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I feel like working at McDonalds is a waste of time, am I a snob?
Hello I am a 16 year old male and I recently applied to a McDonalds near where I live. The application made me really sad at the sort of questions they asked and I just feel like there is a much better way I could be spending my time that mindlessly working at McDonalds. My parents want me to get a summer job but I do not really want to work here. Am I being too picky or snobbish. I get straight As and I don't know it just seems like a waste of my time. Writing this now it seems elitist but it is how I feel. Any advice on this matter would help. Be critical of me too it will only help me.
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If you don't want to work there,Quit,Then go find yourself another job.
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Working fast food sucks ass. My first job as a teenager was in fast food and I ultimately made it to assistant manager. I later quit to do something I enjoyed and became a much happier person for it, ultimately working my way through school and getting a degree and then living and working overseas, among other things I've done. It's miserably tedious work with zero to really commend it and you won't use any of what you did in anything that pays real adult wages. So yeah, it's a total waste of time.
The only thing is that as a male, women look on you as an economic object. If you wanna date you gotta have a car, insurance, money to take them places, etc. So if McDonald's is the only thing available to you right now then you're pretty much stuck.
This could actually be a good object lesson. That is, you have to position your life in such a way as to not always be looking down the barrel of a dead end job. The utter tedium and inanity of working fast food could actually provide you with an incentive to kick butt in school so you don't become a loser like at least half of your fast food coworkers will be.
Here's the thing about working during the school year while you are still in high school: don't do it. It will tend to erode your academic performance (studies demonstrate this) and it will just add more stress to a teenage life that is already stressful enough.
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I respectfully disagree with Witty. Any job, held responsibly and done compentantly, is better than no job, on your resume. Although the transferable skills are limited at such a job, they are there and they are generally recongized by other employeers. You showed up and did your work well and are looking to make a step up from McDonalds, sounds a lot better than "I've never had a job before but take my word for it I'll show up and work hard."
But 'job' is a loose term, that includes volunteering, being a camp counselor and all sorts of other tasks and responsibilities.
Being a bit of snob myself, if my parents were pushing me to have a summer job and the pickings were as slim as McDonalds, I'd turn to them and say this:
"McDonalds is going to pay me, sure, but it's a not a job that gives me any transferable skills, it's just a job for the sake of having a job. Since I'm not desperate for money, how about I try and find a volunteer position doing X or Y or with Z organziation. That would look better on my resume than McDonalds, and be more in line with the kind of skills I want to learn."
If money isn't the primary object - Do some research into organzations or places in your community that will not pay you, but will give you great experiences and responsibilities than a fast food chain.
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Yes and Yes. You are a snob and you are right.
I've worked more jobs in food service and customer service than I want to think. If I ever made a resume that was entirely truthful there would be alot more instances of the word "Cashier" on it.
They're all terrible. The job I work now, my bosses boss who interviewed me for hiring went on and on about how he makes a ton of money and all he had to get was a high school diploma. To someone like me this is not a selling point, but it pays the bills so I work a shit job and continue going to school.
It is beneath me. So is every job I've ever worked up to this point in my life. There is not a one among them that has used a hundreth of my available brain power.
But without a college degree, and you in high school, we're unfortunately suited to "monkey pushes button, gets candy every two weeks" kinds of jobs. And I'm 10 years older than you, so imagine how depressing this is for me =/
On the other hand, for the rest of your life you are slightly less likely to be that asshole who ruins some poor retail employees day because you're a self centered piece of garbage. You will understand how shitty it is at the bottom of the ladder so that when you hopefully get a college degree and do something with your life you can appreciate what you end up with.
It's harder at 16, honesty. You don't have a good reason to do the job, so you just feel like you're wasting your time entirely. I have bills to pay. I can hate my job all I want but I also am using that job to put my wife through school so I get a bit of pride in being a provider and all that, you'd be surprised the difference it makes in coping with a crap job.
One thing to keep in mind and keep things in perspective you should think about regularly though, is that this is not the last stop for you. It's a McJob, it'll give you money for whatever you want right now. But look around once in a while. Some of the people you'll work with, that is the last stop for them. There will always be people who disdain things like serving someone else's fries, but someone's gotta and some people are never getting more out of life than that.
