Any Hamburger U grads here?

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

This certainly doesn't apply to the Golden Arches alone...just that it was them today...

Dear Mr/Ms fill-in-the-blank fast food manager,

Is it really so difficult to put a hamburger together? I don't expect it to look like the perfect ones on TV that are prepared by an ad agency...but golly it'd be nice if the ketcup/tarter/special sauce was mostly ON the sandwich and not dripping out the sides. And I know it's a little thing, but it would take maybe 1 second longer to put the cheese somewhere close to the middle...or failing that, like the condiments...more ON the sandwich than off. Can we work on that?

As a drive thru customer, I'd glady wait an extra 10 seconds per order in front of me if that's enough time for your people to pay attention to what they're doing. I'm happy to wait this extra little bit because the drive thru experience is no longer speedy to begin with...and since I know this, I'm going somewhere else if there's more than three or four folks in front of me. So please, add 10 seconds to the clock and take some pressure off the grill dude/ette.

And while we're on the subject of drive-thrus, please don't ask me to ' pull up and we'll bring it to you' when I order the #1 combo with no special instructions during the lunch hour. It oughta be ready by the time I get to the window...and if it's not, you probably need to get some new help. If you nicely ask me to pull up because you're changing the tank on the drink machine, I understand that...but somebody shoulda been on top of it...so bring me an apple pie as a token of consideration.

Thanks for your attention to this very important issue...

[Joe Tonich]

Lol!!!!!!!!!!! :d :d


Hey..........sumbuddy stole my smileys!!!!!!!!

[Mike Cutler]

A long time ago, in a life far far away. I flipped a "few" burgers for Mr Kroc. So I guess I'm a Hamburger U Alumni

It was so long ago that we actually cooked them on the spot. No microwaves, no heating trays. Just big grills. We could go from no meat down to a continuous run of burgers, mac's and quarter pounders in less than 4 minutes. Used to love the call to, "Run Meat".
If a school bus pulled in, start dropping meat, The childrens hospital used to call in orders for 400 hamburgers, fries and cokes in a single order. We were the closest Big Mac shop to the Pomona dragstrip, and the LA County Fair. I'm tellin' ya' bro, We could cook some burgers, and do special orders in the middle of all this.
Today. I have no clue what is going on back there. They don't even have to cook the burgers anymore, and they're slower than erosion. Try to order more than one thing, and you have to repeat yourself, continuously.

Didn't mean to rant. I worked at McDonalds throughout high school, and It's a lot of good memories for me. We were just a bunch of high school kids, and the job kinda sucked, but we had a lot of fun. It's sad to see what it has become now.I don't think that Ray Kroc would be pleased to see what became of his dream.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

I worked at McDonald's for sixteen hours, as a strugglng Air Force one-striper...and for 15 hours and 58 minutes I was plotting my escape. I decided I didn't need the money that bad. I'd sure like to be in charge of one for a week or so...just to see if it can really be THAT hard.

KC

[Mike Cutler]

I worked at McDonald's for sixteen hours, as a strugglng Air Force one-striper...and for 15 hours and 58 minutes I was plotting my escape. I decided I didn't need the money that bad. I'd sure like to be in charge of one for a week or so...just to see if it can really be THAT hard.

KC

Under those circumstances, it probably wasn't too much fun. It's a little different when everyone that works there is your age, and you all go to high school together, or attend rival high schools. Sort of a, "misery loves company" thing.

I spent 4yrs. and 10 months doing the "Hunt for Red October" thing, on a submarine. McDonalds didn't look too bad sometimes, after some of that happy nonsense.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I built a resturant/deli in NJ. I hired a McDonalds Trained manager a good cook and a great delivery guy.
First off my manager would have known instantly is customers were waiting. Then, if that had happened that girl (my manager) would have had the culprit/s on the floor and pulled a tooth outta their heads for every "Please pull up akaus we ain't on top o things." She was tough. She'd let into me if she didn't like what I was doing and I owned the palce.

It's all a question of the management. If management is worthless then the staff will be also.

[Frank Chaffee]

Wow,
What a thread.
I had the great good fortune to live as a child near one of the first golden arched industrial age fast food restaurants. Summertime, after a Saturday at the lake, we picked up dinner at the rate of 45 cents each for a three course meal. Musta’ been fewer food groups in the late fifties.

When I was really really young, Mom picked up White Castle hamburgers at her bus transfer point on the way home from her ballet lessons. Twelve cents each.

But really, how long did it take in our free society to learn basic facts of both the nutritional value and questionable safety of diets produced and distributed thru the ever expanding corporations growing then? These very same corporate offerings that were chosen by consumers financed the buyout of domestic family farms and vast expanses of overseas farmland as well. Restaurants owned, run and staffed by local families have been run out of business by centralization of power and resourses.

The business model in which employees must study at a “hamburger U” rather than growing up apprenticing to cooks who love cooking and providing nourishment to loved ones, took a very long time to become as prevalent as it is in the world today, and today is as fine a time as any to question it.

