Ever go out for some nice, fast food at the local McDonald’s; sit down in the dining area with your big mac & fries and just want to puke?

Yeah, me neither… until today. To most people I guess this really isn’t much of a big deal, but to someone like me it’s appaling; just hear me out:

Back in 1997 I got my first job, at the local McDonald’s. Lucky me had a bank teller for a mother and she happened to schmooz a job opportunity for me every chance she could get when management brought their deposits down. YES! I was employed at age 14, lucky me.

From the beginning I learned the hard way how to follow orders, how to make anything metal sparkle, how to cook the perfect fast food and how to do it all efficiently and with a smile. What I didn’t really realize at the time is that I was learning some really important shit about making it in the real world. That first job I had, I realized that attention to detail was important. Every time I got blasted for having my shirt untucked, every time I had to work grill all alone or direct the grill area team when an unexpected 4 buses rolled in, every time, lol; every time I got to “call the bin” (anyone remember doing that?) was something that ended up lasting every moment of every day since…

So the reason I tell you all that is related to what I saw today. If I were to take my experiences of working at McDonald’s, I would say that everything that ever happened to me there is right on with what they talk about in their commercials about how it’s such a great place to start working. Today, I don’t know if I blame McD’s or the franchisees, or maybe even just bad parenting in general but so far, all I see is shit in the past few years.

Rude, obnoxious, and barely-english speaking hispanics working up front and in drive through where it’s hard to understand even those who have mastered the english language. There are kids working in there who don’t have enough respect to tuck in their shirts; they hang on the equipment and gab with each other while I wait to be served. They slouch and put their hands in their pockets and shit while if I look without even trying I can pick out numerous pieces of trash on the floor, or stains to be cleaned up. If I was ever caught doing any of that I would get taken back into the office and worked over big time!

Maybe it’s bad parenting; maybe we’re not teaching our kids what’s important. Maybe the reason these low-lifes are taking over these jobs is because we have our kids trained to think that straight out of the box (or vagina), that they’re “better than that” Guess what parents? They’re not.

Maybe it’s the franchisee who should take a little more pride in their store instead of thinking of only the bottom line. Sure those mexicans are cheap, but I’ll guarantee you I’m not coming back to your store again! Matter of fact, you can keep the mexicans just make sure they stay in the grill area, don’t talk and then go hire some competant managerial staff… you know, the type who will actually BUILD TEAMS and TRAIN their employees to do more than just take the money from my hand. Ever think that there’s more to it than the transaction at hand?

Maybe it’s McD’s: If you got the time, spend some more of it cracking down on these franchisees… there’s a lot of ‘em out there getting really rich and at the same time, ruining your beautiful brand.

So if any of this made any sense and you want to know where to get some real, good ‘ol fashioned McDonald’s service with a smile? Go here: