Hard Work.

My day today was the perfect example of why McDonald's is so damn great a place to be working.

My day was nothing like I expected it to be yesterday. (See previous post.)

First of all, K., my manager-in-training, no-call-no-showed me for the training. Also, he didn't return my phone call. I'm a little disappointed.

But that's fine, I gave our shake/ice-cream machine a professional, expert cleaning today. I even fixed some issues we were having with our syrup dispensing system - something I am damn proud of having figured out on my own. After that, I worked in the Production Area for basically the rest of my day. I ran lunch on Assembly, as the Production Manager. It was a slow lunch, but we still made some money, and kept the kitchen running at a bit higher than normal (62 instead of our 40 second goal) for the first half hour, then got our speed up to right in sniffing distance of 40 seconds.

The tail of my day was working in Service for about 45 minutes, half at Front Counter, half in Drive Thru Order Taker. I had my normal sun-shiney attitude and our customer got the best Customer Service they're likely to get for the next week, anywhere.

All in all, it was a great day at work. Nothing like I expected it to be, but I stepped into the roles I was needed in when I was needed in them and "Be Here Now"'d all day long. Awesome.

Teaching.

Tomorrow, very early, I am training K., a manager-in-training who happens to be the O/O's relation. He's a hell of an individual, and seems to be able to hang in many situations. I've not seen him giving direction to anyone yet, but he and I have discussed accountability together.

In fact, I created a situation that was almost a way of testing his behaviors - I sat down and ate right as he was getting a rush through Drive Thru. I waited till he had 3 orders on screen, then got up and helped - and told him that I was examining his behaviors - I sat down and ate to see how he'd react. He didn't communicate what was going on where he was, he saw the situation but did not make a reaction to it (the situation being, I was sitting down with someone on break when I should have been helping him with orders). I felt like a dick, but he really did seem to, at the least, look at a likely and frequent scenario with a different perspective.

Tomorrow, it's straight teaching and showing for our shake machine training. Like every day, it's going to be a great day.

Opportunities.

I'm currently being considered for an opportunity with a new store that my O/O is purchasing soon. It changes hands next month, and either myself or a current colleague of mine will become First Assistant Manager at the new store, and the other person will be First Assistant Manager at my current store.

Honestly, I feel that my "competition" is in no way competition to me. I can boast readily of several areas of responsibility I've gotten to function regularly and with all proper procedures in effect. Not every area I've taken on have I been successful with, but I can honestly say at least 10 functionally important procedure-sets were put into place solely because of my direct action and involvement in them.

As far as I know, my competitor has one functionally important responsibility, and is unwilling to do a great job with it. I firmly believe this person is capable of doing a great job at many things, and they are experienced - something like 6 years. She has willingly chosen to perform at an average level and at an average pace for ... well nearly all the time I've seen her in action.

But I have decided that the opportunity I have in the store I'm in is a great opportunity and has a ton of growth left in it! I've got a great team that I'm helping to build, I own my store damnit! I can help improve it a hundredfold over the growth we as a team have already made.

So, tomorrow, I'm telling the owner I want to stay at my current store and that I don't really want to be considered for the position. Although, I truly do want to go to a store with more vocal and communicative managers who are confident in situations. The two other managers who I am certain are going to that store are phenomenal people, and I would love to work on a team with all three of us - it'd be a powerhouse team.

I have alot of growth to go where I am and I intend to experience it.

Arizona Smart Choice.

Yesterday, all Arizona McDonald's restaurants officially were participating in the Arizona Smart Choices Program. Basically, it's a program that identifies meals or foods that are healthy - and yes, McDonald's has a bunch of meals designated as smart choices by the Arizona Department of Public Health. A few other chains are participating as well. Arizona Daily Star website - A full story can be found there.

I tried to find a time on Saturday to get the signage up, which consists of a window stick-on and a menu-board sign on double-sided foam tape, and put some brochures out but couldn't find the brochure holder and did not make the time to put the signs up. First of all, no one had directed me to do so - and POP is one item I always do after direction. Secondly, I wasn't sure where to put it or when the program started.

Today, I was directed to hang the signs up, and immediately did. Before I finished washing my hands after the task, a gentleman who looked familiar was in line, and I walked up to the counter in time to introduce himself to me, he was P., who is apparently the local head honcho. I believe he was strongly involved in McDonald's of Arizona participating in the program, to judge by his enthusiasm for the project. I smiled big and gave vague, but very positive and supportive, answers to his questions. He and I had actually met but not introduced at the ball game I mentioned a couple weekends ago.

After he left, I ran to the office, got the Store Manager to find the brochures, read one, then gave one to all my service crew and told them there'd be a test later.

The important facts that I remember are these -

The meal must have 700 or less calories, 0.5 grams of saturated fats, no added or modification to the content of saturated fats, and less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium.

