I’m A Manager At McDonalds... AMA!

[WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue]

I’m a Manager at McDonalds

I’ve worked for McDonalds for several years in different stores and have received personal awards for my customer service. I never initially wanted to become a manager, however with the support and encouragement of my business manager I went through the crew development programme to become one.

So... AMA?

I can't understand why the OP is getting a hard time. There is nothing wrong or unusual about someone being knowledgeable and happy at work. I know lots of people like that where I work (me included).

I suspect if they were a miserable uninformed and unhappy person they wouldn't waste their time on AMA.

OP I don't have anything really to ask except that I do love the fries at McDonald's. Head and shoulders above the other fast food places. The only downside is I love them caked in salt so I am terrible and add my own .

Of course OP is legit! She's been posting here years and has often mentioned her job at MacDs in passing.

Had a Toffee Sundae the other day - it was amazing! I wouldn't have known about it if not for MN - and I couldn't see it on the picture menus behind the tills so was rather unconvinced about asking for it, but yes, it was produced in all its caramelly glory - perhaps they would have been more popular if more heavily promoted?

Does your store have issues with drug addicts, or very anti social customers? If so, how do you manage this and minimise risk to other customers?

I ask this because I often feel like I’m working a frontline service in a fast food store. Because of the location and layout of the toilets, my store attracts a fair number of injecting drug users that leave needles in the toilets. We also recently had a guy almost die of a heroin overdose in store, but 10mins later it’s back to smiles and excellent customer service etc. There is so much emotional labour involved in minimum wage work at times it’s unreal.

And duties outside our job descriptions- disposing of dirty needles, cleaning up blood etc.

'And duties outside our job descriptions- disposing of dirty needles, cleaning up blood etc.'

That's awful

Are your toilets sealed off and store closed until the areas can be specialist deep cleaned etc

Or do they expect the food handling staff to deal with this?

OP I don't have anything really to ask except that I do love the fries at McDonald's. Head and shoulders above the other fast food places. The only downside is I love them caked in salt so I am terrible and add my own

FancyADoughnut Fair enough I do like quite a bit of salt myself!

perhaps they would have been more popular if more heavily promoted?

ApplesinmyPocket Possibly. I think because we always have promotional flurries they take precedence over the rest of our ice cream range, so it’s hard to find advertising space for them.

Does your store have issues with drug addicts, or very anti social customers? If so, how do you manage this and minimise risk to other customers?

MonsterRehab23 I’m lucky enough to live in, shall we say, a naice area, so we’ve only had one needle incident and with the tools and training McDonalds gives I felt confident enough to deal with it.

We do suffer with minor ASB from teenagers, but a lot of the time that’s just how you handle them. A lot of the training on the management course is to do with ASB and how to deal with it so it’s nice to have that support.

If we had any incidents we have specific procedures to follow and we also have an emergency alarm straight to the police station within our reach, and they do come quickly for each and every call, even though they’re mostly minor issues.

Or do they expect the food handling staff to deal with this?

MarthasGinYard I don’t know what company MonsterRehab23 works for, but if that happened at one of our stores it would be a shift manager that has to deal with it, as we’ve been given the proper training on it. We have special biohazard kits to protect ourselves and the customers.

If someone was on a zero hours contract and was then signed to a 30 hpw apprenticeship, how long would it take for the new hours to be implemented?

I agree it’s area specific really. My previous store was in a shopping centre so the most we were dealing with were a few rowdy teens. I now work in a city centre location so it’s to be expected really .

Managers are expected to dispose of needles, I do get asked though as I worked in a healthcare setting (in a previous life), so I am trained to dispose of sharps. Afaik we do have a bio hazard kit but it’s mostly used on vomit. We do shut the area off for cleaning but I’m always getting told to hurry up and get back on shop floor .

Yes, I know, my store is not the best...

Whattodo, I forgot to say I've really enjoyed this topic, thank you!

I've got one more question, which I don't think has been mentioned so far: seating policy. In my family, as on MN we are split on this issue - some of us think it's unreasonable to expect people to buy food not even knowing whether they'll get a seat (probably the majority MN position - but I think it makes more sense if people don't 'reserve seats' before queuing, as the whole system would flow better and people with food would actually get seated faster if no foodless bottoms were taking up seats!

So I'm curious to know if McDonald's has an official policy on this?
Is the system designed based on the assumption that customers won't take seats before they get food?

If someone was on a zero hours contract and was then signed to a 30 hpw apprenticeship, how long would it take for the new hours to be implemented?

Crocky I am not too sure on that I’m afraid; it’s usually the business (store) manager that deals with contracts or a first/second if necessary.

MonsterRehab23 Is it McDonalds you work for or another fast food company? I’m sorry you’re having to deal with it and being told to hurry up about it. Sure, it would be great to have that area for more seating for customers, but it is vastly more important that the situation is dealt with correctly and safely, not just as fast as you possibly can.

Whattodo, I forgot to say I've really enjoyed this topic, thank you!

ApplesinmyPocket You’re welcome! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it

So I'm curious to know if McDonald's has an official policy on this?

We do not have an official seating policy. The majority of our customers do however appear to order food and then find a table rather than the other way around, and I can’t say seating is ever really an issue.

I do personally agree it is better to buy then find a table, in an ideal world, but in a busy place I do often find myself looking for a table first

Great thread too OP.