Here’s to parking it and eating,
Frank

[Curt Fuller]

Just keep in mind that the kid that's putting that burger together is probably a little pre-occupied with re-thinking every bad decision that he/she has made so far in life.

[Brett Baldwin]

Do we remember these lines from a popular action movie sequal?

"They #!@$ YOU at the drive-thru, okay? They #@!$ YOU at the drive-thru! They know you're gonna be miles away before you find out you got #!@$ed! They know you're not gonna turn around and go back, they don't care. So who gets #!@$ed? Ol' Leo Getz! Okay, sure! I don't give a #!@$! I'm not eating this tuna, okay? "

One of Mr. Pesci's most memorable performances. To this day I can't look at a drive-thru without it going through my head.

[Tony Falotico]

I'm an Engineer by trade.... Small engineering firms used to be operated by engineer's, we took pride in what we produced and it showed. Today, small firms are being gobbled up by larger corporate firms that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Local Restaurants and diners used to be run by local familys who took pride in what they did........ Today, the local restaurants and diners are being gobbled up by larger chain restauarnts and fast foods establishments that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Hospitals used to be run by doctors who took pride in what they did........ Today, the local hospitals are being gobbled up by larger corporate firms that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Hardware stores used to be locally owned and operated by local family's who took pride in what they did........ Today, the hardware stores are being gobbled up by box retail outlets that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Shoe stores used to be ........


Beginning to see an ugly pattern here ??

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

I'm an Engineer by trade.... Small engineering firms used to be operated by engineer's, we took pride in what we produced and it showed. Today, small firms are being gobbled up by larger corporate firms that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Local Restaurants and diners used to be run by local familys who took pride in what they did........ Today, the local restaurants and diners are being gobbled up by larger chain restauarnts and fast foods establishments that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Hospitals used to be run by doctors who took pride in what they did........ Today, the local hospitals are being gobbled up by larger corporate firms that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Hardware stores used to be locally owned and operated by local family's who took pride in what they did........ Today, the hardware stores are being gobbled up by box retail outlets that are operated by administrators advised by bean counters. Bottom line today is the number of beans collected.

Shoe stores used to be ........


Beginning to see an ugly pattern here ??

Ya, we're becoming a country running on beans and can't quite understand the smell!

Doug

[Jason Roehl]

Well put, Tony.

KC, I used to flip (not really--we had clamshell grills) burgers for the Golden Arches a few moons ago for my first job. I thought I was hot stuff after a few days or weeks in sandwich prep because I could really crank them out. That is, until the Asst. Manager (I really respected him--he taught me about a lot more than making burgers) brought a sandwich back to me that was exactly like you described. I had to slow down for a while and relearn the process so that I wasn't just slopping them together, but I did eventually regain and surpass my previous speed, with a well-formed sandwich to boot. Nowadays, I see lots lof lousy work going on behind the counter, and I believe it's because they can't afford to find replacements--they're already understaffed, and what they have are mostly underachievers. If they fired all the incompetent ones, they wouldn't have enough employees to run the store.

[Richard Wolf]

Boy, I have been avoiding posting here, but it has gotten the best of me and I can't help the rant.
I really HATE McDonald's. Not because they have lousy food and bad service, there are plenty of places that can compete with that. What I hate is that they have become a blight on the very culture of America. Drive across the interstates and at the top of every exit ramp is that sh!tty little profile of a building that we can reconize as McDonalds. Like for some reason you can't drive three exits without needing their "food". I also dislike the fact that McDonalds thinks it is woven into the tread of American society and is a National treasure. A part of everyone's history. It's hard to watch a movie today without seeing the Golden Arches. They feel like they are as American as apple pie.
I personally boycott McDonalds, and while I do eat fast food, it is never McDonalds. It's not even the cheap meal we remember as a kid, feeding a family of four at McDonalds will cost almost as much as a local resturant. If I never eat another McDonalds burger again it will be to soon.

Richard

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Oh come on now Richard.........Tell us how you really feel! ........I'm with you.........I try never to eat there but there are times when business forces me to eat there as nothing else is open at the strange hours I work.

[Bill Lewis]

I'm waiting to see when they start serving McDonald's on airliners. After all, it is the same as airline food to begin with. Come to think of it, I think airline food is now better (simply because they don't serve it anymore).

Just a couple of miles from us is this little old country store/gas station that has a grill in back. They have the best hamburgers, at least 1/2 lb, all hand made patties. If you want bacon on it you get a pile of bacon, and boy do they do breakfasts. The "counter" is an old soda jerk salvage, no more than about a foot deep, and it sags toward you. Only about 6 stools at the counter, and a small table with 4 chairs. If you go in there you're likely to see someone you know, and if you don't know'm, you might by the time you;re finished. They know us when we come in, we're pretty much regulars, so they usually remember what we like on our burgers.

This place is a real throwback, really out of sorts with the homoginization of america, and particularly so with the area that I live in. I hope it never changes.