
My store manager just returned from a week+ long vacation.
While he was gone, it had been communicated clearly, I would run the store on the days I was working, and the days I was off, the current Assistant Manager would be running the store.
One of the swing managers, Jy. did not get this concept. The very first day in fact, she screamed and yelled at me.
We were short-staffed when I showed up at 7 AM, and I asked her to work Drive Thru order taking and cashier. She spent 15 minutes arguing with me about how she should be running the shift, until finally I gave up on the situation and said "Listen, later this morning, J. (our Operations Manager for the company) will be here. He can explain the dynamic to you a bit more clearly." So J. did have to show up later on, because we ran out of sausage.
Now, I'm trying to run the store and work Drive Thru, and it's possibly the worst spot I could be in, while also trying to cover shifts for two no-call-no-shows, and Jy. who screamed about how she was in charge, comes up to me and says "We've got 10 pieces of sausage left, what do we do?" I asked her when she knew we were running low on sausage. She told me that she knew at 4:30 this morning, during the open.
?!??!!?!?!??!??!?! Are you kidding me ?!?!??!??!??!??!??!?!?!?
While he was gone, it had been communicated clearly, I would run the store on the days I was working, and the days I was off, the current Assistant Manager would be running the store.
One of the swing managers, Jy. did not get this concept. The very first day in fact, she screamed and yelled at me.
We were short-staffed when I showed up at 7 AM, and I asked her to work Drive Thru order taking and cashier. She spent 15 minutes arguing with me about how she should be running the shift, until finally I gave up on the situation and said "Listen, later this morning, J. (our Operations Manager for the company) will be here. He can explain the dynamic to you a bit more clearly." So J. did have to show up later on, because we ran out of sausage.
Now, I'm trying to run the store and work Drive Thru, and it's possibly the worst spot I could be in, while also trying to cover shifts for two no-call-no-shows, and Jy. who screamed about how she was in charge, comes up to me and says "We've got 10 pieces of sausage left, what do we do?" I asked her when she knew we were running low on sausage. She told me that she knew at 4:30 this morning, during the open.
?!??!!?!?!??!??!?! Are you kidding me ?!?!??!??!??!??!??!?!?!?
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Closing
Night time is the right time baby!
I was a closing manager for a year at Burger King when I was 17 years old. (Following that year, I spent another year cleaning up stores physically, the inventories, and personnel. That's a set of tales for another time). Closing was always great when I was young. All the drunken women coming through, the teenagers out late, in general the rush of the day was long forgotten and the atmosphere and environment was low key.
The toughest thing about closing is cleaning. There are many parts of a restaurant that get dirty early in the day and don't get clean until the end of the day. Closers take care of that. Also, the big demand out of a closing team member is stocking - ensuring that everything that will be used the next day is stored in accessible, Service area storage locations. The closing manager has the "daunting" task of ensuring the day's cash is straight, and the deposits are correct. These are all things I knew before ever closing a McDonald's store.
I was scheduled to work closing shifts, wherein I was to spend a couple days learning and then doing the Production aspects of closing, the same for Service, and then Management, with a few extra days of doing for the Management aspects.
I had no problem with the Production close. McDonald's has created chemicals that make cleaning the grill effortless, and it's the hardest part of closing in the kitchen. Granted, it's hot, it's sweaty, it's Production, but it's not exceedingly difficult. Further, there's stacks and stacks of dishes to wash. I got out of doing that. Seriously, I don't need training on tasks non-specific to McDonald's. It was the things like how to clean the grill, what products get stored where, what order do the tasks get done, those specifics that I needed to learn.
The Service close was another easy position to learn. It's just normal service, with some cleaning tasks and ensuring stocking is completed. No brainer, nothing really to be trained on.
Closing a McDonald's as the manager is a trial of your time-management abilities. In a low-volume store, like I was training in, the manager is the Service closer. So, while stocking and cleaning is not difficult, nor is doing that while serving the infrequent late-night Drive Thru customers very difficult, when you throw balancing drawers and motivating people, and following up on the work they've done, and making sure there's no bums hiding in the bathroom waiting for you to close so they can rob you into the mix, it does get a bit pressured.
However, the tasks are none of them too great. The Lobby closes an hour before the Drive Thru, so you have an hour to count front drawers and get that area cleaned and stocked before worrying about the Drive Thru areas.
After the store is actually closed there's typically about 15 minutes of stocking and cleaning work to do, then you go count cash drawers, ensure the deposits are accurate, count down the safe to ensure it's accurate, then run the reports. This is a 15 minute process that you can't do anything else during, so you get an opportunity to follow up the Production closers and Service closer if you have one, ensure that everything is getting done properly and on pace or jump in and get sweaty and dirty if it's not.
So onto my experiences. I was working with a 19 year old guy named J., who was incredibly laid back. I mean, just smoked a doobie laid back, but he claimed very adamantly that he did not smoke pot. But man was he laid back. Anyhow, J. basically had no control, he just let the restaurant run itself. This was disgustingly frustrating to me. I like control, and I really truly, deep down inside, feel that people who are making less than $7 an hour really need to get fired up and motivated if they are to do things right.
There are some particular evils that occur in nearly all quick service restaurants late at night. The first and foremost one is old food. Yes, folks, the kitchen staff who work at night are typically shorter staffed than those who work breakfast or lunch. So, to save time later, they will bust hump for a short period of time and cook vast amounts of food, which can then be served whenever it gets ordered. The mentality with these actions is, basically, "If I cook it all now, I won't have to hit the grill for an hour!". The downside is, typically all the food they cook does not sell very swiftly, and so food exceeds it's maximum allowed (and might I add, safe) holding times.
This was a huge problem in the store I was training in, and while discussing it with J., his response was something like, "Yeah, well I don't want to upset the flow of the kitchen, even if I know it's going on and it's, like, really bad." The people who worked Production were not intentionally doing something wrong. In fact, after conversations in my broken Spanish and their broken English, it seems that the vast majority of them didn't even know that holding times existed! This wasn't a matter of laziness, but of ineffective training.
So I took it upon myself to make sure that all the Production team members were trained appropriately (by myself), the very next night, on how holding times work, and how to prepare the right amount of food. The McDonald's motto in the kitchen is "Less food, more often!". This reduces waste from the food cost as well as the number of terrible, old shitty-tasting burgers that get served to customers.
The amazing thing was, on my second night ever working with these people, they were all fully aware that I was in training, and they did what I trained them to do. I was particularly amazed, to be bluntly honest. I did not assume innocence (which is a McDonald's management cornerstone) and thought they were doing it out of sloth, instead of out of poor training.
The two young ladies who were implementing this "new", correct method of working ("Less food, more often!") with me the first night it was put into effect (my 2nd night closing), told me it was more work and they did not like it. In my broken Spanish, asking J. (who speaks Spanish primarily and English fluently) only how to say the words not to translate for me, I explained that as the Production team, they were, together, responsible for each and every item of food that left the restaurant. After initial disbelief from one (who told me it was my responsibility not hers, emphatically) and a shy sort of pride that I watched spread on the face of the other one, I explained further that they may, at first, feel like they're doing more work, but in fact they were working smarter and in doing so, delivering hot, fresh, tasty food to all of our customers. Basically, by cooking "Less food, more often!", they were doing their job better and after it became a habit, they would feel like they were doing no extra work at all - because in fact they weren't, it was just a different method of work.
