i'm lovin it

some of you might know, but a part of me working on the mcdonald's account requires that i have a "restaurant orientation day."  that's basically a fancy way of saying, i have to spend a day working in a mcdonald's store.  sounds like a day of observation at first i'm sure, but the restaurant orientation is actually the real deal.  you flip burgers, you make fries, you take orders, and even handle the drive thru window.  it's pretty extreme but it's a global requirement of anyone who works on the business, so everyone at corporate and all agencies have had a day in the store to better understand the business.

unfortunately i don't have any photos of me in uniform (i didn't get to wear one which i was very disappointed about) or any shocking secrets to reveal.  i was actually pretty excited going in thinking that i would get to wear a mcdonald's visor, find out what is in the big mac sauce, AND get off work at 4.

what i did learn, was that working at mcdonald's is pretty hard work.  particularly between the hours of 12 - 2 pm - the dreaded lunch hour.  the employees were really nice and very helpful when i didn't know what i was doing, but i've never experienced a more stressful two hours of work.  every meal is really made to order - from toasting the bun to adding the salad bits to cooking the meat patties - and there's the added pressure of a third party company that checks in on the stores regularly as an undercover customer to ensure that each store is meeting the high mcdonald's standards.  it's a great system, and really efficient, but i've never seen people move so fast as lunch time in the store.

luckily, i found my strength early in drinks (it's more complicated than it sounds) and desserts (definitely more complicated than it sounds) so that was my station during the peak time.  pretty sure i made an extra strawberry shake by accident and made a few below par sundaes, but i survived and only got chocolate sauce on my hands so i'd say all in all it was a success.

i'm pretty much just thankful this didn't happen (and i figure wordy posts are boring so may as well end on a youtube video): http://youtu.be/wdCsfzzSj8Y