Why?
Relevance lost on me :/
McFlurry McMisdemeanour costs Welsh lass McJob
A 19-year-old Welsh lass has been relieved of her McJob after giving a fellow worker at the Llangunnor tentacle of the fast-food monolith an extra dose of chocolate pieces on a McFlurry. "Exceptional" employee Sarah Finch, of Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, was given her McMarching orders after responding to a colleague's request …
-
-
-
-
-
-
Friday 28th September 2012 11:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Why?
Except The Now Show is so desperately, teeth grindingly, buttock clenchingly unfunny. The only thing remotely funny in there is the input from the guy who's also on The Chase.
Any comedy where there's a second or two's gap between a "punchline" and anyone applauding (as the applause light comes on to remind them) needs cancelling and burying at low tide.
Of course on my other hand Samantha is outstanding...
-
Friday 28th September 2012 11:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Why?
The Now Show is appallingly smug. Generally, they take the most superficial understanding of a news story, say 'What if...'? and then construct a short sketch to illustrate a point that wasn't funny in the first place.
The Mary Whitehouse Experience included Rob Newman and David Baddiel in addition to Punt and Dennis.
Baddiel has been irritating (Fantasy Football), though he has partially redeemed himself by presenting one of the only intelligent shows on Radio 4; "Four Thought"... a place for scientists, business leaders, academics etc to present a point of view for a quarter hour without being interrupted by that twit Quentin Cooper.
-
-
-
Friday 28th September 2012 09:49 GMT Psyx
Re: Why?
"The company's MD, Ron Mounsey"
I think I speak for many of us when I say: What a cock.
Anyone who claim that they don't scratch friends, co-workers and business partner's backs to some small degree in order to make life more pleasant for everyone is a liar: Whether it's fetching them a coffee, comping them lunch, or sticking a round of golf through on ex's somehow. And if a few choccy sprinkles is the price of ensuring co-workers make a shit job a little more bearable for staff, then it's a bargain.
-
-
-
Friday 28th September 2012 13:04 GMT GotThumbs
Re: Why?
I think this can be related to IT and any other postion/career.
The point is:
NEVER jeopardize your position/livelyhood for the benefit of someone else just to be nice. First reflect on whether the proposed actions would conflict with company policy first. The girl should really be mad at the employee and herself, not the owners. The employees are the ones who broke established company policy.
This is a lesson she should not forget anytime soon and it clearly communicates the company is serious about this policy.
Time to grow up kids... or start your own company and run it as you wish.
-
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: McBastards
"That wasn't chocolate she sprinkled on..." ...correct, I thought that was their standard product.
My personal opinion of McDonalds products is that I'm better off throwing away the burger and eating the carton.
I didn't actually need another reason not to buy McDonalds, but this will do nicely.
-
-
This post has been deleted by its author
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 22:26 GMT peter_dtm
Re: McShite
Posted Thursday 27th September 2012 16:13 GMT
cornz 1
Re: McShite
If, when questioned, about free toilet use, placate the employee with an false assurance of buying food when you have been to the toilet.
A MacShit with lies!
why would that be a lie ?
the statement 'I am going to buy food' obviously precludes any purchase of any McGabbage product
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 15:26 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: McBastards
I read the book Fastfood Nation back in 2002, I haven't set foot in McShitpit , Double-Whopper Dog-Burger King or Colonel Saunders Chicken Torture-Shed since!
These places serve shit masquerading as food, treat employees like pieces of crap they've found under their boots and don't give a monkey's toss about animal welfare at the backend.
Do yourselves a favour, avoid them all!
-
Friday 28th September 2012 14:26 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: McBastards
"I read the book Fastfood Nation"
Sounds like a paragon of English literature.
While I agree that the quality of McDonald's "food" deserves no comment from a culinary standpoint, I would not be so fast to condemn their employee treatment for one reason: the brand is a global franchise, meaning that although they bear the same name and sell the same food, individual stores are owned and run by different people.
Some of them no doubt are scum and we tend to hear about them on the news such as this instance but, although I have no personal experience, I would be inclined to think that there must be other franchisees who are supportive of their employees and treat them fairly.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 09:27 GMT Anonymous Coward
Extras
It really is a bit shit as there is no standard measurement that I can see on how much they give you. I stopped at a drive through a few weeks back in the heat for a McFlurry and the chocolate serving was stingy to say the least. In fact I chucked half of it away as I didn't want to eat plain ice cream.
So McDonalds, it works both ways. I get cheated out of a decent amount of topping, yet the lass who tries to do her job properly gets fired.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 09:40 GMT cocknee
Re: Extras
Mr C Hill, you beat me to it.....
Certainly makes up for the useless bastards at my local McDogBurger's where the servings are usually wrong, incomplete or generally stingy. "I thought I ordered large fries, not child portion in a large box"
I worked in McBastards a long time ago and I could probably still do a better job than the useless morons in that branch.