Well, I was surprised by the effect. On my 3rd night closing, we had a different team member in Production, Mr. A., and he was trained by my two girls on how to cook "Less food, more often!", and was even reprimanded when he failed to do it the correct, McDonald's way. The next day I had a day off, and decided to show up anyway, after the dinner rush but before the cleaning tasks were too heavily started and saw that the two members of the Production team (the gentleman from the night before, and someone who I had not had an opportunity to train in this "new" method of working), were working with the old system of "Make tons of food and sell it as it comes, who cares about quality!" I asked J., who also closed this night, why and he reiterated his position of not wanting to make waves. So I hopped behind the counter, threw on an apron and washed my hands and (whisper it - off the clock) did some training for these gentlemen on "Less food, more often!". A. was not very happy about this, and expressed it to me. He told me J., the "real manager" did not make him work this way. I explained to him that I was not making him work that way either. He was very capable of clocking out and going home, if he did not want to work the McDonald's way. It was like someone took the needle off a record. There was about 30 seconds of complete silence throughout the store, with both Production crew members and the manager J. staring at me in awe. Then A. said "Yes, sir, we do this the right way for you" and got to work tossing all the past-it's-time food.
I perhaps had crossed the line. But, damnit, there has to be some accountability! J. and I had a deep discussion, while A. and the other gentleman (let's call him B.) went to work on implementing the "Less food, more often!" concept for themselves. I tried to impress on J. the very real severity of the situation - the food he was allowing to cross his counters and pass his window was not quality nor (most likely) safe! He had a commitment to fulfill the McDonald's Brand Promise, half of which involves satisfied customers. He finally agreed and promised me he would always, always work with the "Less food, more often!" McDonald's way as his standard.
The 4th and final day of my closing was almost tearful for me, as I saw the place working great, the kitchen serving fantastic food, and all the Production team members made a point to thank me and tell me how important my training was for them. I gave them responsibility and, more importantly, an easy and correct procedure to ensure they could deliver that responsibility to the fullest. A. even showed up, on his day off, to thank me for training him and to apologize for getting mouthy the day before. When he was leaving, and I shook his hand goodbye, I sincerely felt his respect for me, and more importantly, my respect for him.
I was a closing manager for a year at Burger King when I was 17 years old. (Following that year, I spent another year cleaning up stores physically, the inventories, and personnel. That's a set of tales for another time). Closing was always great when I was young. All the drunken women coming through, the teenagers out late, in general the rush of the day was long forgotten and the atmosphere and environment was low key.
The toughest thing about closing is cleaning. There are many parts of a restaurant that get dirty early in the day and don't get clean until the end of the day. Closers take care of that. Also, the big demand out of a closing team member is stocking - ensuring that everything that will be used the next day is stored in accessible, Service area storage locations. The closing manager has the "daunting" task of ensuring the day's cash is straight, and the deposits are correct. These are all things I knew before ever closing a McDonald's store.
I was scheduled to work closing shifts, wherein I was to spend a couple days learning and then doing the Production aspects of closing, the same for Service, and then Management, with a few extra days of doing for the Management aspects.
I had no problem with the Production close. McDonald's has created chemicals that make cleaning the grill effortless, and it's the hardest part of closing in the kitchen. Granted, it's hot, it's sweaty, it's Production, but it's not exceedingly difficult. Further, there's stacks and stacks of dishes to wash. I got out of doing that. Seriously, I don't need training on tasks non-specific to McDonald's. It was the things like how to clean the grill, what products get stored where, what order do the tasks get done, those specifics that I needed to learn.
The Service close was another easy position to learn. It's just normal service, with some cleaning tasks and ensuring stocking is completed. No brainer, nothing really to be trained on.
Closing a McDonald's as the manager is a trial of your time-management abilities. In a low-volume store, like I was training in, the manager is the Service closer. So, while stocking and cleaning is not difficult, nor is doing that while serving the infrequent late-night Drive Thru customers very difficult, when you throw balancing drawers and motivating people, and following up on the work they've done, and making sure there's no bums hiding in the bathroom waiting for you to close so they can rob you into the mix, it does get a bit pressured.
However, the tasks are none of them too great. The Lobby closes an hour before the Drive Thru, so you have an hour to count front drawers and get that area cleaned and stocked before worrying about the Drive Thru areas.
After the store is actually closed there's typically about 15 minutes of stocking and cleaning work to do, then you go count cash drawers, ensure the deposits are accurate, count down the safe to ensure it's accurate, then run the reports. This is a 15 minute process that you can't do anything else during, so you get an opportunity to follow up the Production closers and Service closer if you have one, ensure that everything is getting done properly and on pace or jump in and get sweaty and dirty if it's not.
So onto my experiences. I was working with a 19 year old guy named J., who was incredibly laid back. I mean, just smoked a doobie laid back, but he claimed very adamantly that he did not smoke pot. But man was he laid back. Anyhow, J. basically had no control, he just let the restaurant run itself. This was disgustingly frustrating to me. I like control, and I really truly, deep down inside, feel that people who are making less than $7 an hour really need to get fired up and motivated if they are to do things right.
There are some particular evils that occur in nearly all quick service restaurants late at night. The first and foremost one is old food. Yes, folks, the kitchen staff who work at night are typically shorter staffed than those who work breakfast or lunch. So, to save time later, they will bust hump for a short period of time and cook vast amounts of food, which can then be served whenever it gets ordered. The mentality with these actions is, basically, "If I cook it all now, I won't have to hit the grill for an hour!". The downside is, typically all the food they cook does not sell very swiftly, and so food exceeds it's maximum allowed (and might I add, safe) holding times.
This was a huge problem in the store I was training in, and while discussing it with J., his response was something like, "Yeah, well I don't want to upset the flow of the kitchen, even if I know it's going on and it's, like, really bad." The people who worked Production were not intentionally doing something wrong. In fact, after conversations in my broken Spanish and their broken English, it seems that the vast majority of them didn't even know that holding times existed! This wasn't a matter of laziness, but of ineffective training.
So I took it upon myself to make sure that all the Production team members were trained appropriately (by myself), the very next night, on how holding times work, and how to prepare the right amount of food. The McDonald's motto in the kitchen is "Less food, more often!". This reduces waste from the food cost as well as the number of terrible, old shitty-tasting burgers that get served to customers.
The amazing thing was, on my second night ever working with these people, they were all fully aware that I was in training, and they did what I trained them to do. I was particularly amazed, to be bluntly honest. I did not assume innocence (which is a McDonald's management cornerstone) and thought they were doing it out of sloth, instead of out of poor training.
The two young ladies who were implementing this "new", correct method of working ("Less food, more often!") with me the first night it was put into effect (my 2nd night closing), told me it was more work and they did not like it. In my broken Spanish, asking J. (who speaks Spanish primarily and English fluently) only how to say the words not to translate for me, I explained that as the Production team, they were, together, responsible for each and every item of food that left the restaurant. After initial disbelief from one (who told me it was my responsibility not hers, emphatically) and a shy sort of pride that I watched spread on the face of the other one, I explained further that they may, at first, feel like they're doing more work, but in fact they were working smarter and in doing so, delivering hot, fresh, tasty food to all of our customers. Basically, by cooking "Less food, more often!", they were doing their job better and after it became a habit, they would feel like they were doing no extra work at all - because in fact they weren't, it was just a different method of work.
