Spent half of my break waiting for food

[EmptyTheFrickingBins]

I started a job at McDonald's a few months ago and it's mostly been great but we have a new business manager and she absolutely hates me for some reason. I'll call her Julie for clarity.

Julie has implemented some new policies like rather than asking kitchen directly for your break meal, it has to be put through the pos system which means it needs a manager to approve it. I spent 10 minutes yesterday waiting for a manager (Julie) to do this, and then a further 10 minutes waiting for my food. My total break was 45 mins long so I spent half of it standing at front counter waiting on a nine hour shift.

I do usually take a packed lunch but the crew fridge is broken and we're not allowed to put food in the walk in. I can't leave it in my locker because the crew room is absolutely boiling and even with ice packs food goes sour before it can be eaten.

I spoke to Julie about it and she seems to think I'm being unreasonable not wanting to spend half of my break standing at the counter like oliver waiting for more. It wasn't particularly busy yesterday even! She was in the office counting the safe, which I'm sure could have waited for the 30 seconds it took to put my order through!

Aibu?

Surely every working person has to spend some on their break waiting for food if they don't bring their own?

I thunk your dislike for your manager is clouding your judgment.

If there's an issue with the fridge ask for it to be repaired. You are fighting the wrong battle.

I can't leave the till area until the order has been put through or it won't be put through. Ditto having to stand there waiting for my food with customers looking at me and asking me for help then getting pissy when I say I'm on my break. Believe me, it's not the same as going to a shop for food because at least then you're away from work and the customers, not standing in one spot waiting like a muppet.

Not for twenty minutes while a manager goes off to hide in the office and won't let another manager process the breaks.

We have all been asking for the fridge to be fixed or replaced.

I worked in an office before I moved and would go to the cafe downstairs. It's a totally different experience.

In the famous words of askamananager “your boss sucks and isn’t going to change” so you either have to figure out a workaround (some great easily implemented suggestions already given) or find a new job.

I would think that you could either transfer stores or hit up the kfc nearby.

One thing that isn’t going to change anything is complaining here. Even if everyone here agreed with you your options would be the same.

Of course all Staff food has to go through POS - stock must have been all over the place if it wasn’t put through before! How on earth did they account for missing stock?! Anyway, that aside - My Staff always placed their food order before their break started, so it was ready exactly on time.

It’s probably why there is a new manager

If she went to count the safe AFTER you’d asked her to approve your meal she’s completely out of order. I agree that standing at the till for 20 minutes when unnecessary is completely unreasonable. I don’t honestly beleive anybody would think such beg

I would ask her to approve your meal on your next shift and explain the events of today and how it was unreasonable. If she continues to behave in this manner, I would keep a dated diary of event and contact HR.

YABNU

It’s mad that people think it’s acceptable to spend half your break waiting for food when you work in a fast food restaurant. Some people really need to check their internal biases about what is 'reasonable' treatment for a McDonalds/ fast food employee.

This is poor management and is easily abused by managers with personal grudges. A break is meant to be a break, not standing at the counter waiting for a manager to approve something they have made compulsory. If half your break is spent unnecessarily queuing, you haven’t actually had a break.

Food on site is a perk of working at McDonald’s. It’s not unreasonable to use that perk rather than bringing a packed lunch or going out, so I don’t know why people are acting like the OP should have to do that.

The office equivalent would be having queue at reception or a manager’s desk for permission to leave to buy lunch or even use the kettle. Now imagine time is ticking down and you can see your manager most of the time that you are waiting.

This is an inefficient system and a management problem, not a 'problem employee' issue.

Getting your food for free is a perk of most catering jobs. It's not the same as the OP choosing to go somewhere to purchase her lunch

It’s mad that people think it’s acceptable to spend half your break waiting for food when you work in a fast food restaurant. Some people really need to check their internal biases about what is 'reasonable' treatment for a McDonalds/ fast food employee.

Why do fast food employees deserve their food quicker than any other person on a half hour break? They aren't all office workers who just swan off for half an hour before returning to cushy jobs (not that office jobs are all cushy either).

The office equivalent would be having queue at reception or a manager’s desk for permission to leave to buy lunch or even use the kettle. Now imagine time is ticking down and you can see your manager most of the time that you are waiting.

No, its not the same.

You sound jealous of your manager for some reason.

Her manager sounds a jobs worth, why would op be jealous? She just wants her lunch with enough time to actually eat it.

I was just thinking op, could you order your lunch in advance, say 10 minutes before your break, so by the time it is lunchtime, she will have approved it?

40?! Oh wow, I assumed you were a teenager. I'm not surprised your boss doesn't like you if you're persistently whining about spending your lunch time getting lunch when that is what pretty much every worker does. If you're a teenager, it's just inexperience but at 40! Wow. Frightening.

I work in retail too. Often do 9 hour shifts like you too.

There's a easy solution to stop customers mithering you on your break. I always put on a jacket or coat to cover the top half of my uniform. If I had to wait by the till to get my free food I'd be doing that and wearing headphones / scrolling on my phone to drown out the noise too.

Often in life there are things that make our lives worse that aren't our fault, but nobody is going to fix it for you and if you can do something to make it better, even if it's really someone else's responsibility, then the only person you hurt by not improving your own situation is yourselff.

No. We have to clock out first.

Nope. Until she came we wrote our meals down in the shift book so the food was accounted for. It was a much quicker system and worked perfectly under the old business manager.

How do you know it worked perfectly? Especially from a back of house perspective, are you part of the Management team?

I suspect it didn't work as perfectly as you think it did and the food wasn't properly accounted for...