Anyway, the MD of the Welsh outlet is obviously a c*** I hope the news of this locally affects his profits significantly and then the manager can be fired for gross misconduct of bringing the firm into disrepute - also in the manual. RTFM you tosser!
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:56 GMT Voland's right hand
Re: Extras
Actually, all she needed to do for an appeal was to bring said chocolate pieces and a set of kitchen scales and demonstrate the difference between "normal", "stingy" and "lots". The chocolate used for such sprinklings is porous so the difference is not in "grams" as suggested by the register in the bootnote. It is in tens of milligrams (at best). If she puts a whole extra gram of sprinkling on top it form a layer.
Frankly, sacking someone for 50-100mg of chocolate is beyond grossly disproportional.
-
-
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 09:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Less than 2 years
YANAL & IANAL But ...
http://business.wales.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1073793719&site=230&type=RESOURCES
"Eligibility to claim unfair dismissal" [...] ...
"For employees in employment before 6 April 2012 the qualifying period is unchanged at one year. The right to request a written reason for dismissal is unchanged at one year. "
-
-
-
Friday 28th September 2012 09:44 GMT Wilseus
Re: most likely a lot.
"You've not worked in the civil service then I take it?"
I was going to say that, except that in my experience it also applies to the private sector. In just about every company I have worked, while I wouldn't say being a total cock is an absolute prerequisite for a management position, I don't think being one has done any of my past managers' career prospects much harm.
-
Friday 28th September 2012 11:45 GMT Dave 126
Re: most likely a lot.
This is actually been an object of scientific studies... basically, those in management aren't more competent, they just believe they are. More competent people are likely to underestimate their own abilities, incompetent people don't know enough to realise that they don't know much.
The study basically confirmed Bertrand Russell's observation that "The ignorant are cocksure whilst the intelligent are full of doubt"
-
-
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 09:39 GMT Mattjimf
If that's the case, thank god the stores I worked in during the formative years of my employment career didn't have this policy.
It was not uncommon for staff, from lowly paid oiks to store managers to give extra burgers, fries, drinks and desserts to staff and friends of staff on a regular basis.
As to the flurrys, the chocolate is all Cadburys stuff and as most will be aware the boxes are 1 1/2 kg (from memory, may have changed in the last 10 years) and cost about £3 a box. If the employee had put extra ice-cream (or the frozen sundae mix they use) I can see them having a point, but the extra topping is akin to getting extra sauce in your burger.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:45 GMT Anonymous Coward
McThief.
[quote]If that's the case, thank god the stores I worked in during the formative years of my employment career didn't have this policy.
It was not uncommon for staff, from lowly paid oiks to store managers to give extra burgers, fries, drinks and desserts to staff and friends of staff on a regular basis.
[/quote]
When I were a lad.. and knew someone in the local McD's I used to order small fries and a drink and then be given large fries, large coke, apple pie, big mac and a couple of burgers. My friend was a hardcore McThief.
This case is VERY trivial.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 12:19 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: McThief.
When I was a student, a friend and I used to be in the habit of just turning up at packing up time and asking for free food about to be chucked. Didn't know anyone there personally and never worked there. Got it most of the time too. Wouldn't do it now though, it makes you go spotty.
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:18 GMT I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
In honour of the famous quaker chocolate factory:
There was a girl from Kidwelly
Who worked at the local Muckdelli
The job was a cinch to Exceptional Finch
But they sacked her because they are a bunch of arseholes that sell shit that includes chocolate sprinkles from a supplier that only sprinkled their production lines with "very small amounts" of toilet seepage once -for an unknown length of time, to idiots.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 09:49 GMT Anonymous Coward 101
What gets me about this is the sheer randomness of it all. Any normal person could get sacked for something similar. Could they not just have taken her aside and told her not to put so much on the next time? The employee keeps her job and the company keeps their competent member of staff.
Does anybody ever get sacked for being just plain shit at their jobs these days?
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
Staff turnover
McD's have a policy (probably unofficial) that staff turnover is kept high as it is cheaper to keep training staff at the bottom of the tree than to increase their pay as they gain experience. My missus was a store manager for 6-7 years and only kept those who were likely to go on to the Management courses.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:21 GMT VinnyR
Re: What the fu..
Between the age of 18 and 20 the minimum wage is £4.98 against the minimum wage for 21 and over being £6.08. Personally I think this is age discrimination. It means that 2 people doing exactly the same job but different age get paid different rates.
I experienced this a long time ago when I was a 16 year old summer vacation worker and I was working with an 18 year old doing the same things. I found out and pointed it out to the boss who was genuinely mystified why I should be upset!!
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:41 GMT Anonymous Coward 101
@VinnyR
It's supposedly because the younger you are, the less productive you are supposed to be. On average, I think that is true (more experience) but for idiot work it surely doesn't make any difference.