Well, I was surprised by the effect. On my 3rd night closing, we had a different team member in Production, Mr. A., and he was trained by my two girls on how to cook "Less food, more often!", and was even reprimanded when he failed to do it the correct, McDonald's way. The next day I had a day off, and decided to show up anyway, after the dinner rush but before the cleaning tasks were too heavily started and saw that the two members of the Production team (the gentleman from the night before, and someone who I had not had an opportunity to train in this "new" method of working), were working with the old system of "Make tons of food and sell it as it comes, who cares about quality!" I asked J., who also closed this night, why and he reiterated his position of not wanting to make waves. So I hopped behind the counter, threw on an apron and washed my hands and (whisper it - off the clock) did some training for these gentlemen on "Less food, more often!". A. was not very happy about this, and expressed it to me. He told me J., the "real manager" did not make him work this way. I explained to him that I was not making him work that way either. He was very capable of clocking out and going home, if he did not want to work the McDonald's way. It was like someone took the needle off a record. There was about 30 seconds of complete silence throughout the store, with both Production crew members and the manager J. staring at me in awe. Then A. said "Yes, sir, we do this the right way for you" and got to work tossing all the past-it's-time food.
I perhaps had crossed the line. But, damnit, there has to be some accountability! J. and I had a deep discussion, while A. and the other gentleman (let's call him B.) went to work on implementing the "Less food, more often!" concept for themselves. I tried to impress on J. the very real severity of the situation - the food he was allowing to cross his counters and pass his window was not quality nor (most likely) safe! He had a commitment to fulfill the McDonald's Brand Promise, half of which involves satisfied customers. He finally agreed and promised me he would always, always work with the "Less food, more often!" McDonald's way as his standard.
The 4th and final day of my closing was almost tearful for me, as I saw the place working great, the kitchen serving fantastic food, and all the Production team members made a point to thank me and tell me how important my training was for them. I gave them responsibility and, more importantly, an easy and correct procedure to ensure they could deliver that responsibility to the fullest. A. even showed up, on his day off, to thank me for training him and to apologize for getting mouthy the day before. When he was leaving, and I shook his hand goodbye, I sincerely felt his respect for me, and more importantly, my respect for him.
Opening
McDonald's opens at 5 A.M.
Opening team members arrive at 4 A.M.
I don't drive, relying on taxi cabs and Tucson's phenomenal public transportation system to get where I need to go. I try to avoid cabs, because it's typically about $5 for the first mile and $3 for each mile after that. At 3:30 (I'm crazy about being early) the only choice is a cab. I set my training path over the next 4 days like this: Day 1, production. Day 2, service. Day 3, management roles. Day 4, do the management roles. The plan was for each day, I'd get there by 3:45, smoke a cigarette and at 4:00 A.M. sharp, I'd start training, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to be prepared for the day I opened stores myself.
A quick digression. I'm a powerful person. I'm big, I'm loud, I get stuff done. I focus on the details because that's where the devil is. For me, the big things just seem to flow right because the little things are taken care of. Further, I like control. I'm boisterous and typically let people know when I'm taking care of something, and afterward (especially in these early days of just learning how to get stuff done) let whoever needs to know exactly how I would like things to be done for that particular task. Everywhere I ever go, ever in life, I quickly get known as a bit over-powering, but fair and develop a reputation for PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! for the people who do things the right way. The flip side of that coin is, there are always people who I have to dig at heavily to get an opportunity to praise. Sometimes, I never get the opportunity to praise some people, and those people inevitably consider me an asshole.
That first day I did arrive at 3:45 A.M. However, no one told the swing manager who was not nearly as bright eyed nor bushy tailed as I, that she would be training me. She ended up showing up at her accustomed time, which was 4:30 A.M. Needless to say, this left me a bit miffed and it turns out the manager was one of those few people who I do not often get an opportunity to praise (read, one of the ones who consider me an asshole). So once she arrived and saw me, she apparently had a quick internal conversation that included her perception of what I would say, and then her certainly witty responses to that, and my responses to those. I say this because when she got out of her car she was instantly on the defensive, though I said not a word. She was justifying her tardiness and cursing my punctuality before she had the key in the door. So I explained to her my intended training path over the next 4 days and she agreed, letting me rush into the kitchen and help the one production team member (who also had to wait 30 minutes in the nippy desert morning), who was rushing around crazy trying to do an hour's worth of work in only 30 minutes.
The sad thing is, there's not an hour's worth of work to do opening the store as a production team member. There really isn't. You get some McGriddles and biscuits baking, along with some Hot Apple Pies and cookies (oatmeal and chocolate chip, 3 for $1, hot damn!). You get your eggs going (damn those eggs!), but not too many because the first hour is slow, slow, slow! Then you cook a boatload of sausage and bacon, because they both have an interminable holding time.
Fast forward to the next day, and the arrival scene was identical, except one minor difference. It was a different manager this morning, showing up at 4:30! Two people in the store showing up late?! What amateurs I was dealing with! It frustrates the hell out of me to be working with passionless people, non-professionals, who can't show up on time or fulfill a commitment. Again, this manager had an internal conversation with herself (I think), like the one the previous morning had had, because she also was defensive and full of justifications for being half an hour late, just like the other manager was. I'd have to keep my eye on this one as well.
So I learned the service side of opening the store up. It was not difficult. It consisted of two things. Brew. Coffee. Again, not an hour's worth of work, really, but tedious. Turns out, the entire morning is basically just that, brew coffee, serve a small amount of customers every hour until 8 when things got really cooking. By then, there'd be a full staff in the restaurant and things would be delegated around. Simple stuff, although it seemed like a daunting task for those who I worked with in that store.
So for my 3rd day, during which I was going to learn the management aspects of opening a store, I showed up a bit later, dead on at 4:00 A.M. Well, without letting me know, the managers had switched schedules and I was opening with the store manager, M., who did not particular like me, and whom I (still) considered to be a terrible person in general. She showed up only 10 minutes late, but filled with more justification and defensiveness than the previous two managers combined! We walked into the store, and she said to me "You're going to do the store open by yourself."
I was a bit stunned at that. I know I had communicated to her earlier in the week my training path, and so explained that I had not received any training on the management aspects of opening a store. She gave me a mirthy little smirk and said "I know. You're gonna do it all yourself anyways." She proceeded to brew a pot of coffee, pour a cup and sat in the lobby watching.
I was angry. Let me rephrase that. I was ANGRY! But I went and did everything that looked right from the previous two days, got all my coffee going (the first round at least), and did the computer stuff that had to be done. 90% of what I did was guess work. The best thing was, most of the systems in place are designed to be executed by a typical McDonald's manager - poorly trained, undereducated, highly-stressed, underpaid, and at 4:00 A.M., nonetheless. I got the store all set and ready to be open, and poured myself a cup of coffee, and went to find M. in the lobby. She was reading the paper and didn't really notice that I was approaching her until it was too late. It's now 10 minutes before we open.
