Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 50
1 cleanliness are not about giving a service to the
2 customers. The customer only gets in the way"? You meant
3 that sincerely, did you, when you wrote it?
4 A. Yes. I mean, I think, again, you know, if you want to
5 take it as an interpretation, but what happened in Croydon
6 where there was a combination of part-time staff and
7 full-time staff on the Saturdays, I mean, and school kids
8 would come into work on the Croydon on the Saturday to get
9 money. They kind of enjoyed it; and those school kids in
10 particular really got into that hustle and bustle and kind
11 of, you know, being in the hustle of the day; and at times
12 they would say, "The customers are being too damn slow for
13 us. We can't hustle as fast as we want." That is what
14 that refers to, and that is what they, you know -- I am not
15 saying it is a serious complaint, but it was a kind of
16 jokey -----
17
18 Q. It is not supposed to a statement about McDonald's attitude
19 to the customers in general?
20 A. No, no. It was a description of the way the staff
21 sometimes felt about the customers getting in the way of
22 that kind of mood of hustle and bustle.
23
24 Q. Then do you see paragraph 4 up from the bottom: "So selling
25 hamburgers is ignored. The essence of the operation is
26 overwhelmed in establishing a notion, idealogy of
27 McDonald's which is on a higher plain than mere hamburger
28 selling. Anyone can sell hamburgers. McDonald's is
29 achievement life meaning, but it is fake life achievement
30 meaning, because it is just about selling hamburgers."
31
32 Is your premise correct, Miss Tobin, that McDonald's try to
33 create an image for themselves and their customers which,
34 as it were, imports something more than selling perfectly
35 decent hamburgers?
36 A. I would not -- it is fair to say that my premise is
37 correct. What I am saying is that that is the way
38 I interpreted what I had seen. I mean, whether you agree
39 with it is another matter, or whether other people agree
40 with it. What I had was, that was very much on the basis
41 of my observation in the store; that was a way of
42 interpreting the kind of company ethos that operated.
43
44 Q. Then you write in the next paragraph: "Nor is McDonald's
45 different, uniquely different. During the filming, a
46 number of crew asked, 'Why McDonald's?' Are we trying to
47 say that McDonald's is different to the other fast food
48 joints, worse."
49
50 Just, please, answer this question: Is the word "worse"
51 your word or your summary of what they said to you?
52 A. It is -- neither is accurate. What I am -- that was a
53 question to the producer. I was saying to the producer
54 there, whilst we are going around here -- I mean, I was
55 saying to the producer, I mean, you have endless
56 discussions throughout the programme making, "What is this
57 film about?" I was trying to actually say, in the way that
58 you want to interpret it, is this -- "Do we think that
59 McDonald's is worse, or do we think it is the same as
60 everything else? Is there an argument to say it is worse,