No I work for a different fast food company. I did work in McDs when I was (an immature)16 for about 10 months though. There are quite a few similarities between the two but different vibes, if that makes sense. Mcds seems to have more P/T staff and students. In my company, and I’ve worked in 3 stores, most staff are full timers even from 17/18. There are 3 p/t staff in my store (myself included) out of nearly 30 employees.

My local McDs is great though, very clean and efficient.

Hello I have a question!

So I love the toffee sundaes and was gutted to read you say they're going.

We are at McDonald's right now and they say this isn't true at all. Their exact words were ' they're not being discontinued because they're too popular'

You've said several times that they are. So who do I believe?!

MonsterRehab23 Thanks! Yeah, McDonalds do employ a lot of students and a lot of them continue to work afterwards as well, which is why we have so many young managers as by the time they’ve got to their twenties they’ve had several years experience in the job.

We are at McDonald's right now and they say this isn't true at all. Their exact words were ' they're not being discontinued because they're too popular'

You've said several times that they are. So who do I believe?!

CherryChatsworth Was it a crew member or a manager? If it was a crew member they probably haven’t been told, and if it was a manager then they haven’t been keeping up to date as it’s all over the McDonalds intranet, head office is repeatedly sending out emails and it was mentioned on a course I was on recently too.

McDonalds gives its managers a lot of information, so it’s not unusual for some to bypass reading everything and just wait to be told. I like to keep ahead of the game so I read absolutely everything available to me, but that’s not the case for quite a few managers unfortunately.

Thanks for answering my question Whattodo

"in a busy place I do often find myself looking for a table first " I probably do too!

Would you consider bringing back Root Beer as a limited edition menu item? I miss it so much!

So I love the toffee sundaes and was gutted to read you say they're going.

We are at McDonald's right now and they say this isn't true at all. Their exact words were ' they're not being discontinued because they're too popular'

You've said several times that they are. So who do I believe?!

Hope you bought every single one available and stashed them in your freezer CherryChatsworth

ApplesinmyPocket You’re welcome

Would you consider bringing back Root Beer as a limited edition menu item? I miss it so much!

twilightcafe It’s doubtful they’d bring it back; it was an extremely poor seller. Sorry!

I have a bunch of questions!

What’s the weirdest complaint you have ever received?

What’s the biggest order you’ve ever had to put together?

What is your best/worst seller?

Are people who buy the share box of nuggets just for themselves more common than I think? (I feel like it’s just me...)

Where do you stand on the ‘hacks’ that float around on the internet?

I probably have more, fast food culture fascinates me!

OP thanks so much for your dedication to what has been a truly enlightening thread.

I have a question: a couple of weeks ago I went to McDonald's and ordered a medium fries and I got absolutely shit loads. I mean tonnes! I was on my lunch break and went to the staff room and shared it with colleagues because there were so many. I'm not complaining - far from it! It was great! But did the woman serving me just have a random moment or did she feel sorry for me or something?

ClandestineAdulation Great questions!

What’s the weirdest complaint you have ever received?

That the burger was too hot! They ordered a Big Mac, brought it back straight away and complained it was too hot. They didn’t seem to like my suggestion that they leave it a couple of minutes to cool down

I honestly had no other answer for them...

What’s the biggest order you’ve ever had to put together?

29 Happy Meals for a scouts group, and then the 29 ice creams after The problem we had was space; there just wasn’t really the room to assemble so many Happy Meals!

What is your best/worst seller?

Our best seller is definitely the Big Mac, for obvious reasons! Our worst seller is probably the BLC; we sell one a day, if that.

Are people who buy the share box of nuggets just for themselves more common than I think? (I feel like it’s just me...)

They are! Lots of people buy share boxes just for themselves so it’s definitely not just you

Where do you stand on the ‘hacks’ that float around on the internet?

What do you mean ‘hacks’? If you mean the secret menu, that’s just an age old myth; we’ve never had one.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want

OP thanks so much for your dedication to what has been a truly enlightening thread.

Beelin Thank you so much

But did the woman serving me just have a random moment or did she feel sorry for me or something?

Crew overfilling fries (similarly with Flurries) is a massive problem, as it leads to customers feeling they aren’t getting the correct amount when fries are filled correctly. A medium portion should be 114g, but crew have a tendency to stuff the boxes and it’s a hard habit to break!

In the minority but I have to say I like the iPads! My daughter doesn't have one, nor a tablet, nor any access to a phone/screen. If we are out she colours, does stickers, we chat etc. So on the perhaps once a month visit for a McMuffin she absolutely loves a go on the iPad in there. She picks the colouring in game every time. It's a real treat for her. Everything in moderation I say, and the adults can still parent despite the technology being there.,

Thanks for answering!

Yeah, I guess I kinda mean the supposed secret menu.

I’ve found this thread so interesting, so thanks for answering!

Are you able to say roughly how many Big Macs or nuggets you sell on average each day?

Op are you watching the secrets of McD Ch 5??

I have a question about vouchers and touch screen ordering. They ask you to scan a barcode, but there’s no barcodes when you want to redeem a coffee loyalty card or get a £1.99 Big Mac and fries for giving feedback. I assumed you’d have to queue and order at the counter, but then I’m sure I saw someone using a coffee loyalty card on the machines in my local food court. How did they do it?