Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 22

     
     1        McDonald's jargon, for example 'The Macs are ready' instead
     2        of 'Macs up', that the employees no longer responded.  The
     3        repetitive steps and language that must be adhered to, the
     4        fast pace that must be maintained and the endless beeping
     5        of machines makes for a high stress atmosphere.  When you
     6        add to this the constant shouting of the often aggressive
     7        managers, it is hard to maintain any sense of
     8        individuality.
     9
    10        "I generally worked at the till where I was often
    11        reprimanded by my manager who kept us all over constant
    12        surveillance for straying from the appropriate responses to
    13        given situations.  I felt uncomfortable with the obligatory
    14        suggestive selling, the repetitive 'Good morning, Sir, can
    15        I help you', 'Enjoy your meal have a nice day', and
    16        constant smiling that were required, but found myself
    17        complying under the pressure.  At one point I began to find
    18        that I had to make a huge effort not to automatically greet
    19        my friends with 'Good evening, can I help you?'
    20
         "Manipulative.
    22
    23        "It seemed to me that both the customer and employee were
    24        the victims of manipulation.
    25
    26        "At the till I was McDonald's tool in the manipulation of
    27        the customer.  I was expected to present the constant
    28        friendly smiling face of McDonald's whilst suggestive
    29        selling in the meantime.  I was required to always suggest
    30        an addition to their order and if it were a drink or fries
    31        ask 'Is that large, medium or small?'  We were also told to
    32        make sure that there was a lot of salt on the fries as this
    33        would make the customer buy more beverages.
    34
    35        "As an employee one was also manipulated.  For each hour
    36        worked one got credit towards food which you could eat
    37        during your break.  On the surface this seemed like a good
    38        deal, but when you discover that you are not supposed to
    39        bring any other food on to the premises it becomes a
    40        removal of individual choice.  The full-time workers that
         I knew often subsisted on nothing other than what
    42        McDonald's produced.
    43
    44        "The event that stood out most as manipulative was a
    45        meeting in central London that delegations from many
    46        branches were asked to attend.  At this meeting we were
    47        talked to by three representatives from Head Office.  The
    48        meeting took place in a darkened lecture hall with a large
    49        McDonald's logo over the speakers and a screen to the side
    50        of them onto which photographs of many happy smiling 
    51        McDonald's employees were projected throughout the talk. 
    52        McDonald's at the time was hoping to be excluded from a new 
    53        law that would zone them as snack bars rather than
    54        restaurants.  They told us that this would damage their
    55        chances of getting a McDonald's on every high street as
    56        they planned to do.  We were asked to write to our MPs and
    57        persuade members of the public to sign petitions so that
    58        McDonald's would not be victimised in this fashion.  Those
    59        in the audience who attempted to question the validity of
    60        the stance that the McDonald's representatives were taking