The meals that McDonald's offer that are Smart Choices include - Hamburger and Cheeseburger Happy Meals with Apple Dippers and Apple Juice. Awesome! Further, a Hamburger or Cheeseburger, Fruit n' Yogurt Parfait and Apple Dippers work for an adult. Also, there's the Grilled Chicken Asian Salad and a bottle of Dasani water - which actually rocks for lunch, and it's pretty filling. The only catch with the salad is, you can only use half a packet of the Ginger Vinaigrette dressing.

So, overall, I think it's a great way for any chain to improve the value of the experience. As it applies to McDonald's, I'm going to start offering information to people who look like they would appreciate it. It's also a great time and way to open up a good customer interview.

A Very Long Week.

My store manager B. was out of town this week. Scroll down to the posts from when my store manager was out of town the last time. All the same drama and problems we had that week, we're having again this week.

It seems that even though I'm being held accountable for the store and what goes on inside it, from inventory management to staff issues to staffing and schedules (even though I don't have control over all of it, or in some cases (like schedules) any of it), I'm also being told in the same breath that because I don't have responsibility for those same situations, I should back off and ease up a bit.

It's very frustrating to be told I have to be accountable for things I don't have control over. It's even more frustrating that when I try to hold accountable those who do have control over things when problems arise, that I am stepping over my bounds.

Some specifics:

The assistant manager does schedules. She makes mistakes all the time, like with today's schedule - she had a minor scheduled to work two different shifts the same day, for over 14 hours. First, she would not respond to my phone calls at all - then when I got 3 other people to call her and tell her she needed to respond to me, she asked for a manager who wasn't even there, and said she did not want to talk to me about it. Hello, I'm the manager who's working right now, I'm in the middle of the shitstorm she caused and she doesn't want to discuss it with me. What a worthless fool she is. I tried to tell her she had to solve it, and she wanted no part of it - until I told her she would have to come work the illegally-scheduled shift herself. Then she was all about finding someone who would not be working overtime to fill the shift. Bah.

Another situation. One of our managers is responsible for counting most of the morning shift drawers, as she is our 5-days-a-week opener. She can't count. This poses an issue. I assume it's through basic ignorance, but E. could also be dipping into the honey-pot, for all I know. The other day, of 5 cash registers and the safe, only one drawer was accurately counted - a drawer with $15.50 worth of transactions. The others were all wrong, the money was all mixed up, it was 40 minutes of counting and recounting to figure out just what the hell she did to fuck up the money that bad. When I discussed it with her, her response was to get angry at me for going back and checking her work. Well, when the $1000 of backup we have in the safe is $1076 and $2200 worth of counted cash ready for deposit is only $2085 and there's miscellaneous cash over in two other drawers, yes, well... I'm going to recount the money!

I think the real problem is there's very little accountability with my entire management team. "Mistakes" are overlooked, repeatedly, instead of used as learning tools. Carelessness is the standard. Sloppy and incomplete are regularly acceptable. BUT NOT TO ME DAMNIT! And there's bound to be some resentment on the part of those who wish to go about without paying attention, without doing the best they can, barely skating by, when I'm saying "That's not acceptable!" But, really, seriously, deep down inside, I feel, FUCK THEM. I should not lower my standards to match someone else's and I look upon the lazy with contempt, especially when it's such an easy job.

Sunday.

My boss invited me to a baseball game today, White Sox vs. Diamondbacks. I've got three tickets for the suite he's got so I'm taking my son and father. Gonna be a good time. Meanwhile, my wife is working and my daughter is spending the day with Grandma.

I may soon be able to share some news about my career growth. I'm damn excited!

BSM, Day 2

So, I came to terms with the lack of knowledge I would be gaining from the Basic Shift Management class. I realize it's entirely due to the work I did before class, reading my MDP1 book 2 times in full, and focusing on some parts 3 or 4 times.

Our second day consisted mostly of a store visit, to a McOpCo store, where the standards are set, not just met. The purpose of the store visit is to help develop the critical eye that a manager needs to ensure they are maintaining the standards of QSC&V for our customers. The store we went to was decorated phenomenally, looking like the inside of some rich guy's library with chocolate brown leather seats, dark wood paneling, glass-doored bookcases, a couple sitting areas with nice chairs and round tables. Then we got to the front counter.

Everything behind the counter looked disorganized, sloppy, and unclean. There was clutter all over the place, every behind-the-counter trashcan was overflowing and apparently the crew there have bad aim - there was trash around the trashcans as well as in them. I saw at least 5 different areas where they stocked sauces and other condiments and all of them were sloppy, unstocked and needed a good wash. That's just the impression I got in 30 seconds of approaching the front counter. Once I went behind the counter I was appalled.