When you do get more, eventually, be thankful for it and remember the people who will be fast food managers until they get fired before any kind of pension kicks in. Your 45 year old manager will be working at burger king doing the same job and waiting to get fired from there for something stupid just like they got from McDonalds in 20 years.
And ignore adviceman entirely. There is nothing good about McDonalds as a career choice and their training is an absolute joke. They don't teach you to manage so much as indoctrinate you into the corporate culture so you can be put on a sub 35k a year salary and be worked overtime without being paid overtime. And it's not like anything they teach you gives you any manifest qualifications for any other job. You get fired or quit and go work somewhere else you get to start all over at the bottom. And if you don't you have a lifetime of managing teenagers like yourself who hate their shit job when you aren't one any more to look forward to.
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Your feelings are understandable but you know what? You're 16, sounds like you haven't had a job before, and I doubt you can do anything better. Your first (or even first few) jobs is/are going to be lame- it's a given. But right now it's just important to be making money and start saving up for things (i.e. a car, college, etc). What "better" way would you be spending your time over summer- hanging out with friends? I promise you won't be working 24/7 (if they actually hire you- if they could sense your bad attitude I doubt they will.)
Working is never a waste of your time- it's not like you're getting nothing for it. And honestly, if you don't start working now and getting experience, it's gonna be really hard to find a real, good-paying job later in life.
I'm 20 years old, in college, and I work as a grocery bagger. It is mindless and monotonous and yes, there's probably a much better way I could be spending my time. But it's a good, reliable job and having money right now is a lot more important than how bored I get. It's just a part of growing up.
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Do you know how many people who started at McDonald's at your age in a position that you now have are now owner/operators of McDonald's Franchises. I'm not talking of people who started back in the 50's, I'm talking of people who just 5 or 10 years ago started working for McDonald's. Many of these people are now millionaires. Not all maybe but those that are not are quite financially comfortable.
Stop being an elitist/snob and get your head out of the sand. McDonald's, if your interested, offers one of the best management training programs of the corporate kingdom. You can learn a lot while working for them. Should you decide to stay and climb the corporate ladder or try the world outside of McDonald's you will have trained with the best. You just are not seeing it. All you are see is being asked to ask can I suppersize your order.
Sure working the front counter is not a job for a straight A student and it is not the most challenging position. In every job their is an entry level position where management evaluates your potential. If you look at this position as being below you, well then you will never climb above it. If you grab on to this position and make it yours, then you could become an assistant manager. Yes, even as summer part-time help.
When you go on to college and need some money, walk into any McDonald's and give this franchise as a reference and you have a job; one the owner will most likely be happy to work around your school schedule. Why? Good part-time help is hard to find. Good part-time help with management experience is even harder to find.
When you move away from the front counter you may find the job more challenging and more interesting. If you stay with McDonald's and chosen for their young executive program, I believe they still offer something like that, they offer a tuition assistance program.
As they saying goes you have judged a book by its cover. Take a better look at the pages under the cover and see what opportunities McDonald's may hold.
No, I have never worked for nor do I own stock in McDonald's.
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You're being short-sighted, but not necessarily snobby.
Yes, working at McDonald's isn't exactly the most fun, fulfilling thing in the world. You're not going to take the world by storm with your fry-cooking skills. You will gain a lot from experience with them, though. And some money, which is never a bad thing.
You gain what I call "resume experience". It will show that you can work for someone for a period of time. Basically, this shows future employers (even for your dream career) that you have a decent work ethic, that you can show up on time and stick to your shifts. Basic stuff, but it gets that question out of the way.
Also, McDonald's can be a fantastic place for a student to work. They're flexible with school schedules (so you can work a few shifts a week during school) and they have scholarships for their employees to apply for.
Ask any successful adult: chances are, they've worked a lousy minimum wage job to get where they are now.
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The truth is you should very fortunate you even have a job, It may seem like a waste of your time only because you keep dwelling on the fact that it is. Sure, It isn't exactly what you see yourself doing long term but unless you have another job lined up or another way of getting steady income...I wouldn't leave McDonald's. Jobs nowadays are a bitch to come by and as the economy slowly approves a lot of people are still unemployed.
Snobbish? No but I think you really should consider yourself fortunate and stop complaining about it.
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