Golden Sticks

I got there forty minutes earlier, due to me losing my watch and my ride bein early. Blegh.
Outside the window on the corner there was a guy rocking out on a giant painted cardboard guitar. I laughed. Almost joined him.
About the hair. Last night after work I was messin around and got it up in there. Looked/felt dumb. I just tucked it into my shirt today. No one's said anything. I watched some kids on bikes go from Wendy's across the street to the mcdonalds.
Talked with Jeremy, the felon guy from the orientation. He was working at 5 as well. It was awkward. There's apparently a lot of new people.
Mike is the manager for the evening. I tell him I've done grill. He mumbles about 14 people doing grill. Sticks me with fries. Jeremy takes grill. My trainer is a girl named Megan. Kinda reminded me of meg from Family Guy. But looked almost like the crazy band girl from American Pie, only with buck teeth. Fries are effin simple. Just scoop em up with a handy scooper right into a pouch or box. Makin em is easier. Put it in, push a button, wait for beep, shake, button, wait, beep, button, take em out n salt em. There's a clever hopper contraption nearby. Put frozen fries in hopper. push button and the thing moves empty fry baskets to the hopper, fills em, then moves them under that rack to a full basket' rack. It's AWESOME! Fries are slower paced than grill, even during busy times. And we were busy. It's the wednesday church night! "almost time for church, let's eat,.... man talkin bout jesus made me hungry, let's eat." made lotsa fries. nom nom nom.
Also I went to work hungry. Bad idea, especially since I was makin fries. My favorite McDonald's food....
Didn't steal any. If you haven't noticed, fries are really close to the counter. And everyone can see you, they just don't pay attention to you. At one point I had to go help jeremy on the grill. Threw down some quarter and angus for him and such. After that, put some pies in the oven. Discovered cherry pies were gone. Boxed the apple pies. Back to fries.
There was a lull. Another lady showed me some register stuff. I ruined a sundae. register looks complicated. even with pictures... went back to fries. bagged some stuf.
Eventually I burnt myself on the freakin greasy fry basket. Ow. ow. ow. sucks. ah well.
I noticed we were low on fry boxes. So I found some and began to stock em. I went to make a small fry with the new pouches. It was too small. WTF? and it said 'wakey wakey'... dammit. hashbrowns. I replaced em all with fry pouches, they were hidden in a box.
Right before I left an old couple came in. No salt fries. ><
hadto make a new batch. then make sure no salt got on em. it's a pain,
but I'm lovin it.

First Day, The McDonald's Way

Barely made it in time. Was still ten minutes early. Nabbed my uniform. Headed to the bathroom. Not the cleanest of places, but depantsing myself in the lobby on my first day of work might make a bad impression.
Only one toilet stall. I walk in, glancing at the contents. Sh*t and more sh*t. And paper. All crammed in. "Great start" I unpack the uniform. Pants are a PERFECT fit. I'm a little guy, so I've never had pants fit me. Although the crotch is tight. So no aerobics. The shirt, while snazzy, was a too big. Bleh. I tucked it in, tried the cap. Couldn't figure out how to get my ponytail up in it, and with 2 mins til 5 I just shoved it behind my collar. No one said anything.
The shift manager for the day was a guy named james. He sounds like David Spade about 75% of the time.
I worked grill. I could tell instantly that my trainer was the kind of guy who did grill because he wanted to. After learnin and grillin I figured out why. While monotonous, it was easy and simple. Just speed and efficiency is all that matters. I had fun.
My fingers and hands are burnt the eff up. Nothin too bad.
So my trainer took his break, and they asked if I could take it. Said sure, as long as I know what is needed. (hamburger, quarterpound, angus, mushroom, bacon, chicken) So he goes on break. And. We get slammed. Was making a full grill of hamburgers constantly for a very long time. And then-
nothing. Not sh*t to do. didn't even know I was makin more burgers later until I noticed I was takin off the grill, ha. After the rush James asked me if I was comin back next week. I said maybe. He said when I say yes, he'll say 'welcome to the team.'
I did the grill by myself for the rest of the night. Wasn't very busy at all. Near the end the james guy gave me my name tag sayin 'welcome to the team'.
Got hit with a gaggle of high schoolers, jocks and cheerleaders by the look of em.... but I was leavin.

I did well.
James used to play D&D and vgames, but yaknow family and kids.
Can't figure out why but the hamburger smells a LOT like sausage. quarter and angus smell like burger, but hamburger smells of sausage.
Haven't worked in so long. Felt good, and bad at the same time. Sore now.
Hopin to get to new positions later. Woo.

I still smell like a burger. mmmm. But I taste mcdonalds... in my soda...
have to call to see when I work next.

Interview and Orientation

I've no idea how long this blog will last... McDonald's shouldn't be a fun place to work... but neither should washing dishes or attending a gas station. And I loved those.
Upon entering I noticed some type of manager training goin on in the 'party room', an area in the back that has tiny walls and a couple tables. The only difference to this 'party room' was instead of stunning farm vistas and trees, it was decorated with creepy smiling kids and that iconic clown. I listened to that as I waited...
They make you read a long diddy about the rules, policies and other stuff. After I read that, I had to wait because they were busy. Who schedules an interview at 3:30? (or even 4:30? I saw he had more papers for other people..with times on em.) This interview went a LOT better than the last one. For starters it wasn't in the storage room of a kum n go. I felt a little bit better also. Guy looked average, young to middle aged. We sat at a booth in the back. Shook hands. I've tried to shake hands more firmly instead of weakly touching someone. To be nicer, and more manly. Woo. He hadn't read my online application. He looked it over, asked about my jobs. Then came the usual killer. "why do you want to work at Mcdonalds?"
"Well it's fairly cloe to the new house, and I like the cheeseburgers."
"Good enough for me." He said he had to go check on something and left me there to stare at the wall nervously.
He returned after several long minutes with incredible news:
"We're gonna go ahead and hire you"
(words I've waited months to hear)
After that I got homework to do, fillin out tax forms and junk. They may hire anybody, but I've applied to every place that hires everybody and this is the result.

Orientation was the next day, at the store. I got lucky. I've heard some are farther away and such. There were three other people back in the party room. I listened to the small talk. One guy said he couldn't get any other job because he's a felon. Just some stupid shit he did when he was 17, property damage and such, and now it's nearly screwed him for life. A chick was there, moved out, was pregnant, living with a friend. Needed a job. Other guy didn't engage in the small talk. Orientation was just verbalising what I read the day before. Had to sign some things. Saw the greasy insides of the McDonald's. Tasty.
Nothing else to do. Put my hair up in the hat, no problem, shaving no problem. They said it was because old people with their skewered old people perceptions, are stuck in the 50s, and guys aren't supposed to have long hair. Well f*ck them. But I need that paycheck, and it's not as bad as workin at Wal-Mart. Oh and I can't play that monopoly game. BS. I've played it nearly every year!
The uniform and all the rules make me feel like it's 1984... but it's not that bad. They're more guidelines. As they should be.

I work and get a uniform on monday...