Personally, fuck working for £4.98 per hour. I would have to be desperate, especially if I could get sacked at random and thereby get an 'adverse employment history'.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:17 GMT Ben Tasker
Re: @VinnyR
I've a vague memory that it was about getting younger people into employment. If it costs less to employ a youngun then that's more attractive to some businesses (those that only care about how much they pay out). The idea presumably being that once you've got a foot in the door, you either make a career of it or at least have some experience behind you when you apply for other jobs.
Course, I could be talking shite.. I can't really be bothered to look it up though
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 12:11 GMT Paw Bokenfohr
Re: What the fu..
"Personally I think this is age discrimination. It means that 2 people doing exactly the same job but different age get paid different rates."
Well, no. What it means is that a bad employer can get away with paying someone who's 19 less than the legal minimum would have been for someone who is over 21, but, most employers don't pay the bare minimum wage.
I do agree though that it's shocking that someone can get paid £200 for a full week's work (for me, a "full week" on my employment contract is 40 hours, though, I work a lot more than that).
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:11 GMT Steve Foster
Re: What the fu..
The national minimum wage (NMW) for a 19-year old is £4.98 per hour. So doing 30-35 hours per week would indicate a minimum weekly wage of somewhere between £149.40 and £174.30.
Assuming she was working an average of 32.5 hours, and receiving £180 per week, that puts the rate at roughly £5.50ph, or about 10% higher than NMW.
Of course, if she were a little older, and entitled to the full "adult" rate of £6.08 per hour, then £180pw for 30-35 hours would indeed be below NMW.
(the NMW rates are being revised very slightly on October 1)
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:24 GMT I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects
Re: What the fu..
You should apply for a job at any supermarket or their warehouse and go to the interview. It is a disgrace.
I am not just sayin that. I went to a warehouse in Cheshire making meat products for Morrisons -a "family firm".
It was a prison as well as a con.
I am not larding it on. It is just so.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 12:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: What the fu..
I have a friend, recently divorced who got a job at Sainsburys. They are worked the exact hours as to get the mandatory 15mins break but if they worked a few minutes longer would be entitled to a 30min break.
That 15mins break is from the time they clock off the till and then up to the canteen vending machine, which is normally empty, so back down to the shop floor to get food, queue up like everyone else, then back up to the canteen to eat it... then back down to the till again to clock in.. all in the space of 15mins.
So next time you think the bird on the till looks hacked off, now you know why.... She has since quit Sainsburys....
In the old days companies had respect for their staff but now its all about the profit, who is to blame? WalMarts influence/race to the bottom, government policy or ?
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 13:34 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: What the fu..
Reminds me of the first job I had out of university, which was at a cheque processing facility for one of the high street banks. The main hall held dozens of machines where operators keyed in the account number to be credited along with the amount as each cheque whizzed past them, these numbers were then printed onto the cheques using magnetic ink. The boxes of cheques would then be loaded into a huge machine that would read the numbers in order to populate batch jobs.
The operators were mostly housewifes, plus a few back office staff from high street branches who had been demoted to this job as an alternative to redundancy. They were allowed a fifteen minute break, which started from the moment they logged off their machine and ended the moment they logged back on. It wasn't actually possible to have a hot drink, since the canteen coffee machine produced scaldingly hot beverages that wouldn't cool down to a drinkable temperature in time. Any visits to the toilet had to be taken in these breaks as well, and if an operator dared to got to the loo outside of their fifteen minute break it was zealously recorded in their personnel file by the managers.
the only relief from the tedium was when a staple or paper clip "accidentally" got into the printing machines or the massive processing machine. The latter would come to a halt with a satisfying crash, followed by the sound of a klaxon and rotating yellow lights.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 20:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: What the fu..
"In the old days companies had respect for their staff but now its all about the profit, who is to blame? WalMarts influence/race to the bottom, government policy or ?"
you mean like when they use to lock the gate to the factory or pit as soon as the whistle blew to prevent anyone from arriving late? Treated you right in the old days, didnt they?
-
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 12:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Did her a McFavour
I know someone who was caught stealing potato bags. He was sacked.
I know someone at the munitions factory who was caught sleeping in a cannon. He was fired.
I know someone who kept turning up to the trapeze hungover. He was let go.
I know someone who took illegal copied of the payroll software. He was paid off.
I know someone who wrote the iOS6 Maps apps. He lost his job.
I know someone who was dismissed as a magistrate of the Classical Roman Republic. He's taking them to tribunal.
I know someone who engineered the 2nd failsafe system on an aircraft. He was made redundant.
I know someone who failed to clear the autumnal paths. They got gardening leaves.
I know someone who worked in corporate logistics. He cleared his desk.
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:04 GMT fridaynightsmoke
I used to work at McD
It was my first job... the McFlurry chocolate was roughly dosed by the dispenser (similarly to an optic in a pub).
Giving extra choc to favoured customers/employees was quite common, along with extra fudge in the sundaes, 'special' burgers with an extra patty etc. The standard response from management was to get an unofficial bollocking, unless someone was really taking the piss and noticeably doing it regularly, in which case further action would be taken.
