Highly stressful, unprofessional behavior from co-workers and managers, bad customers, unfair amount of work.
Pros
There are machines for everything. Theres fries dispenser, automatic grills, ice cream maker etc. All systems have a specific purpose and if everyone follows the rules and the machines DONT break down then you can expect a highly productive day. I would make around 3-400 burgers in a single shift on weekends. This would not be possible if McDonald's had not adopted technology and figured out how to speed up the entire process from receiving the order to handing it out. Employee discount for food is more than 50%. I didnt eat a single burger when I worked for 2 years because I simply dont like McDonalds burgers but I enjoyed fresh french fries and my favorite Oreo McFlurry.
Cons
To put things in perspective: I worked at McDonadls to support my college tuition when I was studying Engineering. I would go to college during the day and work night shifts at McD's and would usually do 35-45 hours a week. I worked at McDonalds for 2 years. - Incredible, beyond imagination amount of stress. Orders pour in like a flood during specific times and then it all just cools down all of sudden. When you will get a peak time cannot be always predicted. It works as if 5,000 people in your city decide to eat McDonalds in a group and they ALL come at the same time. And they ALL want something special in their burger (large onions instead of dehydrated onions, more ketchup, less mustard etc.) - Most managers have NO qualities of being a manager. They become managers only because of age. There is a saying that "Stupid people also get old". Once they become managers it doesn't matter if you complain to your supervisor about him/her, the manager will not be fired or told to behave better and they will continue to work there till the end of time. And they will also receive pay raises and all kinds of promotions. Managers receive some training on being effective managers but most of them take it very lightly and dont care about anything, not even their life.Its very hard to find good, stable managers at McDonalds. - Co-workers can be extremely lazy and manipulative. I have had co-workers not do what they were assigned to do which ended up being my job to finish if I wanted to go home. And theres nothing you can do about that most of the times. - There is a lot of FAVORITISM that happens at McDonalds. Employees that get along with managers, especially women, spend all the time talking and joking around instead of doing work. If you say anything they will ignore it like they dont care about anything in the world. And then you realize that THIS is why these people are working at McDonalds. Its not because they need a job to support college. But rather because they will not find a job ANYWHERE else! Such co-workers and managers will make your life a hell working at McDonalds. And all that for minimum wage. - If you are a man you will be expected to pick every single heavy weight at work even though you are the other end of the store. Women will use you to bring you fries boxes, heavy patties boxes etc. There is a common sense that men should do the lifting not women but you will soon realise it gets out of hand and becomes manipulative rather than a favor.
