28 to 40: What I Learned Working At McDonald’s

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I feel that I learned all about work ethics from my teen experience working for this famous fast food restaurant!

Like many teenagers, this is one of my earliest work experiences. Prior to working at McDonald’s, I made my fun money by babysitting all the neighborhood kids in my small town. That was great but I was literally making $1/hr if I was lucky! Good grief! I would go on to use this babysitting experience later in my nanny career.

I actually loved working at McDonald’s. Looking back at these early days I can see a lot of things that I learned from this first “real” job that I think contributed to the strong work ethic that I have today.

• I learned about planning and time management.
  I had to drive 30 minutes each way to get to work.  This required planning in order to be on time and the commitment to not be late. This has most definitely stuck with me as I am rarely late for anything. I would tend to be the person that is always a bit early.
• I learned to work well with others.
  The workplace definitely had a goal to be team centered. I made friends at work and we interacted well with one another to get the job done. Work was a lot of fun for this reason.
• I learned that I enjoyed working with people.
  Typically you would start your McD’s career working behind the scenes…flipping burgers, dropping fries, creating salads, etc. If you were a good candidate to work the front cache registers, this would be next in your level of training. My favorite position was the drive through and I was fast! 😉 I enjoyed the face-to-face interaction with the customers the most.
• I learned the value of an incredible business model.
  This lesson came much later in life as I learned more and more about business and recognize the value in how I had received my training while working at this famous franchise. McDonald’s works as a business model because of its consistency with training practices and procedures. You can know that whether you walk into a McD’s here in MI or one in downtown Paris, most often that burger is going to taste exactly the same and the person taking your order will be practicing the same procedure. Now when I look at my own business, I always keep this in mind believing that having a goal to be system oriented is a must for success!
• I learned to work hard for my money!
  There were long days and a lot of extra hours during my times here both in High School and also my first year of college. I learned how to make my own money and to work for the things that I wanted. I didn’t always feel like going to work, but I did often feel that I needed the income, particularly during my freshman year at college.

Thanks “Golden Arches”, for helping to develop a good work ethic in me!

P.S. Also in later years, McDonald’s would come to haunt me as one of my main sources of weight gain and food comforts. So I did come to have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with this place.

P.S.S. I “think” I have made peace but I still tread lightly when it comes to fast food. 😉