I was once collared helping myself to a sundae consisting mostly of chocolate sauce, instead of the 1cm at the bottom of the cup a regulation single pump of the dispenser would give you. It lead only to a 'quiet word' from the shift manager.
I wonder if there's more involved in this case, eg a pattern of regular 'bad employee' behaviour (whatever that might be), each instance just below the threshold for 'doing something' and this case providing the excuse for a sacking; or whether the manager involved is just a power crazed arse. We shall never know.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:26 GMT Fred Flintstone
Re: I used to work at McD
We shall never know
We will, I think, because to make a dismissal stick you need to have good grounds. Just waving an employee manual around and call it the Bible is not going to help in court, which tends to be more sympathetic to the employee (with good reason, since they tend to be the weaker party).
What's more, the publicity surrounding this case is likely to focus on the fact that McD is stingy with the nice stuff - all extra brand damage that the manager could have foreseen. I fully suspect this is going to be a doorstop settlement - and offer to settle just when she is about to walk into court. McD cannot afford this.
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:12 GMT lee harvey osmond
"Mounsey may have a point" ho ho ho
"Mounsey may have a point" ho ho ho
The calculations suggest all 740 employees work 365 days a year. I find that unlikely. And while McDonalds does claim to use only premium ingredients, I'll bet it pays rather less than £70/kg for chocolate.
Despite having visited McDonalds several times over the past decade, I've never eaten a McFlurry and I've no idea how much it costs to buy one. And since I don't have any access to McDonalds business information, I have no idea how much one costs to make, or how many a restaurant of a given size might be expected to sell over the course of a year.
But I speculate that if doubling the chocolate content from 1g to 2g -- at a cost of 7p as per the article's numbers, or 3p as per my wild guess -- led to 740 test subjects wanting to buy one a day for a year, at a unit selling price wild-guess of £1.49, grossing £400k (additional chocolate cost either £18.9k or £8.1k), I wouldn't fire the employee who experimented with adding extra chocolate. I'd offer them a job in product development.
Equally, it a well-known factoid that the cost of ingredients amounts to a fairly small fraction of the cost of a restaurant meal; and I, like most diners, do not understand why anybody in any food business would skimp on something cheap at the risk of driving away repeat custom through being stingy. Even McD.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:06 GMT Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
Re: "Mounsey may have a point" ho ho ho
I was looking online to see If I could find the wholesale price for a box of cadbuy's choclate bits for a McSlurry. I found this:-
Marketing Plan - Introduction of McFlurry product to McDonald's
It's for a McDs in in Bucharest in Romania but is priced in USD, for a $1.50 McSlurry, the breakdown in costs is:-
Variable Costs (food, packing,electricity, etc) - 0.30/0.35 USD depending on McSlurry version
Fixed Costs (lease, insurance,taxes, salaries,etc) - 0.30 USD
Profit - 0.80/0.85 USD[1]
This would imply that the material cost of a McSlurry is less than 0.30 USD, and there is a comment in the document that material costs in Romania are higher. So i suspect that your guess of 3p worth of chocolate is a bit high.
[1] Expected total profit PA is $15,500 on $24,000 of sales.
F*** IT career, I'm going to open a McDonalds
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:17 GMT PassiveSmoking
The image of David Brent pretending to sack an employee for gross misconduct for stealing post-it notes has just come flooding back full force.
I never imagined even McScum would be low enough to do that in real life, and be deadly serious about it.
You'd be hard pressed to find a more clear-cut case of unfair dismissal.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:21 GMT Anonymous Coward
Well, here's a deal for you
(note: the term "food" is here used as a shortcut to "stuff that is just about edible but will do to stop my stomach from being noisy and get home where I can eat something that actually does the term justice")
Here is the deal, Mr McDonalds: you serve me "food" that actually looks like the posters and I won't take pictures of it and send them to Trading Standards for misrepresentation. With respect to the young lass, I hope she'll be able to sue you ass to hell and beyond, because she did NOT give food for free - she adjusted the taste to her judgement. Given the default taste of McDonald's food, I think she should actually be rewarded.
Now, I suspect that my custom will not add to your bottom line much (it's about twice a year or less), but I hope the locals will move en bloc to whatever competitor you have locally - and that they employ the young lady.
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:28 GMT Fred Flintstone
Re: It was gross misconduct
You've got a point there - unless she had prior warnings, this is not going to fly.
The argument that she gave food for free is not going to run well either, because there WAS payment. I suspect the court is going to take a VERY dim view of sacking someone for imprecise measuring.
Her lawyer will have an easy job.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 17:10 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: It was gross misconduct
> Her behaviour warranted at most a warning.
I lack experience in the fast "food" trade but it seems to me that a few extra choc sprinkles on top of a single ice cream doesn't warrant anything at all.