She looked up from the Arizona Daily Star laid out before her and with what seemed an exaggerated grin said, "What's the matter? Do you need help?"
I smiled me own incredibly cocky smile, the one that got me a wife, and many friends, and many sales contracts in the past... and said, "I got everything done, and we've got 10 minutes till we opened. I figured I'd relax a bit." I proceeded to sit down and sip my coffee.
Without a word, M. jumped up, ran to the computer, double-checked what I had done, made sure there were cash drawers in all the registers, made sure that each coffee urn was full, that the Iced Coffee was brewed, the kitchen was all set (I had even run through there twice to get some things prepared with the Production team member, who was incredibly thankful in her broken English).
I felt absolutely triumphant as I watched her running around, shocked to see that everything was done, as I had said. I had rocked it out. She cut 10 minutes of my time by arriving late, and I still had 10 minutes to spare, with absolutely no training on more than half of the work I had to do. I know I didn't then (or anytime in the future) win her friendship, but I believe she grudgingly developed a grain of respect for me.
Opening team members arrive at 4 A.M.
I don't drive, relying on taxi cabs and Tucson's phenomenal public transportation system to get where I need to go. I try to avoid cabs, because it's typically about $5 for the first mile and $3 for each mile after that. At 3:30 (I'm crazy about being early) the only choice is a cab. I set my training path over the next 4 days like this: Day 1, production. Day 2, service. Day 3, management roles. Day 4, do the management roles. The plan was for each day, I'd get there by 3:45, smoke a cigarette and at 4:00 A.M. sharp, I'd start training, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to be prepared for the day I opened stores myself.
A quick digression. I'm a powerful person. I'm big, I'm loud, I get stuff done. I focus on the details because that's where the devil is. For me, the big things just seem to flow right because the little things are taken care of. Further, I like control. I'm boisterous and typically let people know when I'm taking care of something, and afterward (especially in these early days of just learning how to get stuff done) let whoever needs to know exactly how I would like things to be done for that particular task. Everywhere I ever go, ever in life, I quickly get known as a bit over-powering, but fair and develop a reputation for PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! for the people who do things the right way. The flip side of that coin is, there are always people who I have to dig at heavily to get an opportunity to praise. Sometimes, I never get the opportunity to praise some people, and those people inevitably consider me an asshole.
That first day I did arrive at 3:45 A.M. However, no one told the swing manager who was not nearly as bright eyed nor bushy tailed as I, that she would be training me. She ended up showing up at her accustomed time, which was 4:30 A.M. Needless to say, this left me a bit miffed and it turns out the manager was one of those few people who I do not often get an opportunity to praise (read, one of the ones who consider me an asshole). So once she arrived and saw me, she apparently had a quick internal conversation that included her perception of what I would say, and then her certainly witty responses to that, and my responses to those. I say this because when she got out of her car she was instantly on the defensive, though I said not a word. She was justifying her tardiness and cursing my punctuality before she had the key in the door. So I explained to her my intended training path over the next 4 days and she agreed, letting me rush into the kitchen and help the one production team member (who also had to wait 30 minutes in the nippy desert morning), who was rushing around crazy trying to do an hour's worth of work in only 30 minutes.
The sad thing is, there's not an hour's worth of work to do opening the store as a production team member. There really isn't. You get some McGriddles and biscuits baking, along with some Hot Apple Pies and cookies (oatmeal and chocolate chip, 3 for $1, hot damn!). You get your eggs going (damn those eggs!), but not too many because the first hour is slow, slow, slow! Then you cook a boatload of sausage and bacon, because they both have an interminable holding time.
Fast forward to the next day, and the arrival scene was identical, except one minor difference. It was a different manager this morning, showing up at 4:30! Two people in the store showing up late?! What amateurs I was dealing with! It frustrates the hell out of me to be working with passionless people, non-professionals, who can't show up on time or fulfill a commitment. Again, this manager had an internal conversation with herself (I think), like the one the previous morning had had, because she also was defensive and full of justifications for being half an hour late, just like the other manager was. I'd have to keep my eye on this one as well.
So I learned the service side of opening the store up. It was not difficult. It consisted of two things. Brew. Coffee. Again, not an hour's worth of work, really, but tedious. Turns out, the entire morning is basically just that, brew coffee, serve a small amount of customers every hour until 8 when things got really cooking. By then, there'd be a full staff in the restaurant and things would be delegated around. Simple stuff, although it seemed like a daunting task for those who I worked with in that store.
So for my 3rd day, during which I was going to learn the management aspects of opening a store, I showed up a bit later, dead on at 4:00 A.M. Well, without letting me know, the managers had switched schedules and I was opening with the store manager, M., who did not particular like me, and whom I (still) considered to be a terrible person in general. She showed up only 10 minutes late, but filled with more justification and defensiveness than the previous two managers combined! We walked into the store, and she said to me "You're going to do the store open by yourself."
I was a bit stunned at that. I know I had communicated to her earlier in the week my training path, and so explained that I had not received any training on the management aspects of opening a store. She gave me a mirthy little smirk and said "I know. You're gonna do it all yourself anyways." She proceeded to brew a pot of coffee, pour a cup and sat in the lobby watching.
I was angry. Let me rephrase that. I was ANGRY! But I went and did everything that looked right from the previous two days, got all my coffee going (the first round at least), and did the computer stuff that had to be done. 90% of what I did was guess work. The best thing was, most of the systems in place are designed to be executed by a typical McDonald's manager - poorly trained, undereducated, highly-stressed, underpaid, and at 4:00 A.M., nonetheless. I got the store all set and ready to be open, and poured myself a cup of coffee, and went to find M. in the lobby. She was reading the paper and didn't really notice that I was approaching her until it was too late. It's now 10 minutes before we open.
She looked up from the Arizona Daily Star laid out before her and with what seemed an exaggerated grin said, "What's the matter? Do you need help?"
I smiled me own incredibly cocky smile, the one that got me a wife, and many friends, and many sales contracts in the past... and said, "I got everything done, and we've got 10 minutes till we opened. I figured I'd relax a bit." I proceeded to sit down and sip my coffee.
Without a word, M. jumped up, ran to the computer, double-checked what I had done, made sure there were cash drawers in all the registers, made sure that each coffee urn was full, that the Iced Coffee was brewed, the kitchen was all set (I had even run through there twice to get some things prepared with the Production team member, who was incredibly thankful in her broken English).
I felt absolutely triumphant as I watched her running around, shocked to see that everything was done, as I had said. I had rocked it out. She cut 10 minutes of my time by arriving late, and I still had 10 minutes to spare, with absolutely no training on more than half of the work I had to do. I know I didn't then (or anytime in the future) win her friendship, but I believe she grudgingly developed a grain of respect for me.
Production Team Member
Since I was not a McDonald's experienced employee (disregarding the 2 years as a teenager I worked at my local McDonald's a dozen years ago), I had to get some first-hand experience working all positions in the restaurant. The logic makes sense: How can I manage a shift and ensure my kitchen runs smoothly if I don't know the Nuts and Bolts of the kitchen? The reality of it is a bit different. It's hot. It's sweaty. It's hard work!
