When I was 14, I worked at McDonald’s. I was so young and impressionable. I was forced to learn a lot in a short time. Working at McDonald’s had some very intimidating moments. It taught me that I needed to work fast, that I needed to work hard, and that I better get it right the first time. It taught me a lot about work ethics. I have always been raised with respect, but it taught me that “The Customer Is Always Right.” I never had much of a problem with disrespectful or angry customers because I have never been a hot head so I can deal with those circumstances effectively. If the customer has a complaint, you usually just give them what they want.
As having been a McDonald’s employee, I agree that their routine methods are efficient and effective. Everything is always done the same way, day in and day out and you better believe it’s your ass if you do something wrong or different. Everything is on a set timer from the fries to the routinization of flipping the burgers. It is quite amazing how quickly you can train the employees to do things in such a repetitive manner. Individualism is definitely not praised in this environment and if anything has just been eliminated completely. As Leidner mentions, rationalization is key for McDonald’s.
I feel that many things in our lives have become rationalized. We need to be careful that automatic systems and robotic humans which become eventually just robots don’t take over our lives. The systems put in place to make everything work more effectively are destroying our social interactions. Think about it. The employee behind the counter cannot even greet us how he likes. He must say, “hi, how can I help you today?” or something to that effect, it’s been a long time. Their greeting is made so uniform that it extends globally across the world. This extends to many other things as well. I can’t ever get an actual human operator without pressing many zero’s first and hearing automated options that waste my time. Talking on the phone is no longer a thing, but texting is everything. Our relations with people are being compromised. I think it’s important to interact with people and not always worry about the speed in which they deliver our food and we shouldn’t minimize our social interactions the way we are doing so.
Monika's Blog 