Seriously, some of the comments here seem to condone the attitude that any kind of disciplinary action is acceptable in this circumstances. This manager is a 100% prick and deserves a good smack in the gob.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 22:43 GMT Fred Flintstone
Re: It was gross misconduct
You're right if you're looking at it from the viewpoint of a normal human being (an angle apparently completely alien to this McF*ck of a manager). I was more looking at the legal side - English employment law offers a degree of protection from morons like that, so if she takes this to court McScrewup will have to explain why no proper process was followed. It's a clean a case of constructive dismissal as I have ever seen.
Not only is it required to warn an employee first so that they can correct their behaviour, McScrewup will also have to explain how this fits in with an otherwise above average record. If McMarketing has any sense whatsoever they will try to settle this as soon as possible with a more than generous payment accompanied with a gagging clause, otherwise this will provide month of fast food for the press instead. The press is always on the side of the individual.
I suspect the manager in question is likely to have maxed his career path by this stunt, and deservedly so.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:27 GMT James 51
Before handing over a McFlurry it is suppose to be stirred by a special machine for about 8-10 seconds. It is never used because that is far too much time to be spent just standing around. She is right about the amount per serving. This has the ring of a McManger who is taking their frustrations and limitations out on the staff (it's not the first time either). Hope she wins her unfair dismissal case (although if the business sectary gets his way it might be the last time an employee is allowed to stand up for themselves).
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:33 GMT Lee Dowling
Sigh
The negative publicity, the loss of an above-average employee, the cost of the internal investigation, the cost of the external litigation (successful or not), the cost of her friends not coming in any more.
Sure, there's a point where you crack down on employees but it usually involves a quiet word and insistence and repeats of the event making your "quiet word" louder and louder. But I'm guessing that all of the above cost a LOT, LOT more than anything she ever did with chocolate sprinkles (especially when you consider the bulk-buying price of those sprinkles and/or the amount of profit that places usually makes a day anyway).
Management. A posh word for idiot who doesn't understand how humans work.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:35 GMT DrXym
Is that all
Back in my student days when I had a McJob it wasn't unusual to see people cooking up big macs with the meat doubled up, or suspiciously large portion of fries or whatever. It probably cost McD's a massive 20p for this abuse of their free meal policy but given the low pay, hard work and menial nature of the job I really don't see it as a high crime or misdemeanour to turn a blind eye or at least give someone an informal warning.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 10:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
Franchise
Let's not be too harsh on McDonalds themselves as this outfit appears to be a franchise called Lonetree.
McDonalds should be giving Lonetree a bollocking though. Indeed the McDonalds franchising documentation insists that franchisees have:
High personal integrity
High standards of people management and communication
Ability to display financial acumen
Strong leadership qualities
The personality to be an excellent ambassador for McDonald's
The Lonetree franchise seems to have failed on all 5 counts!
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:15 GMT Shades
Re: Never mind the McFluffys
Indeed, that's why I'm always a dick about going to a McDonalds. I call them "Build-A-Burger" and refuse to acknowledge suggestions of eating at McDonalds until the third party making the suggestion realizes that I'm not going to agree to it unless they too refer to McDonalds as "Build-A-Burger". Then, after that little rigamarole, I simply tell them "No, why would I want to go somewhere where I ALWAYS have to (re)build the burger to get it looking at least something like a burger if not anything like those pictured on the menu boards?"
I don't get asked to go to McDonalds often. Which is kinda the point.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:36 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Never mind the McFluffys
"Because we are too cheap to use enough toppings for you to be able to see them from the side" sums it up nicely. Not to mention the fact that the toppings they do put on look like they have been sat on first. At least with Burger King you can see evidence of toppings, even if it's just a bit of lettuce sticking out the side.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 12:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Never mind the McFluffys
"refuse to acknowledge suggestions of eating at McDonalds until the third party making the suggestion realizes that I'm not going to agree to it unless they too refer to McDonalds as "Build-A-Burger". Then, after that little rigamarole, I simply tell them "No, why would I want to go somewhere where I ALWAYS have to (re)build the burger to get it looking at least something like a burger if not anything like those pictured on the menu boards?""
how very Machiavellian of you,,, to be honest, its a wonder you have any friends if you act like a dick!!
I understand that the burger does not look like the picture on the wall... and no matter how much you rearrange it its never going to look like the picture on the wall.... and again, no matter how you rearrange it, its not going to alter the taste !!!
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:05 GMT Anonymous Coward
Maybe it was her age.
My nephew worked ata local sandwich store whoes name begins wiith S and they had no staff over the age of 18 for very long. They would always reduce their hours and make it awkward to work there.
16-18 year olds however are somethign different. The younger you were the more hours you got.
My nephew refused to file a comlaint about their patently dodgy behavior. Oh well.
-
This post has been deleted by its author
-
This post has been deleted by its author
-
-
-
Friday 28th September 2012 13:50 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: More than meets the eye?
If there is no *documented history* then the manger will lose against an unfair dismissal claim. If the manger does not know that he is either an idiot or incompetent. It is like something one learns about in the first year of business school.
My teenage son worked at McD - There are defined procedures for everything; there WILL also be a very detailed and specific procedure for escalating discipline up to dismissal in the "staff management handbook" that will have the paper trail that the law requires. Obviously, a manager getting creative and deviating from the Word of The Lord is considered a career-limiting failure within the franchise.