I have nothing but infinite respect for the people (the majority of whom at all the stores the company I work for owns are women) who bust their ass in the kitchen making all that phenomenal, greasy food with a total visit time for the customer of 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Keep in mind that everything is prepared to order and meats are kept for about 15 minutes after cooking them. It's not like the old days where there's a dozen of each sandwich waiting for a customer to come purchase them.
So, I worked for a week as a production team member. I worked through 3 lunch shifts on the grill, basically sweating my ass off trying to keep up with the orders. After the first day, I think I did a good job. I kept up with it all, and kept the food flowing.
Each team member in a McDonald's restaurant is an important cog in a machine that must run smoothly, efficiently and effectively, at all times. This is most true for the person running the grill. They have to ensure that the level of meats and fried products (waiting to be made into lovely sandwiches) are accurately filled and the holding times maintained at all times. They are responsible for delivering every single piece of food perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned swiftly while maintaining the strictest of food safety policies. Adding to all of this is the fact that they make minimum wage, probably have not been trained nearly as well as they could have been, and most likely aren't the brightest bulb in the box (otherwise, why, really, are they working for minimum wage at a hot, sweaty, demanding job?) nor are their managers joyous beacons of professionalism, in most cases, for all the same reasons. This means the grill person is probably not the most highly motivated person in the world, even if they have a phenomenally demanding job.
After my time on the grill, I worked a few night shifts on assembly, making the sandwiches. After a few hours of putting things all together, it's really not difficult at all. The ingredients are not diverse, most sandwiches are made the same (ketchup, mustard, onions, pickle are the basics) with minor deviations: Quarter Pounders are made with large onion slivers instead of the dehydrated diced onions, the Big Mac has special sauce and a minor deviation in the order the ingredients are applied (to achieve the perfect "flavor profile" I discussed previously). The people who work in Production have got some skills. There's a particular way to put together Double Cheeseburgers, which sell in an unbelievable volume and pace (I've seen orders for 30 Doubles at a time!) There's this particular way to drop and then stack the meat and cheese that makes it incredibly quick and efficient. I never mastered that technique. My week as a production team member was coming to a close and the last day I worked Production, I was scheduled for breakfast.
Breakfast is the most simple thing to work, in the kitchen, unless you're in charge of making eggs. Why? Well, there's 3 kinds of eggs. Folded eggs, round eggs and scrambled eggs. Each comes from a different source. The folded eggs are pre-made, frozen and take all of 35 seconds to cook. Round eggs are from raw in-the-shell eggs and are a complete pain in the ass, because I could not once get the mold that makes them round to sit still and keep all the egg wetness inside of the molds. Lastly, scrambled eggs are made from a liquid egg-in-a-carton product, and are actually the least difficult to make. You pour them in a large square mold, and use a little device that rocks back and forth to scramble them just right. Who knew making eggs in a McDonald's would be so complex?!
Assembly in breakfast is exceedingly simple, as I mentioned. Muffin with a squirt of butter, biscuit or set of griddle cakes, cheese, egg, meat (order reversed for the original McMuffin, again for flavor profile). No messy condiments, no "does this one get big or little onions?!?!", no complex stacking tricks, almost no special orders, bacon and canadian bacon both cook in mere fractions of minutes... It's a special time of day, for both Production and Service members, where the most difficult thing on production side is getting eggs to stay in the molds, and on the service side it's keeping coffee brewed.
Anyhow, my time as on Production ended, I was done sweating incredibly (did I mention I'm 6'2" and over 300lbs? It's damn hot in a kitchen!) and then it was time to get my chops opening and closing the store.
I have nothing but infinite respect for the people (the majority of whom at all the stores the company I work for owns are women) who bust their ass in the kitchen making all that phenomenal, greasy food with a total visit time for the customer of 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Keep in mind that everything is prepared to order and meats are kept for about 15 minutes after cooking them. It's not like the old days where there's a dozen of each sandwich waiting for a customer to come purchase them.
So, I worked for a week as a production team member. I worked through 3 lunch shifts on the grill, basically sweating my ass off trying to keep up with the orders. After the first day, I think I did a good job. I kept up with it all, and kept the food flowing.
Each team member in a McDonald's restaurant is an important cog in a machine that must run smoothly, efficiently and effectively, at all times. This is most true for the person running the grill. They have to ensure that the level of meats and fried products (waiting to be made into lovely sandwiches) are accurately filled and the holding times maintained at all times. They are responsible for delivering every single piece of food perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned swiftly while maintaining the strictest of food safety policies. Adding to all of this is the fact that they make minimum wage, probably have not been trained nearly as well as they could have been, and most likely aren't the brightest bulb in the box (otherwise, why, really, are they working for minimum wage at a hot, sweaty, demanding job?) nor are their managers joyous beacons of professionalism, in most cases, for all the same reasons. This means the grill person is probably not the most highly motivated person in the world, even if they have a phenomenally demanding job.
After my time on the grill, I worked a few night shifts on assembly, making the sandwiches. After a few hours of putting things all together, it's really not difficult at all. The ingredients are not diverse, most sandwiches are made the same (ketchup, mustard, onions, pickle are the basics) with minor deviations: Quarter Pounders are made with large onion slivers instead of the dehydrated diced onions, the Big Mac has special sauce and a minor deviation in the order the ingredients are applied (to achieve the perfect "flavor profile" I discussed previously). The people who work in Production have got some skills. There's a particular way to put together Double Cheeseburgers, which sell in an unbelievable volume and pace (I've seen orders for 30 Doubles at a time!) There's this particular way to drop and then stack the meat and cheese that makes it incredibly quick and efficient. I never mastered that technique. My week as a production team member was coming to a close and the last day I worked Production, I was scheduled for breakfast.
Breakfast is the most simple thing to work, in the kitchen, unless you're in charge of making eggs. Why? Well, there's 3 kinds of eggs. Folded eggs, round eggs and scrambled eggs. Each comes from a different source. The folded eggs are pre-made, frozen and take all of 35 seconds to cook. Round eggs are from raw in-the-shell eggs and are a complete pain in the ass, because I could not once get the mold that makes them round to sit still and keep all the egg wetness inside of the molds. Lastly, scrambled eggs are made from a liquid egg-in-a-carton product, and are actually the least difficult to make. You pour them in a large square mold, and use a little device that rocks back and forth to scramble them just right. Who knew making eggs in a McDonald's would be so complex?!
Assembly in breakfast is exceedingly simple, as I mentioned. Muffin with a squirt of butter, biscuit or set of griddle cakes, cheese, egg, meat (order reversed for the original McMuffin, again for flavor profile). No messy condiments, no "does this one get big or little onions?!?!", no complex stacking tricks, almost no special orders, bacon and canadian bacon both cook in mere fractions of minutes... It's a special time of day, for both Production and Service members, where the most difficult thing on production side is getting eggs to stay in the molds, and on the service side it's keeping coffee brewed.
Anyhow, my time as on Production ended, I was done sweating incredibly (did I mention I'm 6'2" and over 300lbs? It's damn hot in a kitchen!) and then it was time to get my chops opening and closing the store.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Interacting with People
There's something phenomenally powerful about seeing someone, looking them in the eye, and delivering to them something that an entire team of people worked on, to make perfect, just for them.
