

I Sold My Startup For Millions, Then Worked at McDonalds - organicgrant
http://www.businessinsider.com/meetup-ceo-scott-heiferman-mcdonalds-2010-7

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physcab
I worked at McDonalds. It was an abomination. So much so that I never ate
there again, and that was well over 8 years ago. I didn't need the job. I
basically picked it up as a second job when all my friends went off to college
and I still had another couple months left because our school started late. It
wasn't worth the extra cash. I was derided on a daily basis by customers who
looked down upon me (despite the fact I was going to be majoring in Physics).
When my manager noticed that I was reasonably intelligent, they took off early
and left me to run the entire restaurant which was utterly exhausting. No one
respected health codes. The other employees were living proof of how
destructive the food is to your body. In fact you could almost tell how many
years (or months) they had been there just by estimating their weight.

Working at McDonalds taught me a few lessons. 1) Never date anyone who eats at
McDonalds on a regular basis. They don't care about their health and well-
being. 2) Always treat others with respect. 3) Be happy and grateful for the
opportunities you have in your life. There are less fortunate situations you
could be in.

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mawhidby
My first job was at a McDonald's. My parents made me start working when I was
14, and that was the only place that would hire me. That was almost 10 years
ago, and I had a similar experience to what you described, but it appears to
me that the quality of most of the chains has gotten better (at least in my
area). I still don't eat there, though.

Embarrassing story: Since I was only 14, I was pretty shy when working the
counter. One of my managers encouraged me to make small talk with the
customers while they waited for their food, provided we weren't busy. I was
helping a large woman, and mistakenly thought she was pregnant. I asked her
"how long until you have your baby?" and she said "Excuse me!?!?" Turns out
she was just fat. Needless to say, I don't ask women about their pregnancies
anymore, unless they bring it up first. Sounds like a cliche story, but it
really happened :(

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xenomachina
Dave Barry once said something like "never assume a woman is pregnant unless
you actually see a baby coming out of her".

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barkingcat
A good job for talking with real people is working as a telephone market
researcher - basically a poller. You have a huge list of randomly generated
phone numbers, and a handful of questions about brands, current events, and
politics, and you just call people randomly, asking what they feel and how
they like subject X, Y, or Z.

I worked as one for a month. It was a very enlightening experience - actually
listening to what people wanted and felt - and answering to the hostile
respondents as well. On any given day, I would talk to over 100 of my fellow
citizens, and got them to tell me their income, what they felt about
politicians and the law, which banks and credit cards they use, how they like
their barbecue set up, how often they surf the web, which websites they
repeatedly visit, etc.

It was great fun at times - but a hard, grinder of a job - the turnover rate
was massive.

~~~
woodall
That really does sound like an awesome job. Was the grinding the reason you
left?

Did your opinions change after hearing other people's woes, or did it help to
reaffirm them?

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barkingcat
The grind and performance targets were the reasons I left. That and the low
pay. Every time you hear on CNN or on TV that according to so and so opinion
poll or market research company ... it means that a whole army of pollers had
to call a ton of people to get that information. The pressure is on to get a
statistically meaningful sample, and there are tough time constraints. To make
things even worst, you are encouraged to be automatons, and need to follow the
script.

It was a total grind.

But it did change my opinion of people, their wealth, and how they know their
world. I've spoken on the phone with people who routinely charge hundreds of
thousands of dollars a month to their credit cards, and they'd turn out to
know not much more about the world than the average joe in a suburban home,
with 3 kids and a hospital bound spouse.

The seniors are who you need to watch out for! They're smarter than every
other age group, and know what you're after - they make you work for every
answer. They don't hesitate to challenge whatever you ask - sniffing out trick
questions and assumptions built into the surveys. And also offering the most
amount of reasonably intelligent alternatives for tough questions and current
events issues.

My personal opinions about the issues at hand usually didn't change, but
talking to people did teach me a ton. During the presidential elections, I got
a professor of political science on the line, and he basically dissected the
entire political landscape and tried to tell me why Obama would win. It didn't
help me with the boss though - they were concerned that I was spending too
much time on the call.

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vaksel
he probably worked there for a few weeks, so that he could use it as an
interesting tidbit in his interviews

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swedegeek
Yea, that's exactly what he did. He actually says he worked there for a few
weeks. Total interview attention whoring in my book. "Oh, I made millions,
then immediately connected with with real people by working the grind at
McDonald's." BS. No way, did he make any kind of connection in that amount of
time other than the ability to score interviews with that "intriguing"
introduction.

He does have interesting things to say in the interview, but you can tell the
McDonald's thing was relatively meaningless to him. Now, had he done it for a
year and lived solely off the wages from working shifts at McDonald's that
would be something that likely would have provided a real connection for him.
It probably also wouldn't be a story he'd tell in a mere 30 seconds with a
smile on his face the whole time.

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BigCanOfTuna
I'd be more interested in knowing why he quit McDonald's. I had (teenage)
friends who busted their asses there...many say it was the toughest job they
had.

Sounds like he wanted to experience life as part of the proletariat, but
discovered that "American Beauty" was well, just a really good movie.

~~~
earnubs
I worked in a McDonald's (UK) for 3 months during first year at university. It
was the toughest job I ever had or have had since.

(Also, my experience of McDonald's is that it is the cleanest, most hygienic
restaurant I have ever worked in (I worked in a bunch of restaurants while at
uni) more so than people's homes even.)

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mrkurt
I have a long list of places I like to work given a certain level of free time
and financial security. McDonald's isn't on it, but UPS is.