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 11:50 GMT DJ Smiley
Maths Fail..
"The profligate Ms Finch, before she was given her McMarching orders, was earning around £180 a week. Even on that impressive salary, it would take her a tad over two years to repay the freebie chocolate bill."
Not really.
Mc Donalds profits come from paying customers, so how long would it take them to make a profit above her wages. If we concider they are timed to provide everything, a meal in 3 minutes at a cost of £4.99; she works 30 hours a week and maybe is providing meals for .....
Pfft I can't be bothered to do the math but you can see why your calcuation was fatally wrong.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 13:01 GMT garry_r
That's it, I'm done...
The standard of writing here is driving me to distraction..... why /must/ you keep writing in the style of crappy tabloid news papers.
"McMisdemeanour, McJob...."
"Llangunnor tentacle of the fast-food monolith"
"The recipient of the sugary treat was, mercifully, paying for the dessert, so presumably escaped a plank-walking."
"McMagnificent "
"McMarching orders"
I'm don'e here.... if I want to read non-news stories written in this appalling style... I'll go buy The Sun.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 13:27 GMT Alan Brown
McDs and franchising
The only restaurants McD's actually operate in the UK are the few which were originally setup when the brand arrived and a few others which were taken over in the wake of customer food poisoning events (franchisees cutting corners in the 80s resulted in several deaths).
Everything else is franchised, and franchisees can be pretty nasty pieces of work. In all likelihood she was about to turn 20 (therefore qualifying for full wages), working enough hours to have been classified as a fulltime employee and about to hit the 2 year mark, or thought to be a union member, therefore the order would have come down to get rid of her by any means possible (Franchisees have been known to threaten employees with immediate dismissal if they join a union and some go further, with threats of violence, etc.)
Digging a little deeper into Lonetree's employee turnover would probably be warranted, but I can't see the UK's employment courts doing that. It's a job for Kenyon.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 15:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Very Poor Service
You found a table?
I stood for nigh on half an hour and nobody directed me to a table!
When I saw an empty table, it was wiped down but there were no knives, forks, napkins, salt, condiments nor wine glasses placed down.
There were no menus on the tables either. Not even a wine list.
The serving hatch seemed to very busy, there appeared to be a lot of people queueing up presumably to complain. Strangely they seemed to walk away with these little boxes, presumably cigars to keep them quiet.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 13:31 GMT No, I will not fix your computer
Gross misconduct.....
The manager is on dodgy grounds, while instant dismissal is legal for gross misconduct, it's not sufficient to say "we consider X to be gross misconduct, you did X, you have committed gross misconduct", otherwise any company could say "having a shoelace untied is gross misconduct" or "being too happy is gross misconduct" it has to be proportionate, yes "stealing" is obviously wrong, but being a bit generous when there are other examples would imply vicarious liability, obviously if the manager was specific "giving an extra portion away without paying for it not authorised by a shift leader or manager will result in instant dismissal" then she won't have a leg to stand on, but if the culture exists already then she was actng "reasonably", if, however she had been previously warned (about a similar level of transgression) then she won't be successful, it's irrelevant if the paperwork says one thing if the culture does something different.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 14:53 GMT Spoonsinger
Re: Gross misconduct.....
Indeed, the manager of that particular "franchise" is on dodgy ground. Seems odd, (and newsified), that someone with previously good working record is immediately dismissed for something which doesn't seem to be gross misconduct, when under UK law it takes circa three warnings of such offenses to get canned, (with all the rigmarole the employer has to go through in between). Is there more to this story? (and yes, as the top poster pointed out - WTFHTGTDWIT? - new off the top of my acronym should catch on).
-
Friday 28th September 2012 09:18 GMT MrMcginty
Re: Gross misconduct.....
Gross misconduct is grounds for summary dismissal. You don't need three warnings, which you DO need to can someone for lesser forms of misconduct.
By coincidence a mate of mine wants to pop into McDonalds with me today, an unpleasant happening at the best of times, and made the more sour by this piece.
I'll have the fries - it's about the only thing they do (apart from milkshakes) that doesn't - usually - look sad and depressed when compared to the menu pictures.
-
Saturday 29th September 2012 15:06 GMT heyrick
Re: Gross misconduct.....
Fries... When they are good, they are excellent.
When they are bad, they are unbelievably awful.
Sadly, the balance is such that getting good fries is a reason for excitement. If any McManager is reading this, here are a few suggestions:
1. Whatever shitty cheap-ass cooking oil you've been using for about the past two years (I live in France, by the way), CHANGE IT. The chips are good when hot, but anything less than hot turns them into this slimy muck that is about as appealing as eating a raw slug.
2. Teach your employees NOT to fill the chip box by pressing up on the bottom (to fit less in) and to then shake off not only the loose chips, but most of the top layer. I have been served a large chips that contained about as many chips as a small serving should contain, and yes, picture on my blog. Given a large chips retails for something like €2,50, you can fill the damn container.