Retrospective: Training Day 2
I spent an 8 hour day taking notes and watching the e-Learning programs on Production. By the end of it, I felt like a certified, trained Production team member.
I learned all about the temperatures the meat and chicken cook at, how to place and remove meat from the grill, the proper procedure for cooking the fried products... How to batch cook! I learned all the sandwiches and the way to assembly them correctly.
Did you know, as an aside, that McDonald's corporation spends hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours each year on ensuring the sandwiches are being built just right, to deliver the perfect flavor profile with each bite? I didn't, but I learned that along the training path of Production.
So, in the middle of my training schedule on that 8 hour day, the store manager of the restaurant I was training at (which has since become my home restaurant) invited me to learn by doing. So we went out into the grill and he showed me how to do a run of hamburger meat, and I sweated over the hot grill, cooking a few batches of hamburger meat. Aside from the literal sweat, it was no figurative sweat at all.
The training for production was engaging, complete, and empowering. I could do it! I had a head full of knowledge! Awesome.
I learned all about the temperatures the meat and chicken cook at, how to place and remove meat from the grill, the proper procedure for cooking the fried products... How to batch cook! I learned all the sandwiches and the way to assembly them correctly.
Did you know, as an aside, that McDonald's corporation spends hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours each year on ensuring the sandwiches are being built just right, to deliver the perfect flavor profile with each bite? I didn't, but I learned that along the training path of Production.
So, in the middle of my training schedule on that 8 hour day, the store manager of the restaurant I was training at (which has since become my home restaurant) invited me to learn by doing. So we went out into the grill and he showed me how to do a run of hamburger meat, and I sweated over the hot grill, cooking a few batches of hamburger meat. Aside from the literal sweat, it was no figurative sweat at all.
The training for production was engaging, complete, and empowering. I could do it! I had a head full of knowledge! Awesome.
The First Week
My legs hurt so damn bad. Every day, my first week, within 5 hours into my shift, I would be stiff-legged and clumping around like Frankenstein, wishing my legs would just fall off or something. The environment and the job was a huge change from my previous life of sitting at a computer with a phone against my ear. Now, I was standing all the time, and in fact running my ass around all over the place. Also, I wasn't able to take a mid-day nap, like I used to on my hour-long lunch hours. Now, I was barely able to smoke a cigarette, gulp down my $6.00 worth of comp'd food, smoke a second cigarette and hopefully sneak out a really quick poop (if I didn't smoke a third cigarette. I love you Pall Mall 100s).
So the first week was all service, and pain in the legs. However, the best part of that first week was PEOPLE! I got to speak to human beings and make people smile in my short interludes speaking with them. I heard "Wow you need to be working somewhere else, you're fantastic!". In that first week of working with people, human beings I could see and make eye contact with, I was offered at least 1 job a day by people I interacted with. I was buh-da-bum-bum-bah LOVIN' IT. Great for my ego, you know, to have so many people tell me how great I am, and to know that I'm doing a great job of it.
The end of the first week at McDonald's culminated in more exposure to that fantastic
training system, the e-Learning computer. This time, I was going to learn "Production", making all that lovely, greasy food.
So the first week was all service, and pain in the legs. However, the best part of that first week was PEOPLE! I got to speak to human beings and make people smile in my short interludes speaking with them. I heard "Wow you need to be working somewhere else, you're fantastic!". In that first week of working with people, human beings I could see and make eye contact with, I was offered at least 1 job a day by people I interacted with. I was buh-da-bum-bum-bah LOVIN' IT. Great for my ego, you know, to have so many people tell me how great I am, and to know that I'm doing a great job of it.
The end of the first week at McDonald's culminated in more exposure to that fantastic
training system, the e-Learning computer. This time, I was going to learn "Production", making all that lovely, greasy food.
First Day in the Store
So I arrive the next day at one of the 5 stores that my owner/operator has, fresh faced, full of new information, ready to get down and serve my little chunk of those 47 million daily customers.
The store I went to is big. Very big. It's old too! Dust gathers in corners in big, old places. That's all I'm saying. You gotta be attentive to that stuff.
So, the store manager was informed, I'm sure, that the new up-and-coming company manager was coming to her store, and she had to make sure he got impressed damnit! Well, whether she was told this or not, she definitely did not do it.
First, I showed up at 8am to a dirty store. Breakfast rush hadn't even hit yet! The store manager, who I'll call M., told me with a heavy, worn-out sigh, that I would be working presentation for Drive Thru, which is a demanding and important position. I was up to the challenge.
I got into the Drive Thru presentation area, and it STANK! OOoohhh wheee! I mean it was horrid. I asked M. about the stench in that area and she told me it was from the drain that was under the soda dispenser. So I got a couple buckets of hot water with some soap in them, and dumped them down the drain to make the water and (hopefully) the stench flow. No dice! It stank just as bad then as before I tried to flush the drain out.
While down under the soda dispensing area, I saw an odd, white ... puddle? Not exactly. It was like a stalagmite growing from under a counter, and it seemed to be the source of the stench. So after about 25 seconds of investigating, I discovered that the machine that dispenses cream for McDonald's Premium Coffee and Iced Coffee was placed in a ... poor position. The 'catch tray' under the dispensing nozzle was located directly over a pre-fabricated square access hole in the metal counter it was resting on. And cream would spill out over or around the catch tray. And then, that cream would drop through the hole, and made a puddle that was never attended to underneath.
I broke out some steel scrubbing pads, a couple buckets of water, and cleaned that horrible, calcified and incredibly funky mountain!!!! of old cream. Stench went away!
The rest of my day was spent scrubbing all 4 walls of that uncared for Drive Thru presentation area. I learned something that day. With enough elbow grease, the yellowed walls of an old restaurant can become white again. I'm certain I'm the only person who ever worked in that store who made that discovery.
The store I went to is big. Very big. It's old too! Dust gathers in corners in big, old places. That's all I'm saying. You gotta be attentive to that stuff.
So, the store manager was informed, I'm sure, that the new up-and-coming company manager was coming to her store, and she had to make sure he got impressed damnit! Well, whether she was told this or not, she definitely did not do it.
First, I showed up at 8am to a dirty store. Breakfast rush hadn't even hit yet! The store manager, who I'll call M., told me with a heavy, worn-out sigh, that I would be working presentation for Drive Thru, which is a demanding and important position. I was up to the challenge.
I got into the Drive Thru presentation area, and it STANK! OOoohhh wheee! I mean it was horrid. I asked M. about the stench in that area and she told me it was from the drain that was under the soda dispenser. So I got a couple buckets of hot water with some soap in them, and dumped them down the drain to make the water and (hopefully) the stench flow. No dice! It stank just as bad then as before I tried to flush the drain out.
While down under the soda dispensing area, I saw an odd, white ... puddle? Not exactly. It was like a stalagmite growing from under a counter, and it seemed to be the source of the stench. So after about 25 seconds of investigating, I discovered that the machine that dispenses cream for McDonald's Premium Coffee and Iced Coffee was placed in a ... poor position. The 'catch tray' under the dispensing nozzle was located directly over a pre-fabricated square access hole in the metal counter it was resting on. And cream would spill out over or around the catch tray. And then, that cream would drop through the hole, and made a puddle that was never attended to underneath.
