Day 188 - 15 Nov 95 - Page 73


     
     1             asked to carry these boxes.  Under 18 year olds
     2             were regularly carrying 40 lbs of burger around
     3             the store.  Other duties involved washing steps,
     4             mopping floors, preparing food and washing up.
     5             We always used diluted washing up liquid.
     6
     7             I am amazed that there were no major accidents
     8             in the store.  People could slip easily, and if
     9             they placed their hands on the grill if they
    10             slipped they would be burned for life.  There
    11             were tiles loose on the kitchen floor and the
    12             floor was often greasy.  There was regular use
    13             of salt scattered on the floor to absorb the
    14             grease in order to try and prevent slipping.
    15             I think that the design of the floor was very
    16             poor.  It was very easy to slip on the type of
    17             tiles that they had put down.  It was quite easy
    18             to slide right across the floor.  In fact, crew
    19             regularly did this intentionally when moving at
    20             high speed.  If you watch carefully in a
    21             McDonald's store when it is busy you can often
    22             see staff skidding intentionally around the
    23             kitchen in order to increase their speed.
    24
    25             As well as working on back room jobs I also
    26             worked on all the stations in the front of the
    27             store.  I never received any training
    28             whatsoever.  I never saw any of the training
    29             videos they were supposed to show.  So far as
    30             I was aware, nobody had any formal training at
    31             my store.  There was a video screen in the
    32             Manager's office but it was never used for
    33             training.  I went to two rap sessions but
    34             thought they were a total waste of time.  They
    35             achieved nothing.  They were completely designed
    36             to suit the interests of McDonald's.  If anybody
    37             complained, this enabled management to see who
    38             the troublemakers were.  Nothing good ever came
    39             from a rap session.  The only things people
    40             discussed at these sessions were staff discos
    41             etcetera.  People were just too scared to air
    42             their grievances.  Anybody who wished was
    43             allowed to attend a rap session.  Approximately
    44             25 employees used to attend each one and were
    45             paid for their time.
    46
    47             "One had to pass exams in order to get badge
    48             stars.  The exams were ridiculously simple.
    49             There were also monthly assessments, and if you
    50             did well in the assessments and the exams, you 
    51             were supposed to get stars.  Management used to 
    52             generally hand out the stars as and when they 
    53             fancied.
    54
    55             "By the time I left, I had a yellow badge
    56             awarded to all employees after a month of
    57             employment.  I never got any stars.
    58
    59             "Only about five per cent of the staff at my
    60             store disliked the job as much as I did.

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