3. Stop this annoying concept where the McGirl will fill up the chip box and then leave it on the rack for minutes while the rest of the order is prepared. I now tend to order a CBO because I'm fed up of the crappy burgers (those changed too, about 4-5 years ago), and thanks to food poisoning concerns, you need to cook the chicken fresh; and in some cases it can take the incompetent employees over six minutes to prepare at a time when I'm the only person being served. And my chips, not having been made fresh but there from whenever, are plucked out and left in the container, on the rack, for that length of time. Given their ease of spoiling, chips should be the last thing served.
4. Weren't there rules on how long stuff should be left? I have waited in queues and seen the same pile of chips there for far longer than should be reasonable. I have also seen a Big Mac waiting for 12 minutes (I advised my mother to order something different) and it was finally given to a drive-thru customer after our orders had been completed, so I think we're talking something in the order of 20+ minutes.
5. I know you time how long it takes to fulfil orders passed through the automatic terminal. My usual serving time is around 600 seconds. So much for the fast option. Why don't you make the terminals spit out a receipt that the customer can keep that actually lists how long it took to complete? Maybe this might prompt them to get their act together. I doubt it, but I can hope...
And, no, I don't want to hear that "it is a franchise". I know that. But when I go into an 'm' I expect some consistency (and I don't mean "uniformly crap"), so why not do a drive to get the McManagers to read the goddamn McManual and follow it.
The word you are looking for is "lackadaisical". The word I am looking for is "dissatisfied".
Bootnote: Out here in rural France, there are not so many choices for when to eat out-of-hours unless you want the expensive "Buffalo Grill" or some back-street joint that specialises in andouilles (if you don't know these, consider yourself lucky). I quite like the CBO. As you might have guessed, I don't like rancid chips. And why did you kill off rootbeer circa 1993?
-
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 14:45 GMT JaitcH
McBarf's allegedly only uses the finest ingredients
Really?
Take a read of government hamburger meat specifications which permits amounts of faeces, hair, bone-chips, etc.
And they throw in veins, ears, lips, etc. - all beef, you know.
And good quality chocolate is supposed to have around 6% of bug parts in it.
Mmm, finger licking good?
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 16:04 GMT Alan Brown
Re: McBarf's allegedly only uses the finest ingredients
You've obviously never looked up the allowable maggot content in creamed corn or tomato puree (or the allowable finger content in Ketchup), never mind that most of the product going down those lines is spoiled and/or rotten.
my mother worked in a cannery during holidays when she was a student. As a result she refuses to allow such things in the house.
McD's cooking guidelines kills everything nasty and ensures you won't get food poisoning (so did the cannery's cooking process, but the issue with my mother is memoryies of the smell) - unless franchisees cut corners and reduce the cooking times, which _has_ killed people (ditto KFC, sometimes known as "KanChukupLater" or "Kentucky Fried Rat")
Thankfully some franchisees take their responsibilities seriously - and so do McDs as a rule. Bad franchisees tend to cause bad reputations. My rule of thumb is that If the employees don't look vaguely happy in a chain outlet, go elsewhere.
-
Saturday 29th September 2012 19:35 GMT Vic
Re: McBarf's allegedly only uses the finest ingredients
> specifications which permits amounts of faeces, hair, bone-chips, etc.
Try working in the food industry for a while. Contaminants are a fact of life. Everything you eat contains something you don't want to eat. Usually, you just don't know about it.
> And they throw in veins, ears, lips, etc. - all beef, you know.
If you don't want to eat MRM, buy somehting else. It's available, but ti costs more.
Vic.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 19:50 GMT Peter Johnstone
Fast Food Franchises
I don't see the attraction with these places. Cheep supermarket burgers taste better than McDonalds. If I didn't have kids I'd never go anywhere near these place. Where do they get that awful cheese? It tastes like it's made from melted down carrier bags.
I did once have a really nice KFC though, in Beihai park in Beijing which is no longer there. They had altered their menu to suit Chinese tastes though.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 20:20 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fast Food Franchises
Why use them?
Many of us find ourselves on the move up and down the country doing long journeys at odd hours of the day. As hateful as McDonalds are, they do a passable coffee at a price lower than the chains and offer free wi-fi which can be a godsend.
In addition they don't fleece you like some outlets. At the services McDonalds seem to keep their prices at the same level as the high street whereas Burger King or the services restaurant charge twice the going rate.
I travel alot and have had some truly revolting meals on the road. McDonalds may in the main be shit but you at least know what you are getting and it won't be pricey. It also shouldn't have been sitting around for hours due to their rather stringent binning policy.
At 10.30pm on a wet Tuesday night on the A34, McDonalds is the least worst option.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 20:43 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Fast Food Franchises
"but you at least know what you are getting and it won't be pricey"
The same logic by which you find yourself eating Fray Bentos (even Goblin brand) Steak and Kidney pies for tea, pot noodles for lunch and tinned rice pudding anytime of the day.
and I agree 100%- sometimes consistency weighs out over other considerations.
