The 10 worst things about working at mcdonalds

Or not loving it as the case may often be. I've worked at mcdonalds since I left school so I am now a 4 star employee of 2 and a half years (a stark contrast to my life in fashion and marketing) and I've read quite a few articles like this; the worst things about working at mcdonalds. The truth is customers in general are rude and irritating but here are the top 10 worst things about working at mcdonalds.

1. Sauces
There are so many twitter jokes about how employees look like they want to kill you when you ask for sauce. The truth is, I don't mind at all if you ask me for sauce. But don't ask for BBQ and then once I've gone and gotten it, ask for Ketchup and then once I've given you that ask for Curry sauce too. And don't ask me why we don't do mayo; we just don't. And definitely don't ask me if the sauces are in the bag if at no point during your ordering you actually asked for any - I am not a mind reader.

2. Exact cash
You may think you're being super helpful by paying in exact cash, which most of the time you would be. But don't sit at the payment window for 20 minutes counting out change holding up the queue. And don't give me your life time savings of 5p coins for an £8.38 order. And don't just dump a load of change in my hand and then drive off - most of you are worse at counting than you realise and you've probably short changed me by £1.20 even though you counted it out 'exactly'.

3. Complaints
100% the most annoying part of my job. If you're going to complain then please be polite. If you come up and tell me nicely that your fries are cold, you will still get some new ones. Exactly the same outcome as if you slam your food down on the counter and tell me to touch your half-eaten burger (that I served to you 20 minutes ago) to see how "freezing cold" it is. Don't worry I believe you, I just also think you're an idiot.

4. Working outside
Like every single other employee in the building, I think that managers putting people outside to direct cars or tell you where to park up and wait is a waste of labour costs. I will also have probably been out there for 2 hours already and am most likely very cold so you're witty comments about me drawing the short straw do not help. 

5. The ice cream machine
The ice cream and milkshake machine is the most dreaded place to work in the store on a busy day; it runs out of mix and syrup constantly, you end up covered in milkshake and it breaks on pretty much a daily basis. So when you try to order a milkshake or ice cream and I tell you it's broken, please don't dumbly parrot back to me 'no ice creams?!'. I don't have a speech problem and I'm pretty sure you don't have a hearing problem so just accept it and move on. Ps. moaning about the fact that it's a sunny day and you want an ice cream will not magically fix the machine.

6. Being hungover
No one likes going to work hungover in any job but between the smell of egg on the breakfast shift, the fact that you are dying to eat some of the hangover-cure-food that surrounds you (which you won't be able to until your break in about 4 hours) and the rude customers that would test the patience of a saint, I think that going into work hungover when you work at mcdonalds is probably the worst of them all. And if you started really early then there's a good chance that you went into work still drunk and your hangover has kicked in while you've been there - not a pretty sight.

7. Lying when we ask you to park up
I know it's supposed to be 'fast food' but contrary to popular belief, things still do take time to cook and put together and bag up so if we ask you to park round the corner when you've ordered 5 large meals all with milkshakes then just do it. Don't tell me you can't wait because you're late for work, or because your babies crying or because you have to be at the airport in 15 minutes (my personal favourite that someone tried using on me, bearing in mind that you can't actually get to any airport in 15 minutes from the store I work at without breaking serious speeding laws). If you were actually late you wouldn't of come round the drive thru.

8. Happy meal toys
Yes we know it's deadly important that your child collects every single toy in each promotion but we have no control over what's in stock. I don't mind swapping your toy, but don't request a specific toy by the character's name in whatever film or TV show the happy meal is currently based on, because I won't have any idea what you're talking about. And don't moan at me when I show you the 4 different ones we've got and you moan that your child has them all already - maybe you should bring them to mcdonalds less then and actually give them a home cooked meal every once in a while.

9. "Give me a minute"
If you've been in the queue for a while when it's busy, please don't finally come up to order and then say 'give me a minute'. You've already had 5, you should definitely know what you want by now. It's even worse when you order for the whole family but neglected to ask them what drinks they want so I have to stand and wait for your whole family to shout across the restaurant what drink they want. Not ideal.

10. The speaker box in the drive thru
If it's even drizzling or if there's a light breeze then you won't be able to hear a single thing that customers are saying. Which leads to them getting annoyed and talking to you as if you didn't hear what they ordered because you're stupid as oppose to because they ordered by speaking very quietly out the front window from the back seat. We will also not be amused if you try putting on a funny accent while you order or try to chat us up once you get to the payment window. Oh and FYI, there are cameras that we can see you on while you order so if you're tempted to give a middle finger to the speaker box then we might be tempted to accidentally give you cold fries or an under-filled drink. Just saying.

But despite my moaning, working at mcdonalds does mean you end up meeting the most amazing set of people who become your second family and who you get drunk with and then endure your shifts hungover together. And moan to eachother about customers who do any of the above.