Day 179 - 30 Oct 95 - Page 12


     
     1   Q.   What year -- I think we heard it was 1987.  You were there,
     2        were you, when it was -----
     3        A.  It was voted Store of the Year after I had moved to
     4        Milton Keynes, but I had worked there for 11 months of that
     5        year.
     6
     7   Q.   So it was Store of the Year for the time that you worked
     8        there?
     9        A.  11 months of that year.
    10
    11   Q.   Just in your own words, what does that mean, McDonald's
    12        Store of the Year?
    13        A.  It is an honour, presumably.  The store gets a plaque,
    14        and that is about it.  I would not really know anything
    15        more than that.  The Manager, obviously, is rewarded and
    16        stands on the stage at the conference, as far as
    17        I understand.
    18
    19   Q.   It may be an obvious question, but it is an accolade to
    20        store practices?
    21        A.  Yes.  For instance, you would send postcards, some
    22        stores would send you postcards:  "We were Store of the
    23        Year.  What about you", this kind of thing, sent to all the
    24        other stores.  It was something to be proud of.
    25
    26   Q.   At the Colchester store, we have heard how "hustle" is a
    27        thing that is marked on the crew forms that are filled in
    28        about their performance.  Could you explain what "hustle"
    29        meant and how it was used?
    30        A.  "Hustle" meant, to me, fast work.  If you told someone
    31        to hustle, you were telling them to work faster.  If they
    32        were on till:  hustle, run, go on, get the queues down, run
    33         -- this kind of thing -- hustle.
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause.  Get the what down?
    36        A.  The queues, the queues at the till.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The queues down.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  What about in other areas of the store?
    41        A.  Hustle would be cleaning the back area faster.  It was
    42        basically: "Work faster; you are not working fast enough."
    43        That was hustle.
    44
    45   Q.   Do you have any concern at all about this, looking back?
    46        A.  If someone has not been trained sufficiently, or even
    47        if they have, the speed you are expected to work, it is
    48        inevitable that you would have small accidents, burns or
    49        cuts or whatever, or people sliding and falling over on the
    50        tills. 
    51 
    52   Q.   You referred in your statement to blocked drains.  Can you 
    53        explain how these came about and why?
    54        A.  There was a specific problem at the Colchester store,
    55        in that the filtering machine had broken.  So, to empty the
    56        vats, the oil fryers had to be emptied much more often,
    57        because they were unable to be filtered.
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Pause there.  Yes?
    60        A.  So, on occasions, there were not enough waste oil

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