Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Because.

This has become a closed project.  It will reopen if (when?) I return to management with McDonald's.  I'll be in the Chicago suburban market if anyone would like to offer me top-tier pay and a position.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please don't stop posting! This blog gives an amazing insight which can't be found elsewhere and will be a tremendous loss if not kept up. Please consider posting once a week or so if at all possible. I enjoy reading about your career development, keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

hi i have to take my bsm assement next week and i was wondering what is exactly on it what do i need to study

Anonymous said...

Michael I wanted you to know that I thought this blog was doing a great service to those interested in a management career. So many people rag on the thought of McDonald's as a career. They don't realize that even though pay isn't the greatest, the training is provided so that after a couple years you can pretty much get a job in management anywhere.

Anonymous said...

hey michael, joel here.just wanted you to know that your blog interest me.it's great to see someone who's motivated and hard working like you.im also an asst. mgr. at my local mcdonald's and soon to be a store manager. can't wait to go to your home town of chicago for HU this month!there's a lot of great things you'll learn and recieve from mcdonald's.it really is a great place to work and grow!good luck on your continues growth at mcdonald's and keep mastering those QSC&V!!!

Anonymous said...

I found your blog as I am looking to go back to working in McDonald's management (properly this time, not just as a shift manager). Five years of having a "proper job" has made me realise how much I miss it, how well suited I was to it in the first place and hopefully I will get to put right some of the mistakes I made the first time around - mainly due to being young and inexperienced.
Your blog brought back a lot of good, and not so good memories but only served to confirm that it's the direction I want to go in.
People have a lot of misconceptions about the work that actually goes into making a McDonald's restaurant a good one, it's not just flipping burgers people.
I can understand why you have pushed the blog to one side for the time being - you will certainly have a lot of professional demands made on you. Anyway, I just wanted to say it makes very good reading and I for one would love to come and work with you to help fight the fight, but as i'm in the UK that's highly unlikely - Those systems sure are universal though, a lot of what you have mentioned is pretty much the same way over here. I'm not sure I like the sound of the half-arsed way some of your guys cash up tills, and the lack of concern shown over it from the management team. I hope you got that one sorted out?!
Hope the blog comes back soon, Cheers!

Angie

Anonymous said...

I just spent the last two days reading through all your posts, and I must say that I'm sad there are no more. I am actually interviewing for a management position at my local McDonald's and your blog has done me worlds of good. I am coming from a totally different work background, as I have been an administrative employee for about 8 years and have never worked in fast food. In considering this job, I thought it would be good to look up what working there is like. I know you know this, but there is NOTHING positive out there, but there's also nothing comprehensive and thoughtful either (aside from this blog obviously). I was so incredibly happy to read your blog and see that a mature, intelligent person thinks of McDonalds as a great career. You have helped me to have a more positive view of my potential career, and I thank you much for it. I hope this gets to you, and maybe encourages you to start posting again!

Signed, Future McD Manager!

Anonymous said...

insight, please !

Anonymous said...

Please bring back the blog!!

mrschroeder13@gmail.com (Michael Schroeder) said...

I'll bring back the blog if I get hired at a Chicago Suburban market store as a manager again. ;)

Email me if you have positions.

Unknown said...

Michael if interested I work for a Franchiser in South Suburban Chicago. We own 7 stores and he is always looking for men to be managers (we mostly have women).

For more info email me @ pjnicholson88@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Read my rememberence from working at McDonalds

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6132099588864932884&postID=5053294058547798360

Anonymous said...

Did you get fired?

Helen said...

Michael, I happened upon your blog while doing research on operations at McDonald's for college. Your blog gave me great insight into what goes on daily behind the counter. You are a terrific writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed the tone of your blog. Thank you for providing information from a layperson's point-of-view. It was amusing, mesmerizing, and affirming for me to continue on with my management courses. Good luck in the future - you're going to be a rockstar anywhere you go!

Nolan said...

hey mike,
What happened that you left your job with mcd's? It seemed like you were really getting into it and then 'wham' that's it? I'm interested to know what happened?

mrschroeder13@gmail.com (Michael Schroeder) said...

For this interested, I explained this in my Q&A on Jobstr.com

The reason I left McDonald's was actually racially-charged actions. I was transferred to a store in which the Store Manager was incredibly poorly performing, but the entire staff was either related to her or had worked at the store (with her poor standards) for 5 years or more. The Owner/Operator moved me into the store specifically to identify problems and do what it takes to resolve them, so that I could eventually become Store Manager at the store. The staff was explained this - including the Store Manager I would be replacing in time. Also, I was one of two non-hispanic employees and I was tasked with basically identifying every single manager and staff members' short comings and assisting them in turning those opportunities into strengths. I was more than capable, but I received fierce anti-white sentiment day in and day out for a month. I reported it repeatedly, and the owner, who was of Mexican descent, flat out told me that "White people can't be harassed due to race".

On my last day at that store, at that franchise, and at McDonald's, I was attacked by 5 women, including the store manager, with a variety of things: a 16 inch spatula, steel baking pans and even a glass coffee mug. It was all on camera, and the Operations Manager (a Director level position in the franchise) was in the store and did not do a single thing about it. They attacked me because I was trying to explain to them the "by the books" procedure for cooking breakfast sausages "to level" (the number prepared for maximum freshness/availability, I discussed this in depth in another post). Throughout this attack, they were screaming (literal screaming) profanities and racist remarks at me.

I'm serious. I was trying to demonstrate to a group of employees how to properly adhere to procedure for cooking breakfast sausage, when I was physically assaulted and chased out of the store with them screaming racially motivated hatespeech at me.

While that sounds hyperbolic, it was a terrible situation. I called the Owner/Operator and then the police. When the Owner/Operator refused to show up, and the Director of Operations explained that - somehow - none of the 12 cameras in the store were recording at that time, I knew it was futile. It was my word against 6 peoples' word that the incident happened (no customers hung around to speak to the police), and the police - while they believed my story - had nothing to indicate it occurred.

I'm not legally allowed to explain what happened after that.