McDonald’s

Mandy, Customer Experience Leader

Length of service: 19 months

Spending time with the family is very important to me. Especially my two boys and my granddaughter who’s the reason I came to work for McDonald’s, it’s her fault I work for McDonald’s. Because before I came to McDonald’s I was a complex support worker looking after people who’ve got severe disabilities and I looked after a young man who was a tetraplegic. So it’s very intense work and twelve hour night shifts. So I did four nights a week. So I was either at work, asleep and trying to catch up on housework. And when she was four at the time she just said to me, “Granny I never see you. You’re either asleep or at work,” and I thought, “You’re right and she’s growing up too quick” So changed job, saw the job at McDonald’s and thought, “Well I’ll go there and do that until I find a proper job.” And it didn’t quite work out that way so. I love my gardening as well.

The thing that inspires me more than anything else is people that overcome adversity. So disabled people. I’m so in awe of people that are basically written off or, you know, “Oh they can’t do that,” that go and say, “No, I’m going to prove you all wrong and I’m going to do such and such.”

The diversity of the job, definitely. Meeting customers is the best part. Not always sometimes the teenagers but a lot of them I’ve got on with now and banter with them and all that sort of thing. The little ones when they come in and they know your name when they start being regulars and the families. The older people that come in that are very, very lonely some of them are and they’ve come in and have a coffee. Doing all the different roles that I do within my role. So the customer care, the cleaning, the fundraising, the community work with the football team, the community work with the allotments that we work with. Just the massive diversity really. The families. I love it because we … as McDonald’s are trying to sort of make it a more family friendly restaurant. We get the children in doing the colouring and they love looking at what’s the next Happy Meal coming in and their faces when they’re opening the Happy Meals.

The diversity as well I think. Not just in the role, the diversity of people that McDonald’s employs so you know from very young to my sort of age. And it doesn’t matter if you’re straight, gay, bi, transgender, nobody gets treated any differently in McDonald’s. You all bring something to the job role. And I think that’s great.

I think because of my age I use a lot of my life experiences and I’m encouraged to do that. I’m also very bossy, I will readily admit. I’m very organised so if something needs doing they know things get sorted out at the front and the restaurant and fun days and things like that I’m a very organised person.

What’s your favourite thing about working for McDonald’s?
The customers, the different customers and the regulars. Love when they come in, your face lights up when you see them and you know what they like to eat, where they like to sit, the kids names, if they’ve been on holiday.

Take a step back and breathe. When it’s really, really busy and you’re running around like a headless chook sometimes you just have to take a second, go, “Right, what needs doing first?” instead of just running around.

You’re not treated any differently. And it’s lovely sometimes because a lot of the young ones at work call me Mother Hen. If they’ve got problems, if they’ve got relationship problems or they’re a bit upset they’ll come and put their head on my shoulder.

Most proud moment?
Conference Storytellers. That was amazing. Scary, very scary when you’re stood out on a stage in front of two and half thousand people, that was scary. But there again I’ve made probably friends for life with the storytellers. We’re still in touch with one another, we still talk to one another. We’re from all walks of life, all ages but it was just such a brilliant experience doing it.

Big Mac or Quarter Pounder: Quarter Pounder
Milkshake or McFlurry: McFlurry
French Fries or Salad: Salad
Chicken Nuggets or Chicken Selects: Chicken Selects
Early Bird or Night Owl: Early Bird

Mark, Customer Experience Leader

I do a lot in the community, I volunteer as a boys brigade captain. I also support the Ganyan community.

I like most, meeting new people every day because every day is different when people come into the store, especially children. When families come into the restaurant I make sure they have priorities seats, show them the baby change toilets are and after they have their dinner I give them balloons to see them off and say good bye.

My top tip for getting through a shift is be yourself. I am always singing in my head, get a lovely song that you love and sing it in your head.

McDonald’s support me to get my apprenticeship qualifications, customer level practitioner 2. I have a mentor who helps me through my assignments and also when I am not well I get the manager calling to check on you as well.

As a team player I always make sure I go and find out if they need any help from me, especially if it is busy. If they want me to take a hold out or stock the condiments, I do it. I am always checking if there is something they need extra hands with.

I think McDonald’s want your personality to shine through, todays work when I say goodbye they say thank you for today.

Most proud moment when I won the first quarter best employee in the whole North West. It made me feel great, motivated and inspired to do more.

Big Mac or Quarter Pounder: Quarter Pounder
Milkshake or McFlurry: McFlurry
French Fries or Salad: Salad
Chicken Nuggets or Chicken Selects: Chicken Nuggets
Early Bird or Night Owl: Early Bird

Fred, Customer Experience Leader

Length of service: 14 years

My role is on the front, hospitality and my role is greeting people as they come in and making sure that they’re well satisfied.

Well, my first job was in the kitchen doing the breakfast and that entailed doing the round eggs, the burgers and doing the wraps. Then it was the mealtime dinner time was doing the fries and the quarter pounders.

I do judo twice a week. Fishing on a Saturday and golf on a Friday.

I retired early and my pension went down and I retired before I was entitled to my state pension so I was finding it very difficult, so there was a young lady who brought her child to judo and she sat there with a what’s it board and I was being nosey, I said ‘what are you doing?’ She said ‘I’m doing the schedules’. So, I said ‘oh’ and she said ‘I work for a restaurant’ and now I did not know McDonald’s worked as a restaurant, I always thought they were just called fast food.

So, I went on for a couple of weeks and then picked up courage and I said ‘is there any jobs going?’ and she said she’d find out. Two weeks later I got an interview and I started on the 5 January 2005 I think.

Meeting people, enjoying the crew members, keeping the standards up for McDonald’s, I like doing that because if you don’t keep them up they start to slip and then people will think what I was thinking, that you’re not quite good, but now it’s proved that they’re excellent.

People want to be treated, well I like to treat people as I like to be treated. You can tell a lot by body language. You can tell if they don’t want to be bothered, you can see if they’re upset and you can see if you can have a bit of fun with them. And if you get it right you’ve cracked it.

What has been your most memorable, your most proud moment at McDonald’s?
Getting the job.
Inspires me? Making sure that I get everything right when I go to work.

How do you find the social aspect of working at McDonald’s, have you made some friends?
Yes. We go out regular, I’ve been to places that I wouldn’t have gone if I’d have been staying at home.
Well going to a curry house or a, you know, it’s hard to say really but it has broadened my mind a lot because I was working in a factory, working with friends and what not who I still see, but this is has made me more sociable than I was before.

Yeah, I’m encouraged to be myself, sometimes to the annoyance of the bosses

Big Mac or Quarter Pounder: Big Mac
Milkshake or McFlurry: McFlurry
French Fries or Salad: French Fries
Chicken Nuggets or Chicken Selects: Select
Early Bird or Night Owl: Night Owl