Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 30


     
     1        A.  They do not know the system.  They are not told,
     2        either.  If they ask, they are not really -- it is not
     3        answered.  We were told not to tell customers about that.
     4
     5   MR. MORRIS:  You said in the next paragraph: "Pressure in busy
     6        times meant that food which had fallen on the floor or
     7        undercooked meat would be served."  How do you know that
     8        that happened?
     9        A.  Unfortunately, I have to admit that I was involved in
    10        that activity myself.  Because we were worked so hard when
    11        it was busy, we were working -- the McDonald's word is
    12        "hustle", which means that you are working to your
    13        limitations, really; and you might be cooking food and
    14        serving it so quickly that it is very easy just to turn
    15        round and knock something and you have lost a whole tray of
    16        burgers that have just come off the grill.  So what you
    17        would have to do is rescue what you could, and the pressure
    18        is on you to save more than perhaps you really ought to,
    19        from a hygiene point of view; and the Manager may turn
    20        round and say, "I can't see that", in other words, inviting
    21        you to break the rules.  So you then rescue things that had
    22        fallen on the floor because, otherwise, you would slip so
    23        far behind it would get out of control; you would not be
    24        able to keep serving the customers.
    25
    26        Also, it meant that sometimes people were up to the task of
    27        working under that sort of pressure, and they could not --
    28        they would not be able to cook the food properly, but if
    29        they were the person on the grill and the food had to be
    30        cooked, they would still be doing it and that food would be
    31        sold even though it was inadequate.
    32
    33        It was quite normal for people to bring back half-eaten
    34        burgers where they had suddenly realised the meat was raw
    35        inside and they would come back and complain about it; and
    36        then they would exchange it.  In fact, many customers
    37        seemed to accept this as the norm; they were used to it.
    38
    39   Q.   When you say "quite normal", what do you mean by "normal",
    40        that undercooked food would be brought back?
    41        A.  When I was working there full-time, I would see it
    42        three or four times a week, just on the shifts when I was
    43        there.  People were not surprised by it.
    44
    45   Q.   What did you do?
    46        A.  You would just offer them an apology and replace the
    47        food.  Sometimes people made more of a complaint and then
    48        they went and spoke to the Manager; and, occasionally,
    49        people would come in with letters from the McDonald's Head
    50        Office, where they had written in to complain about the 
    51        standard of the store or the quality of the food, and they 
    52        were offered a replacement meal, and they would bring this 
    53        letter in and they would be given another meal.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL: When you say under pressure, they could not
    56        cook the food properly, what do you mean by that?  I think
    57        I know, but you tell me.
    58        A.  Well, the quantity of food that was being demanded at
    59        the tills was hard to maintain by the staff, and the only
    60        way to maintain that was for people to go into overdrive

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