StationM

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Pick me!

Due to rainy weather and tornadoes, lunch was slow. 30 minutes after I got back from break I heard Christa the pregnant shift manager ask if anyone else? wanted to go home. "I do!" I informed her, at which she gave me a blank look, (I realized then she had been joking). "Let me check my labor" she said. "Don't tease me" I called out as she went to the office. A few minutes later she came back and said if I wanted to go I could. Zoom, out the door I went before the drive-thru filled up.

Today I gave the morning shift alpha male from Russia (Andrew) a lesson in management technique. I was the muffin man again, not quite keeping up, he says sternly in his heavy accent "Too slow". I respond you'll want to do that constructively, for example, "Scott, you're doing a great job, but you'll need to get quicker" his look of surprise and the laughter of of another 50+ coworker made my challenge of his dominance very enjoyable. Its fun to be 50+.

Now I am the Muffin Man, (and the fry guy)

Muffins, mcgriddles, hotcakes (precooked), bagels and then it was lunch time, where I watched a 13 minute video on Don't Break the Fries! then I ran the fryer. so much was automated! place frozen fries in hopper, (gently, Don't Break the Fries!) place fry basket on rails, it slides underneath hopper, drops to second rack when filled , keep em' coming drop basket in fryer, push timer, shake basket when you hear first beep (Don't Break the Fries!), pull basket out at second beep, drop into staging area, (Don't Break the Fries!) invert salt shaker, (Don't Shake, Let Pour), then bag or box. over and over and over and over and over and over and over.......then the lunch rush stopped at 1:00PM and I went home.

Blue gloves!

My first real day of training was spent trying to understand accents. Andrew, Ukranian?, Adrian, Peru, and Svetlana, another east European? There was also Caleb, a quiet american guy, unfortunatly afflicted with severe acne,. I also met 66 yr. old Don, maintenance manager of four McDonalds who after 12 yrs. of working for McDonalds was 28 days from retiring. I spent the morning learning to cook eggs, round, (eight at a time), (blue gloves!) scrambled, and folded, (those come precooked) and understanding which trays they were held in (kept warm), and how to cook meats, sausage, (blue gloves!) and canadian bacon.

The next couple of hours were spent cooking lunch meats, 10-1's (regular burgers), (blue gloves!) 4-1's, (quarter 1bs), (blue gloves!) angus, (blue gloves!) steaks, (blue gloves!) crispy chicken, spicey chicken, chicken nuggets, select chicken, and fish. yeesh, when I was sent on break I didn't want to eat any of it, even with the employee discount of 50%. I had a cup of coffee (free). I sat with Max during my break, a young black guy who asked if I had worked construction before this job. When I asked him "did I look big enough to work construction?" he said no, but most older guys there had came from that field. When asked, Max told me that of the dozen or so people there, only three had been there when he started 8 mos. ago, and they were not shift managers then (they all are now). I guess I did all right, when a another new hire( it was Mike, the "I keyed the managers car when he fired me from Arby's" guy), that I had met during orientation came on about 3 hrs after me, my coworkers told me to train him!

Day one at my McJob

Oy, spent 3.5 hrs video training..prep, cook, pull, hold, clean is the formula. Went to an orientation in Foley, AL yesterday. Met two other new hires, one revealed two of his brothers were in jail, and the other guy told about keying the managers car after being fired at Arbys. Not the caliber of co-worker I'm accustomed to.

Rhonda expected me to be sent home after they got a look at my tattooed left arm, I had read during orientation that tattoos were to be covered. But no, they kept me on, even when meeting the manager nothing was said. There are at least two other employees I observed there working with visible tattoos, that had led me to think they were allowed. Oh, I had also researched their dress code, no beards allowed. I shaved, then got an interview with a bearded 22yr old shift manager. Gonna stayed mustached, no beard for now, all the ink on my arm is enough personal statement. "Slow Down" as it says on my arm.