My very first job was everyone's worst nightmare: McDonalds. However, because of my great managers and coworkers I came to enjoy my work. However, there are a few reasons why working the front counter at a fast food place sucks:
1. You can't choose your customers. There are five types of customers that eat at McDonalds: the ones who know right away what they want to order but say the order too fast, the ones who have no clue what they want and stand around for five minutes trying to think, the ones who change their order five times or more before they're happy, the ones who ask stupid questions, and then there are the ones who know what they want and order at a decent speed. The fifth type is the most rare. I don't know how many times I had to call a manager to cancel an order because someone changed their minds. Of course in a sit down restaurant it's not that bad because you only annoy the waitress. The real problem is that in a fast food place the kitchen starts to make your food as soon as you order it. That means that if you change your order five times the kitchen has made five meals. The people who ask stupid questions are also annoying but for the most part you just have to give them an answer and everything will go smoothly. It's the people who stand in front of you and take ten minutes to know what they want that really annoy me especially because they always come during the rush. Here's the thing, if you don't know what you want to order and the restaurant is busy, let someone else go in front of you in line until you know what you want!!!!! The longer you stand in front of the cash not knowing what you want the more annoyed the worker and other customers get! Also, while you are ordering, please don't say it at lightning speed. There are various menus that the workers must go through in order to get you a burger with no pickles, onions or sauce and it takes a few seconds to do that properly. Of course I thought all theese things would annoy me the worse, but I was wrong.
2. There is always cleaning to be done. When working in a busy restaurant you always have to clean something. There are table to be wipes, trays to be washed and floors to be swept. Unfortunately people tend to be stupid, which makes your life harder. For instance, in the McDonalds I worked at there are three garbage bins in the dining area. One of those bins was in the middle and the other two were in more out-of-the-way areas. For some unknown reason people always put their garbage in the central bin even if it was obviously overflowing with junk. Even more annoying were those people who left their trays on the tables because they thought there was no room in the garbage bin. However, if one would look around one would easily see that there was another garbage bin LESS THAN TWELVE FEET FROM THE OVERFLOWING ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are also those who insist on leaving their trays on the table even when they are more than able to take them to the garbage bin.
3. You have to depend on other people to get things done. Not that having to depend on people is a bad thing, it can just annoying when the people you're depending on are getting things wrong. For example, when you are taking orders you rely on the people making the food as well as those who are bringing the food to the counter. I have run into many problems when there has been a mix up and the wrong food is brought out. Unfortunately, whoever is closest to the customer gets to hear all the complaints so it's usually the order taker.
Thankfully I will never have to deal with that ever again, but I do miss my coworkers. On the bright side I can go and visit them whenever and we live in the same city so it's not rare to run into them. Now to find a new job......
