#BEDM - My First Job

So, my first job was....




















...at...












...McDonald's.




Very trite and cliche, I know.  I spent some of my 20s being mortified that I work there (for three years and a summer, natch).  As I became more socially conscious, I realized that I put a lot of hours working at one the corporations that the socially conscious likes to turn their noses up at.

But, I did work there.  For awhile.  I've started not to avoid the topic just recently.  Students will often ask me about my first job, and I'll tell them.  Or when they mention they work there, I'll sympathize with them.

I got my job the summer between grade 10 and grade 11.  There aren't too many places that will hire you with virtually no job experience (save babysitting for my best friend's little sisters a couple of times), and my best friend worked there too, so I put in my application, faced my first job interview and got hired.

I started on cash, and moved up the ranks.  I was trained on breakfast, birthday parties, drive thru, as a Ronald Ranger (supervising the PlayPlace... I spent a lot of time putting balls back into the damned pit), and as a crew trainer. I never actually cooked the food though.

Despite the fact that I would come home smelling of the place, and the fact I had to buy new shoes every three months, it wasn't the worst first job I could have.  (Those floors are really hard on shoes. The soles of mine would be cracked and falling apart after three months... and then there was the fry grease in the shoelaces.  Yuck.)  I made lots of friends there, and they were pretty understanding about hours.  My mom wouldn't let me work late on school nights, and they were fine with that.  I would always take exam week off too.  However, not all McDonald's are that understanding to their teen employees as I know from talking my students now who work late shifts or can't keep their jobs.

Drive-thru was a big "promotion" for me.  That's where they put their best employees and getting trained there was like being put in the cool club.  I also ascended to the ranks of the string of employees that they would put on D/T when the people from head office came in to assess our store.  And yes, I did on occasion (most likely hungover from some party the night before) accidentally ask a customer through drive through if their order was for here or to go.

I became a birthday party pro.  I remember there was one month where I did something like 20 birthday parties out in the store's birthday party caboose.  So many Happy Meals to assemble.

My promotion to crew trainer was a bit deal.  I got a $0.25 raise, an engraved name-tag, and a different colour of shirt/visor.  Unsurprisingly, I was pretty good at training staff.  I also took it upon myself to overhaul the training materials at our store.  I made new instructional handouts and quizzes for my trainees.  When I told my manager I decided to that, she was cool enough to get me paid for the hours I spent at home on my Windows 95 PC typing stuff out.  Is it surprising I became a teacher?

I also remember on the day I got my promotion to CT, I walked to the local record store and bought Veruca Salt's album "Eight Arms to Hold You" to celebrate the occasion.

I never became a manager since I couldn't work late on school nights.  However, one of my friends did and when she would phone me at home, I'd have to ask her whether she was calling from work or home.  If she was calling from work, then I was too sick to come in for an extra shift, but if she was calling from home 'cuz she wanted to hang out, then I was up for that.

I worked there during grades 11, 12, and OAC (Ontario's Grade 13).  I came back for my first summer after university.   However, I was adamant for my second summer, that I was going to find a different summer job.  I was tired of early mornings, late nights, sore legs, and scraping fry grease off of things.  I gave myself three weeks to find something new before I came crawling back, and I got a job at the local art gallery just in time.   When I started spending my summers in Toronto, I lucked out and got a government job at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

I haven't been inside of a McDonald's in months, since I'm eating clean these days.  Even though I worked there so long, I never got grossed out by the food.  When I do crave fast food, that's where I'm going to go.  However, I can't help but critique my server - are they assembling my food in the proper order (hot drinks, cold drinks, salads, cookies, pies, sandwiches, fries, ice cream*)?  Are their cones two-and-a-half twists high?  Did they smile?  Did they double-fold my to-go bag?  Did they complete my order in 60 seconds or less?



*The fact I can still remember the order of assembly is pretty scary, no?