The day was focused on timing Front Counter service, Production, and Drive Thru service as well as performing a travel path throughout the store and prioritizing tasks based on McDonald's Prioritizing system which we had done some review of in the very first part of the day. It was a good exercise but again, I did not really leave with any new knowledge or tools that I did not arrive with.

The only real benefit I felt out of the classes was to get an opportunity to discuss with others the systems and concepts I had until then I had only discussed in internal dialogues. I know however, that many other participants will go back to their stores armed to become the best managers they can be.

As for the Golden Hat award I spoke of earlier, there was solid competition between myself and my O/O's sister-in-law, B., who is an assistant manager at another store in our organization. She won by a single vote, and she definitely deserved it - she really did participate a bit more than I did. However, as the facilitators were reading out statements made by participants who voted for her (before announcing she was the winner), repeatedly the comments were "This person is very knowledgeable" or "This person has a really great attitude!". Because she thought it was me, she spoke up with, "Wow this person must be really intelligent and have a sparkling personality!" while staring at me. Then they announced it was her. Good times.

BSM, Day 1.

What a let down.

Aside from interacting with a few people from other franchisees' McDonald's stores, I gained absolutely nothing out of BSM class, Day 1. Further, due to the really small size of our class - only 14 people - we combined Day 1 and Day 3's curriculum into one day, so everything was quite rushed and question/answer sessions were breezed through and the majority of questions were answered with something akin to "We'll cover that in a few minutes!"

Now, I understand that they have things to cover, and if someone asks a question or two that is out of synch with the pace of the curriculum, teachers have a need to stifle it and let it be answered during the class or asked at a more appropriate time. However, if someone is earnestly asking for clarification of what was just discussed, teachers have a responsibility to clarify. If one person asks a question, it's likely that 2 or 3 or more other people have the same question and were unwilling or unable to ask it. That question should be addressed like it is a part of the core curriculum they are trying to teach, not as an annoyance that will send them off their double-time pacing.

The most ironic thing is, immediately after telling a class participant that their question was already answered - basically blowing off the question entirely - the same teacher changed screens in their PowerPoint presentation to display a quote from Ray Kroc:

"Customers are the reason we are here, not a distraction."

Positivity, Revisted.

In December, in a post entitled "Positivity", I discussed my store manager's actions, and some of his unprofessional behaviors. I have to say that I have seen this man grow in his actions and deeds, by leaps and bounds. I feel I've had a strong hand in assisting his growth, by communicating with the whole management team and delivering whole-hearted my "share of the bargain" - that is, demonstrating the behaviors I wanted to see out of the other managers.

In that post a long 3 months ago, I railed against B.'s "take, take, take" attitude (among a few other behaviors). After discussing with him in a really informal setting on a few different occasions, my views on professionalism, strong management and what it takes to be the best you can be every day of your life, I know I've had an effect on him, if only to advise him of and demonstrate to him, what he should be doing. B. now is willing (and damn capable!) of sharing his experience and knowledge with people, most recently 3 to 4 of our newest Management Team members, including myself. He's delivering on the guarantee of QSC much more than he ever was in my first 2 months that I worked with him. It's phenomenal to see a person delivering on his potential, not only to his colleagues but to himself.

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Tomorrow, I start my BSM classes. I'm excited as hell, am totally prepared for it, and will be looking forward to the Golden Hat award. In other news, I was talking with P., the owner/operator I work for, and in an effort to express to him how excited I am every day about my opportunity to work for him and McDonald's, I told him about my blog. I didn't send him an email link to it, but wanted him to work for it. Leave a note if you read this, and give me some feedback, P.

BSM

Basic Shift Management is the first of a handful or so of accreditations in the McDonald's store management universe. I will be attending BSM classes in Tucson, next week from March 11 - March 13. To say that I am excited is an understatement. I love social engagements, especially ones that center around learning processes and demonstrating knowledge. This will be phenomenal.

In the meantime, I took a pre-class assessment test today, one in which I had to pass to attend class. I believe I passed, but not very well, at all. My problem is numbers.

Times, temperatures, ratios (what exactly is the pepper to salt ratio of the McDonald's grill seasoning?) - that's exactly what the core of this class and certification is about. I'm having severe difficulty with it because of my numeric dyslexia. It's not a joke and is very difficult to live with, especially when it comes to recalling numbers correctly.

So, I'm going to do phenomenal in class, even though I have severe difficulties with the primary focus of the class. I have a plan. Monday, I am going to cram as hard as I can, and cram the information into my head, as well as sit with all the times and temps on a sheet of paper next to me, to keep them fresh and in front of me during classes (and to maintain the cramming process throughout a 3 day class). However, I'm knowledgeable about operations, management in general, the McDonald's processes for management from the Crew Trainer position on up to the Store Management functions that I put to use daily.

There's an award called, I believe, the Golden Hat award during BSM classes. It's awarded to the most helpful, involved person attending the class. I'll probably receive it, as I've been told by 3 or 4 people.