-
-
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 21:05 GMT Anonymous Coward
Fired for swapping burger for fish.
I recall reading about an employee getting fired for swapping her free real-reconstituted-meat burger for a fish from the joint next door. Apparently the MSM isn't considered your own property until it egresses the consumer.
-
Thursday 27th September 2012 22:28 GMT Anonymous Coward
seen her picture?
I've got a McJob for her and it involves sprinkles. All over her "very welcoming" smile.
Seriously, she should look on the bright side. She's been fired from a crappy job and gifted an opportunity to take the McFucks for a lot of McCash.
As a bonus, she'll never have to see that McPrick of an ex-boss again either.
-
Friday 28th September 2012 08:23 GMT Bill Fresher
"Since McDonald's allegedly only uses the finest ingredients, presumably similar, for example, to Dark Origin Ecuador (£3.50 for 50g at today's online market price), the potential hit to the company coffers is a McMagnificent £18,900 per annum."
However, if the employees buying McFlurries weren't satisfied with their sprinkles and stopped buying them the company would be out £1.40 x 740 x 365 = £378,140 a year.
-
Friday 28th September 2012 10:02 GMT Anonymous Coward
Yes McD's is a starting point for many in IT, it is a good way to earn a bit of cash while studying..
Considering I've seen managers wipe a burger on the floor before serving it to someone who was being a bit of an ass, I would no longer eat any food at MuckyD's
I see her winning her case anyway, and I look forward to the day McD's is sued out of existence...
-
Friday 28th September 2012 10:20 GMT lukewarmdog
Mounsey
“You may feel that it is trivial, but with 740 employees in my business then if my management team were just to overlook such incidents then quickly it would become a free for all."
So, all of the employees are criminals and the only way to keep them in check is to scapegoat the odd one, now and then? Classism, racism, stereotyping, work place bullying.. won't somebody think about the children?
-
Friday 28th September 2012 10:35 GMT (AMPC) Anonymous and mostly paranoid coward
The good old days.... yeah I remember those
My grandfather worked most of his life for a Fortune 500 where he enjoyed a very successful career. He even wrote a book about it. He strongly believed that treating employees like human beings was the secret to building a successful company.
But before that golden era, he spent a brief, dark period working as a clerk in an accounting firm. This was back in the 1920s, BTW.
One of his favorite stories was about their accounting office manager. This martinet insisted that employees lift their finger (just like in primary school) whenever they needed to go to the loo. You can imagine the rest of that dickhead's management style. The fact this behavior was considered asinine even in the 1920s kind of says it all.
Personally, I believe this McManager fellow is representative of the new/old dysfunctional-economy McManager. McManagers don't buy into any of this touchy-feely "people-management" human stuff but can still quote and apply a mean rule book. They are great people to have on the team, particularly if you are trying to destroy a team.
I suspect there were also many such no-style, no-imagination guys around during the years leading up to the Great Depression. But people like him are not really fit to manage a customer service organization because their management style eventually trickles down to the rest of the staff. Eventually this leads their companies and shareholders into ruin, unless they are removed first.
In the 1930s, people called them "spotters" I have no idea what they are called today but I am sure fellow Reg-readers can provide a few choice epithets.
McManagment proponents need to be weeded out now, before the rot grows and they start giving employee-management seminars.
After flipping a few thousand burgers, some might even learn humility and become fit to manage.
Personally, I hope that Ms. Finch gets a lot of money and promoted and that McManager gets relieved of his cushy franchise job.
Ideally, he would first be sent to a personal awareness course where people dressed as HamBurglers catch him while he is falling...... probably his worst nightmare...!
-
Friday 28th September 2012 12:23 GMT Anonymous Coward
Slop buckets!
Worked in McD's as a first part time job as a kid (25 years ago).
I left after the practice of using 'slop buckets' to throw waste food and liquids at each junior staff members resulted in me getting covered in grease, slop and food waste. Nice.
They paid me off with £50.
I hope the pricks at McShite get reamed for every penny in compensation they can get.
-
Friday 28th September 2012 12:33 GMT Steve Medway
There is no standard for such measures
“There is no standard for such measures - they are always imprecise and will vary among customers."
That's pretty ballsy thing to say.... McDonald's would pay millions to defend itself against this accusation.
Why? Purely to prove that it's not contravening the Food Labelling Regulations Act.... All that extra undisclosed choc might cause a fatty to sue McD's for false reporting of mc flurry choc content ;-)
Let's wait for the McLibel v2 after the tribunal ;-)
-
Friday 28th September 2012 19:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
Would you like...
...fries with your Pink slip?
In all fairness she probably knew better and was warned about these types of things in the past - as are all McD employees. If you want a job, then you play by the rules. She got a lesson in life. Maybe in her next burger job she'll be more attentive to the rules.
This topic is closed for new posts.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
