Company: McDonald-s
Date: 2018-09-21
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Felt like being at secondary school again, with all the fun of cliques and school bullies
Pros: Flexible working hours were sometimes a good thing - I was able to not work Saturday or Sunday due to other commitments/inability to get to work on Sundays. Generally kept busy so didn't get too bored. Free meal was nice.
Cons: The management is terrible. Some managers were okay, a little disorganised but nice enough. Others were straight up bullies. I caught a manager and a crew trainer (both people who are meant to help you feel welcome in a new job, surely?) mock me behind my back for a small mistake I'd made. Crew members were frequently berated by management, being shouted at and on the receiving end of passive aggressive comments that I'm sure customers heard. For example, once I was unable to get orders out super fast because it was my third week, I'd been left running drinks/milkshakes/desserts completely on my own, during the lunch rush, during term time, in a McDonald's nearby a massive college. I was swamped and overwhelmed, if I asked for help I got eyerolls and passive aggressive comments. I spent the hour getting shouted at that I wasn't working hard enough or fast enough. When I talked to other crew members later on, they were shocked I'd been left on my own after barely being trained.

And that's another thing - training. I was trained on about two things with a crew trainer and whenever I was asked to do something I wasn't trained in, I explained I hadn't been trained in that yet and could they show me how. Instead all I got was "Wow do you know anything at all?" and they'd get someone else to do it instead of training me, and rinse and repeat.

There were cliques, which is kind of to be expected in a company with mostly young staff (at 19 I was one of the older crew members), but the managers encouraged it. Managers would joke and laugh with the crew members they liked the most, cut them more slack, let them off for lots of cigarette breaks, stand around chatting with them and let them get away with barely any work while at the same time shouting at the other crew members that they weren't working hard enough. I wasn't the only one who felt this way, I asked other crew members if they felt singled out sometimes and they said yes. And I asked other people working at different McDonalds if there were cliques, all said yes.

And finally, like I said, flexible working hours could be good. After saying in my interview I couldn't work weekends but would like to work at least 4 sometimes 5 days a week so I could be full time, I was told this would be fine and they'd sort it for me. However, every single week I was listed to work Saturdays and Sundays, and most weeks I only got one maybe two shifts. So every week I had to call up and inform them of the incorrect shifts and request more shifts and I would be made to feel like a total pain despite it being their fault, and they rarely gave me the number of shifts I needed.

Overall, pretty demeaning experience.