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,

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