It's not just McD's either, I've been seeing that sort of work ethic (if you can call it that) by a growing number of youth that seem completely oblivious. It pains me to see that most of my generation and younger are turning out to be completely helpless and utterly useless. And I have heard a number of companies complaining that they "can't find good help anymore" and that they're constantly training new hires. I think part of the problem there is that nobody wants to pay anybody what they are worth - minimum wage just doesn't cut it - especially since a lot of retail stores only want to hire part time help and if the sales numbers are not up there for the entire region, they want to cut hours and send people home. So not only are you getting low wages, but you're also often not getting enough hours to be able to pay your bills.
i think you hit the nail on the head here, to a certain extent... lets use me for an example... i work full time at a home improvement store (which i won't name) now i work quite hard, i wouldn't say i give 100% every day, but honestly, who does? i would say i give about 80% on a daily basis, now on top of that, i have only taken maybe 2-3 coffee breaks in the past 2 months, because i'm so busy trying to get work done, between managing ongoing special orders (making sure product comes in) contacting customers to finish the order for an installed sale that's half completed, helping customers that are in the aisles, and cutting blinds down to size, while customers wait, i have virtually no time... i do take my lunch breaks, which i MUST do, or i'll get in HUGE trouble... on top of doing all of the above i cover off in the paint department, paint, windows and walls, and home organization is 3 separate departments, though they are run by one department manager, home organization has 0 staff, they never have had any, and they never will, it's an unstaffed department, it's directly behind mine, which is windows and walls, and paints is next door... today, there were 3 people in the paint department, and i was by myself, no one else was in the department at all while the store was open... now, i did get a LITTLE bit of help from the other employees, but for the most part, i was on my own... who is expected to look after the home organization department? of course it's not the department with 3 people for 3 aisles, it's the department with twice as many items, with services that take 10x longer than it does to mix paint, in the same number of aisles... so that brings me to 5 aisles with probably 5x as many items in them, as the paint department, which has 3x as much staff on at any time...
additionally, what do i get paid? well, enough that on top of working my 40 hours a week here, i also have to work a second job, picking up shifts doing security, because my total disposable income, after truck, insurance, and rent is paid is 670$, and out of that, i have my gas for my truck, food, bills, including my credit card, and overdraft, cellphone... that ends up with me to be able to buy about a case a beer a month with what's left over...
take a look 50 years ago... for the most part, women DID NOT work, it was the men going out to work a 40 hour a week job, and supporting his family of 4+ on that... i barely get paid enough to support myself! it's not really a huge wonder that people are discouraged... i can only imagine that mcdonalds pays less than i'm making... and i'm doing a job that is not for teenagers... the amount of mental focus required to learn my job, and be able to manage all the different tasks at once, is not for someone who can't remember "2 all beef patties, special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun" and the order they go on... most of the people who work where i do, are in their mid 20's and older... we have a few retirement people, and a lot of part time people in university, but for those who work full time, they don't live at home, they don't have someone supporting them, they are trying to be the bread winner... and sadly, this just doesn't cut it... and there isn't really much that pays significantly more than this... any more i make i lose to taxes...
i took a 10$ an hour cut coming to this job from my previous (granted there was a year of unemployment between) and sadly, i'm only making maybe 300-350 less a cheque than i did at the last one... where i was making almost double an hour, and didn't have deductions, because i was "part time" but working full time hours...