Thing is with McD's is thelike to bring out something new on their menu that could change it all, they try to keep stuff simple for people.
Let me try to break it down on what its like for me at Mcd's. When I first started over a year ago, had no clue what to do. Well after a few weeks, got use to working front counter, since thats where they put me and kept me for 5 months straight before putting me else where due to people quiting. And this was first starting me on afternoons then mornings then afternoons again to where Im finaly at, night closing. Openers and closers are the people who get the hours, we dont get sent home early due to labor. Anyways I will say when it comes to making a sandwhich, its not all that easy really, not when you are being rushed to do it. My boss likes to use quality not quanity but we know both are just as important. Now the person that got the job of finishing the big BigMAc for Jim was the assembler. Its there job to make sure that the sandwhich was made right before wrapping it up and serving it. If they fail then everybody fails but goes equally for everybody if somebody else down the line or before them messes up. Having to memorize what goes on a sandwhich let alone when people customize them doesnt make stuff easy, you really have to be on your toes thinking non stop. What can make it worse is when you are holding on something when you shouldnt be, lets say during a rush as its called and on busy days there is a person on every station and they are responsible for making sure that they are doing their job as they should. Now lets say that we are holding on something as simple as buns toasting, that effects everything (yes we have a bun buffer person). That means driveway can be held up for a few more seconds and so is front line and if you add up a few seconds evry 5 minutes, that really adds up and that is loss in profit and loss in time that cant be made up.
My place just got dual lane drive through less then a year ago and its said by my stroe manager that there should be no such thing as a line in drive thru now. Heres the thing that people dont seem to relize, just because there are 2 lanes and one can keep going while the other is held up, we are still humans making the food meaning we cant go any faster then we can go. We can only go so fast. When you come through drive thru wanting something that is out of the norm. aka no salt fries, expect to wait some of the time, if you do it during a huge rush, you may get lucky and et them without wait due to fries are always down cooking during that time. But if not during a rush, expect to wait, they take 3 min and 10 seconds to cook from the time the button is pushed to cook them.
But dont stop me there, think that all places fryer are created equal, no. My McDonalds and other that are following too and no other restraunt does this, we have an automatic filtration system on our fryers. What does this mean for ypu? Well it means that after 12 cookings, it asks to filter the oil in a container under the fryers that are cleaned and the filter changed twice a day by hand and we are to never refuse a filtering, and yes the boss can find out if a filtering was refused too. When the fryers oil lever get slightly lower, it auto filles with new oil out of the back from a huge tank. And the old oil that went from only being good for 7 days to 9-11 due to the new fryers (which also use 1/3 less oil too) ges sent to the back to a holding tank for proper disposal.
Working McDonalds is a gamble really, meaning yes there are guides to how much to cook, but that is as far as it goes now a days. It takes working there and learning your shift for how to cook and how much along with events that are happening around up, such as highschool football games and local events. Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays are days that see the least amount of business, hince why I go into work later but still get full time hours during the week.
Closing is a whole nother beast. Ya we clean the place but the good thing I like about it is, there are fewer people to have to deal with and I am a night person too. I would rather clean the place then do half the crap that is done there. I was just never much of a people person but McD's has broken my shell on that quiet a bit.
All I can say is if theres something you want answered, just ask me, I might know the answer to it about McD's.
Oh and as far as being told to think about something there, I just tell them "im not paid enough to think".