Company: McDonald-s
Date: 2019-05-28
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Awful 1st Job Experience- Be Careful!
Pros: If you are looking to stay with the company long term there is good progression and they are keen to progress you.
Free meals on shift and discount.
Cons: Where do I begin? I am writing this 9 years on from when I got my 1st job at Mcdonalds (UK), as it's only now that I am 3 years into my professional career in graduate jobs, and after other part time jobs since Mcdonalds, that I realise how awful this was as a 1st job for me, from beginning to end. I'm not sure if it's the fault of the whole organisation, or my specific branch, as I know many who have had a good start with Mcdonalds, but I also wanted to warn people of my experience, as I would not want anyone else to endure it. Starting off with my application process, I had applied several times to Mcdonalds, in pursuit of a part time job whilst I was studying my A-Levels, having just turned 17. I knew they were supposedly a good company to have your 1st job with, but was disappointed to see I kept getting rejected without even being offered an interview. My confidence was dented as I had seen other people in my school secure jobs there, and I wondered why I wasn't even able to get an interview, until eventually a Supervisor from another Mcdonalds branch let me in on a secret. My GCSE grades were deemed 'too good' as they wanted people who were not as academic,  as there was more chance they would stay with the company and progress, instead of going off to university etc. Hesitantly, I took her advice and changed my A,B and C grades to D, E and F's, and nevertheless that same night I was offered an interview. I felt guilty for lying and came clean at the interview about my real grades, and luckily they accepted me anyway and I got the job. Not sure if the computer rejects by default, but either way I feel it is unfair to young students who need a part time job for some extra cash. Understandably they need people who they can progress and who will stay with the company, but they surely need 'casual weekend staff' too. That is certainly how it seemed in my branch as half of us were students like myself, the other half full time employees working their way up the Mcdonalds corporate ladder. I started the job and was essentially thrown into it without much training. It was my 1st job and admittedly I was nervous and a bit slow at getting the orders together, but they gave me no help whatsoever, and just expected me to get on with it. I was often talked down to my senior staff members, as if I was stupid, and often patronised. I remember on my 1st ever shift, I wore a wristband from a recent festival on my wrist. I'm quite a sentimental person, and being that I was only 17 it was one of my favourite memories with my friends so far and I loved the wristband for the memory. I wasn't allowed to wear it on shift but instead of asking me to take it off and put it in my bag, the supervisor cut it off my wrist and threw it into the bin. Fair enough, it needed to be cut off to remove it, but it wasn't up to her to throw it in the bin, she should have asked me.  I believed as time went on things would get better but they only got worse. There was a clear divide between young, part time students working there for extra cash like myself, and full time mcdonalds workers, and senior management would treat the part time students like rubbish. The way they talked to us was so bad, that customers would often step in and intervene and say 'excuse me, the way you are talking to her is not okay!'. There was a male manager there who started about a year in to my 2 year stint at Mcdonalds, and he would shout and scream at us in front of customers, saying we needed to be quicker. All the while, he would wipe sweat off his head and proceed to touch the food with it. I found him to be quite inappropriate with all of us young girls too,often making suggestive comments. This is something I would never stand for now, but as a 17 year old girl I was almost petrified.  Another thing Mcdonalds were guilty of is trying to force people who were just there to work there one shift a week whilst studying, into further progession with Mcdonalds. We were told we all needed to complete the apprenticeship, even though most of us were uninterested by it as we were studying for A-Levels and Degrees. They sold it to us as something really good on our CV, so I was happy to do it, until they told me I would need to resit English and Maths tests equivalent to GCSE's, as my GCSE's were 2 years old and now expired. Much to their frustration, I refused this. There was no way I was going to restudy and resit Maths and English tests when I already had perfectly good GCSE qualifications. I was studying for A-Levels and that was my priority. In the end they relented and fast tracked me through the scheme before my GCSE's 'expired'. Unfortunately some of my friends weren't so lucky, and they retook the tests fearing they'd lose their jobs. I think this is disgusting for Mcdonalds to pressure all workers to do this for their own benefit, putting more pressure on people to study for a qualification they don't want or need, and hindering chances of them doing well in the qualifications they have chosen to stay for (a-levels and degrees). Especially when they've already sat their GCSE's. It is a well known fact that Mcdonalds offers part time opportunities for students, as well as full time staff,  and they shouldn't all be forced to take the same route, especially when they had more than enough actually wanting to do the apprenticeship. This was typical Mcdonalds behaviour, they had no care for what we actually wanted to do and just kept pushing us to stay with Mcdonalds. They tried to advise some of us not to go to university after college, that we could work our way up with them, and said when we did finish university we should come back as we'd automatically be made managers.  We were all scheduled to work one shift a week (Saturday or Sunday) but when it was a bank holiday or school holidays, they would automatically allocate us in to shifts without asking us, even though we were often wanting the time off to revise. I remember one bank holiday they had put me down for a shift which I couldn't do, as my college had opened study sessions that day and I was going in for that. They told me that I needed to take my job more seriously and forget college. Bare in mind my college exams were for my future, to get into university, to help me get the job I am in today, whereas my jobs at Mcdonalds was 8 hours a week for some extra cash. They treated everyone like Mcdonalds should be their priority. Of course while I was there I worked hard but they expected more than that, and it was a lot of pressure for an already stressful time. They need to understand the difference between people who work 8 hours a week for extra cash and people who work full time and want to progress. I know people may argue it's my own fault as I changed my qualifications and effectively cheated a system that was looking for staff who would more likely stay and progress, but I came clean at the interview and was still hired. The staff were always aware of my plans and how I would be here until I went off to university (and whilst I was at university had the job been enjoyable), and that it was just a part time stop gap. They hire a lot of people in similar circumstances to me, as they need the extra staff for weekends etc, but they do not in my opinion treat them right. I also must add, whilst studying for my apprenticeship I was trained for the 1st time in the kitchen. Mcdonalds have a rather sexist rule where girls work front facing and boys work in the kitchen behind the scenes, as 'girls were better at communicating'. Being my 1st time, it was quite a lot to pick up and the shift manager was shouting at me constantly and had no patience whatsoever. I burned my knuckle on the grill and she tutted and called me stupid, and when I asked to rinse it under the tap she said no as we were too busy. I still have the scar to this day and went home in tears. For ages, I was under the illusion and this was how work was meant to be and it's only now that i've worked in great organisations, I can reflect on how bad my time was. I used to get crippling anxiety before each shift and in the end I got so upset one night before work at the thought of another day being shouted and looked down on, my dad found me in a state and said I never had to go back. I was put off getting another job for ages. I thought it was normal to be spoken down to like that. It was a lot of stress to go through for someone who was there 8 hours a week while studying. Maybe things have changed now, but what me and my friends had to go through  was not pleasant. I'm aware of the reputation Mcdonalds has for giving young students a good 1st job, and i'm sure for others it may have been different, but I wanted to warn of the other side, as it's not always great.