I broke out some steel scrubbing pads, a couple buckets of water, and cleaned that horrible, calcified and incredibly funky mountain!!!! of old cream. Stench went away!
The rest of my day was spent scrubbing all 4 walls of that uncared for Drive Thru presentation area. I learned something that day. With enough elbow grease, the yellowed walls of an old restaurant can become white again. I'm certain I'm the only person who ever worked in that store who made that discovery.
Retrospective: Training Day 1
My first day I showed up at one of the 5 stores that the owner/operator I work for owns, which has an e-Learning computer. This is one of the most streamlined training processes I've ever encountered. McDonald's knows what they're doing, and have set up some awesome tools that, when used, create a solid training environment for new employees.
I started with "Foundation" training. The training was all on this computer, with sometimes overly-cutesy, sometimes overly-simplified slightly cartoon-y animations. There was a solid plot-line that the characters who were being trained in the animations followed. Some such about being time traveling teenagers with some agenda.
The important thing is, lots of important information was imparted in an efficient manner. There were internal verifications, such as multiple-choice tests and such, to ensure that the information was being comprehended by the trainee (it was). In fact, I took notes in a legal pad on everything I watched. I'm like that. I take notes, then refer to them until I can commit them to memory. I figured, if I'm a professional, then I must be a professional even working a job like McDonald's (which certainly does have some serious social stigma attached to it).
I then went through all the training programs under the heading of "Service", including Front Counter, Drive Thru, and more. All told, I spent 7 1/2 hours that first day watching training videos, taking notes, and making sure I had a firm grasp of the correct procedures, so that when I hit a store the next day, I could be sure to do everything right.
The information wasn't too terribly hard to process and commit to memory, although it was a bit of an information overflow, as the modules of training are designed to be done over the course of many shifts.
McDonald's has spent billions of dollars over the past few years analyzing and testing the processes and procedures for each and every small aspect of store operations, with the goal in mind of finding the most efficient and effective way for the approximately 2 million or so McDonald's employees to serve the 47 million or so McDonald's customers that visit the 33,000+ McDonald's stores daily.
Wow. Staggering numbers. There's no way that I, even though I'm incredibly confident in myself and at times a bit cocky, could be arrogant enough to believe my ideas about how to do things were more accurate than the world's best franchise and the fiscal and human resources that they've invested in designing operations.
I imagined that no one else would be that arrogant either. Boy was I wrong...
I started with "Foundation" training. The training was all on this computer, with sometimes overly-cutesy, sometimes overly-simplified slightly cartoon-y animations. There was a solid plot-line that the characters who were being trained in the animations followed. Some such about being time traveling teenagers with some agenda.
The important thing is, lots of important information was imparted in an efficient manner. There were internal verifications, such as multiple-choice tests and such, to ensure that the information was being comprehended by the trainee (it was). In fact, I took notes in a legal pad on everything I watched. I'm like that. I take notes, then refer to them until I can commit them to memory. I figured, if I'm a professional, then I must be a professional even working a job like McDonald's (which certainly does have some serious social stigma attached to it).
I then went through all the training programs under the heading of "Service", including Front Counter, Drive Thru, and more. All told, I spent 7 1/2 hours that first day watching training videos, taking notes, and making sure I had a firm grasp of the correct procedures, so that when I hit a store the next day, I could be sure to do everything right.
The information wasn't too terribly hard to process and commit to memory, although it was a bit of an information overflow, as the modules of training are designed to be done over the course of many shifts.
McDonald's has spent billions of dollars over the past few years analyzing and testing the processes and procedures for each and every small aspect of store operations, with the goal in mind of finding the most efficient and effective way for the approximately 2 million or so McDonald's employees to serve the 47 million or so McDonald's customers that visit the 33,000+ McDonald's stores daily.
Wow. Staggering numbers. There's no way that I, even though I'm incredibly confident in myself and at times a bit cocky, could be arrogant enough to believe my ideas about how to do things were more accurate than the world's best franchise and the fiscal and human resources that they've invested in designing operations.
I imagined that no one else would be that arrogant either. Boy was I wrong...
I'm not a blogger.
I'm starting this blog more than two months after I've started my career with McDonald's.
I've never written a blog before, mostly because I just never had the interest. However, I've searched the beloved Internets for blogs that are worthwhile, regarding working at McDonald's, and there's not really much positive out there.
Of course, there's a small community at community.livejournal.com/mcdonalds_talk but it's very small, and there's "head hunter" trolls over there, making a large part of the posting.
I've also read a bit of the "CSR" blog at csr.blogs.mcdonalds.com , but it's corporate sponsored and monitored and it really feels more like a marketing tool than anyone's blog.
The third blog regarding McDonald's is the McChronicles at mcchronicles.blogspot.com and it is from a customer's point of view, and is incredibly worthwhile to keep tabs on. Your McDonald's just might get some feedback from McChronicles.
Other than that are hundreds of comments on various blogs and community sites that are to the effect of "McD's sux0rr!!! I h8 my jobb and LOL McDs sux0rr fuchhs u maganer!". Not very productive as far as an open communication channel goes.
So why did I feel it necessary to blog about my job at McDonald's? I was actually struck by inspiration! It sounds silly, but I just feel compelled to make sure that a positive blog exists, and I'd like to show the world what working at McDonald's is like for someone who isn't a complete moron and slacker.
I've never written a blog before, mostly because I just never had the interest. However, I've searched the beloved Internets for blogs that are worthwhile, regarding working at McDonald's, and there's not really much positive out there.
Of course, there's a small community at community.livejournal.com/mcdonalds_talk but it's very small, and there's "head hunter" trolls over there, making a large part of the posting.
I've also read a bit of the "CSR" blog at csr.blogs.mcdonalds.com , but it's corporate sponsored and monitored and it really feels more like a marketing tool than anyone's blog.
The third blog regarding McDonald's is the McChronicles at mcchronicles.blogspot.com and it is from a customer's point of view, and is incredibly worthwhile to keep tabs on. Your McDonald's just might get some feedback from McChronicles.
Other than that are hundreds of comments on various blogs and community sites that are to the effect of "McD's sux0rr!!! I h8 my jobb and LOL McDs sux0rr fuchhs u maganer!". Not very productive as far as an open communication channel goes.
So why did I feel it necessary to blog about my job at McDonald's? I was actually struck by inspiration! It sounds silly, but I just feel compelled to make sure that a positive blog exists, and I'd like to show the world what working at McDonald's is like for someone who isn't a complete moron and slacker.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Why McDonald's?
So, Why McDonald's?
Record profits, record expenditure on training and development of employees, 33,000+ stores world-wide, the 2nd most well-known brand name in the world (behind Coca-cola, which I love and McDonald's serves), I love me some greasy affordable food. I like people, I like working with people, I love a challenge, I'm passionate about what I want to do, and that's to serve hundreds of people, every day, cheap greasy food quickly...
Well not really. I want to get paid to play video games and sleep, and do dirty things behind closed doors. But those are not happening anytime soon.
So the interview went swimmingly, I quit the job I was at, collected my final paycheck there and started working for McDonald's.
