Dear McD Manager.I know I am not alone. The majority of other store managers I know are unhappy with many aspects of their job. Job satisfaction does not come from a happy customer. Most times the only feedback from a customer is when they are pissed about something. The compliments are few and far between. Maybe this is because McDonald's is barely meeting and certainly not exceeding customers expectations.
People do not work for purely altruistic reasons, and I'm sure I speak for many -managers and crew- who work because they have bills to pay, and financial responsibilities to meet. Satisfaction will come from being the best, but if noone recognises or acknowledges that it quickly becomes a dissatisfaction. It depends a lot on an individual's personal goals and motivations, their reasons for doing a certain job. Most McD managers I know didn't choose it as a career, they drifted into it, and became institutionalised. 5, 6, 7 years down the line they wake up and smell the coffee.
I don't think your comments adequately address the feelings of a lot of managers in McD's. I'm sure there are many motivated and satisfied individuals working for McD's, and fair play to them, but I know a hell of a lot who are not, and are just going through the motions, too lazy, or scared to get out of the system and be creative with their talents. It is no use relying on a stifling framework of steps and procedures to promote self development, and personal growth. These are talents tested in new and challenging environments, not by counting sugar sachets every month end, or trying to find out who didn't do what and why, and what do WE do, and what are WE going to do in the future ?
Your little pep talk is a bit insulting, to be honest. Personally, I think McD's is on a downer, despite the stiff corporate upper lip. It is losing good people for stupid reasons, and a lot of managers are taking their excellent transferrable skills somewhere else, where 20-30 hours a week of unpaid overtime are not demanded, where it isn't a struggle to get individuals to do a job properly, where they can take a proper lunch break, and work in a more professional environment without any shouting, buzzing, bleeping and ridiculous jargon. Where they can go home without feeling frazzled, and stinking of grease.
McDonald's in the late 90's is synonymous with everything that society has contempt for. People who work there are sneered at, as if they cannot do any better for themselves, and have become the doormats of the industrial working world. In many peoples minds it is a case of "there but for the grace of god go I" McD's crass and insulting advertising an marketing do nothing to enhance the public perception of the organisation. It still markets itself as the number one family restaurant - but try defining the family in this day and age. I think McD's definition probably applies to a very small percentage of families, judging by the amount of divorced dads taking their kids for a weekend treat they should try targetting this growing sector of society. Even the crew are locked into roles that are so boring and repetitive, it is no wonder they try to spice things up by acting the fool, or adulterating the food or whatever.
McD's is missing the boat in a lot of ways, and I have finally got my act together and jumped ship.
Gill
