Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 39
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Had you obtained some qualification from your
3 time at college?
4 A. I only got an A level; I failed the other A levels I
5 was taking.
6
7 Q. So you were there to get A levels ---
8 A. Yes.
9
10 Q. -- rather than do some vocational training of some kind?
11 A. Yes.
12
13 Q. Yes. I had not made a note of that because in the light of
14 the answer I do not think it is relevant, but I merely
15 wanted to know if you were training for some specific
16 career of some kind at college?
17 A. Oh, right -- no, I was not.
18
19 Q. Yes.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: You were saying about?
22 A. Yes. When I initially went to take this job in the
23 Civil Service, it was only a casual employment for six
24 months and there was no guaranteed prospect at the end of
25 it. So, partly to keep my options open and partly because
26 I wanted to earn more money, I decided to stay part-time at
27 McDonald's, but within a couple of weeks of leaving
28 I realised what the sort of psychological effect of working
29 there had had on me. I felt like I had escaped something.
30 It was such a weight off my mind that there was no way I
31 was going to go back and work there and I never went back.
32
33 Q. Do you have a grudge against McDonald's?
34 A. I would not say I have a grudge against McDonald's, but
35 I have very firm views about what took place while I worked
36 there, and how that Company treats people, and that its
37 interest in making money surpasses all other considerations
38 in the workplace, and I feel very sorry for people that
39 have to work there now.
40
41 Q. Sorry, one final question, I think -- there maybe one other
42 one -- you said about when you left McDonald's you tried to
43 eat healthier food and got the runs. Previously to that
44 were you eating a lot of McDonald's food or what, when you
45 were a full-timer?
46 A. Yes, I used to eat as much of the food as I could
47 because it was cheaper than buying my own food, and also
48 I saw it as a way of supplementing my income from them.
49
50 Q. Did that have any effect on your metabolism?
51 A. Yes, I tended towards being constipated, but when
52 I left, like I have said in my supplementary statement,
53 I went the other way because I was eating a more balanced
54 diet and my body could not take the change. I did not feel
55 unwell but I just could not cope with eating healthier
56 food, and it took my body a while to adjust to it. But at
57 the same time I had a craving to eat the food, even though
58 I did not intellectually did not want it; I had made firm
59 decisions about how I never wanted to eat their food, but
60 I felt a compulsion to go and buy it and eat it.
