Working At McDonald’s | 3 Skills I Picked Up
About 30 years ago, I spent several months working at McDonald’s. It wasn’t at their London HQ. It was at my local Drive-Thru in North London. The pay was minimum wage at the time – roughly ￡2 per hour – and it was hard work!
I remember cleaning the store, then I learnt to cook the food and deal with customers. As a fast-food restaurant, McDonald’s taught me a lot about customer service, efficiency and the power of establishing a good routine. In this article, I’ll share what I learned and my take on why it’s important to approach every job with an open mind.
1. I Got First-Hand Experience Dealing with a Wide Range of Customers
When you work at such a popular and affordable chain, you get to see all kinds of customers. There were people of all ages and all kinds of demographics. There were people with families and people grabbing something on the way to work. The process really helped me improve my customer service skills.
2. I Learnt How to Operate an Organisation Efficiently
Not every customer was friendly! Some people were pretty impatient. If one was at the till, the speed that the food came wasn’t up to you. It was up to the person cooking. But you had to manage the customer’s expectations and calm them down. To achieve people’s expectations, the staff had to run a tight ship, and that taught me a lot about efficiency.
3. I Understood the Value of Establishing a Daily Routine
My time at McDonald’s showed me that focus, determination and getting into a routine were key to achieving something big. I saw how the discipline of doing something every day meant that you inevitably got a lot better at your work and that consistency also helped me build up a decent amount of pocket money for someone my age!
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Overall, if you’re learning in a job, then it’s never a waste of time. If you approach every job with an open mind, the lessons you learn could prove invaluable in the future. At the same time, it’s important to keep an overarching goal in the back of your mind. Believe you can achieve it, and look for ways to help bring it closer.
Because I saw it as a learning opportunity, my time at McDonald’s really helped set me up for success later in my career. There was only one thing that annoyed me about the job: we were only allowed to eat one burger per shift!
What job taught you the most? Let me know in the comments!
NED | Trustee | Executive Coach | Mentor| CFO
3 年I recently took our leadership team through my career journey from preparing wages for dredger crews at sea up to CFO for a health solutions business, drawing out the personal learnings along the way; good customer service is paramount whether internal or external, don’t put up with bad behaviours, be true to yourself and follow your instinct, don’t be afraid to try new things and to feel your way for a while, believe you can do anything if you want it enough and have fun (a sense of humour as well as humility goes a long way in building lasting relationships).
Cancer Advocate | Former Army PTI, Oil & Gas Project Manager & Entrepreneur | Inspiring Hope Through My Journey with Multiple Myeloma
5 年What a cracking little article. Just shows how humble Tej Lalvani is and how anyone can succeed in business. You can learn from any situation and company no matter where you start in life. It’s what you do with this knowledge that sets you apart from your peers. To succeed in my business I focused on niche areas that I had past experience in and then solved a problem for my clients. But to scale, I had to automate processes, learn digital marketing and ultimately become a better salesman.
Office Manager - Hugh Broughton Architects
5 年Hear hear!? Every little thing in life is a learning opportunity.? I have had numerous jobs over the years and all of them have taught me something new and rounded off my business awareness. Every thing you do with focus will hone your abilities including soft skills that make you into an exceptional person. Value every experience for the lesson it provides.
I also recently spent a day behind the counter and donned the famous apron to get a better appreciation for the engine behind some of the best operations in any business worldwide. Great to hear your lessons Tej!
Director of Tax at Everton Football Club
5 年Very interesting and a timely reminder that every job provides opportunities for reflection and development