Day 196 - 06 Dec 95 - Page 26
1 was a thing we all got on with.
2
3 Q. Did you have the same attitude to the labour costs cutting
4 or was it just the food costs?
5 A. All costs. There was no change in attitude to hitting
6 budget, being above budget, being a profitable store. The
7 difference in the managerial way that it was applied was
8 the main change. Where before we tended to work as group
9 of people towards one aim, it then changed where one person
10 would, say: "You are not doing this officially. I want you
11 to do these targets. Unofficially carry on but if I catch
12 you, you will get the blame for it, I will not", whereas
13 before we had backing or unofficial backing.
14
15 Q. How do you know that unacceptable practices that went on,
16 the food watering down, the illegal hours worked, the
17 clocking ----
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Ask your question and then I will have a
20 suggestion to make.
21
22 MR. MORRIS: How do you know they were known to your superiors,
23 I do not just mean Area Supervisor?
24 A. I have no way of knowing if they were definitely known,
25 but we were known for an area that had good results. They
26 must have been aware we were doing something other people
27 were not. I always got the impression that as long as we'
28 chief the aims no questions were duly asked. If you did
29 not actually do what was asked then you tended to get
30 stamped on, so to speak, but as long as you actually
31 achieved what they wanted then no one seemed to ask that
32 many questions above you about why you were doing it.
33
34 Q. But did they examine your books and all that stuff?
35 A. Very rarely. The results were really judged on the
36 figures that we actually put, so it was more a case of us
37 giving figures or percentages in and then they looked at
38 those figures as opposed to someone coming down. I mean,
39 all inventories and audits were either done by my assistant
40 or with the Supervisor being there, so all auditing was
41 done at branch level. Very rarely someone from above would
42 come in and sort of question those figures.
43
44 Q. Would people from higher levels of the Company learn what
45 was really going on in the store through doing their store
46 audit and full field audit and things like that?
47 A. No, because, as I said before, there are two types at
48 McDonald's: There is the manual, what happens at training,
49 and what happens on the full fields and audits, and there
50 is what happens when those things are not going on. You
51 know when a full field is going to happen, if not you are
52 notified. You normally find out the day before it is going
53 to happen. You are ready for it. You have your people
54 on. So it tends to be a time when you perform at your best
55 because you know they are happening. Then what actually
56 happens when they are not there is slightly different.
57 There are two or I felt there were definitely two distinct
58 lines. There was the book, what happened when people came
59 down and visited you, and how the stores were run when you
60 were left on your own.
