Everyone has a starting point for various moments in one’s life. Whether it is beginning a sport for the first time, learning how to ride a bike, participating in school activities, or when you hit that life-changing moment of becoming an adult, your first job.
Some people are lucky enough to skip having to work at a fast food restaurant as their first step in their job/career paths. Society says you should “try harder, “go into retail,” or “become a clerk at a bank,” instead of starting in fast food. After beginning my first job, and working in it for a little over seven months now, I am going to explain why I believe everyone should try a job at fast food and a bit of the trials that go along with it.
First off, let me tell you what two important aspect of my job that has helped me become a better person and traits that I wish my customers, and any fast food customers, would have. The first one is courtesy and respect. If you have never worked in a fast food restaurant before, you probably do not know how massive of a multitasker you must be. When you are assigned one position, that entails multiple sub-positions and multiple tasks that do not even involve your initial position that you were assigned.
When you, as a customer, hear a worker say, “one moment please” or “I am sorry could you please repeat that for me,” do not make us hate our lives by tearing us down with your disrespect. Yes, we do understand that you are our first priority and that we are "fast food," but you need to understand that you are not our only customer that we are taking care of and fast food is only as fast as our machines.
Also, when we tell you and show you nothing but our respect and courtesy to you, we deserve to be shown and told that same respect. We are human beings just like you, and when you are disrespectful in any way or many, you make the rest of our workday gloomy and our self-esteem is crushed.
Secondly, just because we are not your favorite restaurant or just because we are McDonald’s or any other place that are at the butt of your jokes, do not degrade us as people for working here. Even though I have been working at McDonald’s for a short amount of time, I have met some of the most unique and astonishing people that work here and are some of the best friends that I have.
When you sit there and use our company as the butt of your joke,or us because we work there, you are not only disrespecting us but you are disrespecting our company and our hard work. Yes, we might mess up your order or maybe we are a little slow today but that does not mean we deserve your disrespect; we are only human.
I have many coworkers that are in their older years that work here not for the money or because they need a job, but because they love their coworkers and the interactions they have with respectful customers.
I also have many coworkers who can only work here because they are still learning how to speak/understand English because they have families that they need to support and do not want to get another job because this one allows them to have family time, or for any other reason. You do not know our lives, and we do not deserve your disrespect.
Moral of the story, the next time you go to any fast food restaurant, please remember: we're human just like you, we all have our own personal struggles and life stories, we cannot control how fast we get the food out to you and if something about our company makes you upset, please do not show us disrespect.
Why do I work here? Because I love respectful customers and interactions, and I love my coworkers. This job has taught me great communication skills, has improved my multi-tasking abilities, given me a new respect for every restaurant there is and so many more life-enhancing skills, abilities, and friendships.
So, the next time that you think it is okay to take your bad day out on us, disrespect our company, our coworkers, or anything else that you can think of that is considered rude, keep in mind what I have told you above.
Welcome to McDonald's, how may I help you today?
