A Day in the Life: Working at McDonald’s

McDonald’s wages start at $15/hour in NYC. Photo credit: Flickr

By KEVIN JIANG

Working at McDonald’s can be pretty crazy sometimes. Not knowing when you’re going to fall victim to a vicious McFlurry or a weird customer can be exciting.

My shift lasts from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a 45 minute break in between. I make $15 per hour, not including taxes, and don’t get paid during my break. Some rules we have to follow are washing our hands every hour or two and dressing in our uniform, apron, black pants, and non-slip shoes.

The atmosphere is usually light when I first walk in in the morning. The team and I are preparing ourselves for the busiest time of the day. We label everything that comes out of the fridge and freezer with the time and date to make sure the food doesn’t spoil. For my station, I brew coffee, making sure all the cream, sugar, and syrups for different drinks are stocked up. 

At last it’s time to start the war against food and customers. Preparing drinks is usually my job. It may sound easy, but preparing five coffees with different amounts of sugar and cream can be a challenge. That’s not even including the other drinks that I have to make. For coffee, I have to put in sugar and cream before the coffee, then cap it. New coffee always gets brewed every 30 minutes.

I remember a couple who always made my life hard when I first started working. They wanted their coffee in a special way. When I first made their coffee, they didn’t like it, so they sent it back and I had to remake it. That happened three times before one of my supervisors told me that he’d make it. I don’t know what he did differently, but at least the coffee wasn’t sent back.

Other drinks that I have to prepare are caramel and chocolate mochas, smoothies, McFlurries, and milkshakes. Mochas are easily made because there’s a machine that makes it for you. All I have to do is put on the whipped cream and caramel or chocolate. Milkshakes are made from a different machine but the process is basically the same: wait for the machine to finish and put on the topping. But the McFlurry is one of my most hated drinks to make. There are disasters awaiting if you mess up.

During my first day of training, I remember messing up a McFlurry really badly. For some reason the machine that swirls the ice cream broke the cup. Then ice cream and Oreos flew everywhere. Not exactly the good impression you should make on your first day. The expression on the customers who saw it was funny even if it was embarrassing. Just imagine seeing a worker struggle with ice cream exploding everywhere.

Another funny story was when a weird customer came in. Somehow, we didn’t give this guy an item that he supposedly ordered. (It wasn’t on his receipt.) The poor cashier had to deal with the drama. The customer just stood there, insisting, “I want my sandwich.” The cashier was trying to explain that we couldn’t give him something that wasn’t on his receipt, but the customer just kept saying “I want my sandwich” over and over again. That’s when our manager came over and explained the situation. The customer was suddenly like, “Oh really? I didn’t realize that. Okay, have a nice day,” and proceeded to leave.

So always check your receipt, take it easy with the cashier, and have patience with your McFlurry barista. It could be his first day.