Record profits, record expenditure on training and development of employees, 33,000+ stores world-wide, the 2nd most well-known brand name in the world (behind Coca-cola, which I love and McDonald's serves), I love me some greasy affordable food. I like people, I like working with people, I love a challenge, I'm passionate about what I want to do, and that's to serve hundreds of people, every day, cheap greasy food quickly...
Well not really. I want to get paid to play video games and sleep, and do dirty things behind closed doors. But those are not happening anytime soon.
So the interview went swimmingly, I quit the job I was at, collected my final paycheck there and started working for McDonald's.
First!
Hello!
This is a new blog, for me, to discuss my career at McDonald's and my life in general.
I'm 26 years old, 27 very soon, have a wonderful florist wife who I've been married to for 4 years, and two kids - one in pre-school the other in 4th grade.
In the past, I've been primarily a salesman, most recently selling debt-collection services for B2B transactions (which I did for nearly 2 years), and directly previously to that, I was a stay-at-home father working weekends doing sales. For a couple years before that, I sold speakers out the back of a van, operating offices in multiple states, helping build others' wealth, and (unfortunately) participating in a "party" lifestyle that youth, money and expensive tastes brings about.
So, for the past couple years, I went to an office every day, and sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully, plied my salesmanly skills to hundreds of business owners and what I got in return is the traditional office-worker experience: profit margin of my existence, whether I paid the rent on my cubicle or not, indifferent training from an incredibly mediocre sales manager (shout out to Mr. Greg Herron of Tucson, AZ! You are the master of lacking! - abilities, charisma, personality, strengths, leadership, motivation, and more! You lack all these), and I also learned that business owners are irresponsible with their money and who they give it to.
I got sick of spending hours a day surfing the net while bored and eating snacks from the breakroom, while pretending to be passionate about selling a service that few want to discuss, over the phone none-the-less. Further, I heard "No" and "Fuck off!" more times than I could ever count (even though I have a 30" tall stack of CDs of my recorded phone calls over 9 months, I still couldn't count them all). Not that the job was all bad, just mostly. In my past, my favorite positions had always been face-to-face, high intensity jobs, with high expectations, enormous workloads in a short period of time, and many people to delegate to and train. Also, I like to make people smile. What's wrong with delivering happiness, I say?!
While surfing craiglist, I saw an advertisement for someone looking for McDonald's managers. I thought long and hard about it, about the McDonald's corporation, about my 2 years as a teenager working at McDonald's and how rewarding it was, how McDonald's - believe it or not - is a paragon of corporate responsibility, and how much I'd love to be back with people, face-to-face, in a challenging environment. I also thought about standing my 6'2" 340lbs fat-ass for 8 hours a day or more, running around, doing physical work (after 2 years stuck at a desk and 2 years before that stuck to a couch!), and the social challenges I'd face working for McDonald's.
I set up an interview with the owner, was blown off for the first interview, showed up for a second interview the next day which consisted of perhaps 10 minutes of discussion and a follow-up interview with the Director of Operations for this particular franchisee. The owner struck me as a together guy, a career McDonald's guy (20 years or some such), and I went and researched him a bit and he seemed altogether a good business man (based on what the Internets tell me). So, second interview, with the Director of Operations... But first a digression...
I'm a salesman at heart. I've spent probably 200 hours of the past 10 years in training (not counting the 300+ books I've read) on the topics of reading physical and verbal signs people give off, negotiation tactics, sales tactics, conversation direction and more kvetchy salesman-y topics.
So I show up for the 2nd interview (technically the 3rd), at the mall courtyard, where there is a McDonald's. I meet the Director of Operations, a very tall, very skinny gentleman who, in the first 5 minutes of speaking with him, has not given a single "tell" into how to read him. Basically the conversation is "I'd like to hire you, but you're a bit overqualified, and why the hell do you want to work at McDonald's?" In fact, "Why McDonald's?" was asked about 20 different times.
So, why McDonald's?
This is a new blog, for me, to discuss my career at McDonald's and my life in general.
I'm 26 years old, 27 very soon, have a wonderful florist wife who I've been married to for 4 years, and two kids - one in pre-school the other in 4th grade.
In the past, I've been primarily a salesman, most recently selling debt-collection services for B2B transactions (which I did for nearly 2 years), and directly previously to that, I was a stay-at-home father working weekends doing sales. For a couple years before that, I sold speakers out the back of a van, operating offices in multiple states, helping build others' wealth, and (unfortunately) participating in a "party" lifestyle that youth, money and expensive tastes brings about.
So, for the past couple years, I went to an office every day, and sometimes successfully, sometimes not so successfully, plied my salesmanly skills to hundreds of business owners and what I got in return is the traditional office-worker experience: profit margin of my existence, whether I paid the rent on my cubicle or not, indifferent training from an incredibly mediocre sales manager (shout out to Mr. Greg Herron of Tucson, AZ! You are the master of lacking! - abilities, charisma, personality, strengths, leadership, motivation, and more! You lack all these), and I also learned that business owners are irresponsible with their money and who they give it to.
I got sick of spending hours a day surfing the net while bored and eating snacks from the breakroom, while pretending to be passionate about selling a service that few want to discuss, over the phone none-the-less. Further, I heard "No" and "Fuck off!" more times than I could ever count (even though I have a 30" tall stack of CDs of my recorded phone calls over 9 months, I still couldn't count them all). Not that the job was all bad, just mostly. In my past, my favorite positions had always been face-to-face, high intensity jobs, with high expectations, enormous workloads in a short period of time, and many people to delegate to and train. Also, I like to make people smile. What's wrong with delivering happiness, I say?!
While surfing craiglist, I saw an advertisement for someone looking for McDonald's managers. I thought long and hard about it, about the McDonald's corporation, about my 2 years as a teenager working at McDonald's and how rewarding it was, how McDonald's - believe it or not - is a paragon of corporate responsibility, and how much I'd love to be back with people, face-to-face, in a challenging environment. I also thought about standing my 6'2" 340lbs fat-ass for 8 hours a day or more, running around, doing physical work (after 2 years stuck at a desk and 2 years before that stuck to a couch!), and the social challenges I'd face working for McDonald's.
I set up an interview with the owner, was blown off for the first interview, showed up for a second interview the next day which consisted of perhaps 10 minutes of discussion and a follow-up interview with the Director of Operations for this particular franchisee. The owner struck me as a together guy, a career McDonald's guy (20 years or some such), and I went and researched him a bit and he seemed altogether a good business man (based on what the Internets tell me). So, second interview, with the Director of Operations... But first a digression...
I'm a salesman at heart. I've spent probably 200 hours of the past 10 years in training (not counting the 300+ books I've read) on the topics of reading physical and verbal signs people give off, negotiation tactics, sales tactics, conversation direction and more kvetchy salesman-y topics.
So I show up for the 2nd interview (technically the 3rd), at the mall courtyard, where there is a McDonald's. I meet the Director of Operations, a very tall, very skinny gentleman who, in the first 5 minutes of speaking with him, has not given a single "tell" into how to read him. Basically the conversation is "I'd like to hire you, but you're a bit overqualified, and why the hell do you want to work at McDonald's?" In fact, "Why McDonald's?" was asked about 20 different times.
So, why McDonald's?
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