My job at Sophia McDonald’s was to take orders and money in drive thru. They have some recorded audio that comes on when a car pulls up offering them our new strawberry smoothie. This always bothered me and I tried to cut it off when a car pulls in. Saturday morning I show up at work and was told that the speaker went out. We couldn’t hear what they were saying and we couldn’t say anything to them. So someone wrote on a sign in front of the order menu letting the customers know that they would have to pull up to the first window to give their order. But it looked like no one knew how to shut the automatic voice off so the customers assumed that someone was there.
By the time they showed up at my window, they just handed me the money. I had to explain over and over again that it was broke down and I needed their order again. I ended up cussed out so many times that morning. It didn’t help that I had to run down the long hall to make their drinks, put the food together and hand it out. I did this for almost 2 hours mostly by myself. The manger was in the back, the girl that was supposed to help me was running around, and I don’t even know if we had a front counter person at all that day.
After getting cussed out about the 20th time, I asked for a 5 minute break to cool down and focus my energy on a good day. I was so ready to cry at this point. I was told that at 8am we would be getting more crew in and I could go then. I have a television that views the drive thru. I saw 8 or 9 crew members that went outside and smoked from the time that I asked, around 7:30 until 8. 10 minutes after 8 I poked my head out and asked again. She said that I could get one when drive thru has slowed down some.
With the speaker broke, people were waiting in line over 20 minutes for a sausage biscuit. I looked up front a few times and the manger was chit chatting with one or two others. It’s like if they stand there and look, it will get done a lot faster. And this whole time, 4 more different people went outside to smoke. After another 10 minutes of this, I asked again. She gets mad at me and asked if I wanted to go home. I said no, I just needed 5 minutes. The manager follows me into my little drive thru hole and keeps asking me if I want to go home. Three times I said no, I want to work, can I get back to this customer. She starts yelling and finally walks back up front. She sends another worker to try and take my cash drawer. I was told only mangers can, so he just stood there while I waited on the customer that seen this whole episode. There were two guys in the car. The passenger asks me what my name was and I told him. He then asked me who the manager was and I told him. He said that he was going to call and complain about the way she was yelling at me in front of him. I apologized again and continued doing my job.
Well the whole time, the boy she has sent to take over for me was listening and went back and told the manager everything that he overheard. She comes over and tells me that she made my cash drawer a manager’s drawer and told me to meet her in the break room. I walked in and waited a few minutes. She then goes into a lecture about it being busy and understaff and equipment failure. The customer comes first (which I certainly agree with) and how hard it is being a manger. She asked if she can get her 15 minute break whenever she feels like it, and I made a comment about yeah, she can walk into the back and do something other than dealing with the customers for few minutes. Everyone has that option, wither it’s just getting stock and bringing it up, or even going to the bathroom. As a cashier/ order taker, you don’t have that option, if you’re a good one that puts the customers first that is.
She then brings up the fact that I had given her name to the customer. I explained to her that he asked me my name, her name and a store manger’s name that was higher up than her. I never instigated the conversion. The way that she acted was like I did some horrible crime giving out her name. I wasn’t trying to get her into any trouble. I even apologized to the guys. I apologized to her if I did something that I shouldn’t. I have put in many years in fast food. I was always told to give our first name only if someone asked.
She told me to go home and not to come back until I talked to the 2nd in command of the store. While I waited on my husband to pick me up 3 hours after he dropped me off, two co-workers waited outside with me smoking. I mentioned that I had to talk to other manager before I could come back to work. He tells that me she will be there at 9. In about 10 minutes. While we waited on her to show up, another co-worker joined us. The manger shows up, I tell her what happens. She tells me to wait and went in and talked to the other manager. She comes back after about 8 minutes. She tells me that everyone was a little over stressed in the drive thru area and that everything was fine and tells me to come back in the morning for my 5 am shift.
My husband works the late shift. It’s been that he gets off in time to wake me up for my day. While I am getting ready for work he tells me that he looked on the schedule and my name had been marked off. I had the next two days off after my Sunday shift. The rest of the week still had my name on it. He mentioned it to the night manager and she tells him to have me call her before coming in to work. I did and I told her what happened. She looks in my file for me and sees no write ups, no warnings, no call ins, no nothing. She said that I should come in because the same manager was coming in and might know something more.
When she showed up, she takes the night manager aside and said loud enough that everyone around heard, “the store manager called me at home last night at 8 and she is not to come back in until she talks to the store manager.” I was told that she came in at 10. I had my husband wait for me while I found out if I was going to work or not. I go home, but couldn’t come back in at 10 so I called. Another manager told me to be there at 2.
I show up at 2 and the store manager motions me into the break room. She tells me I am fired. Someone over her told her to fire me for insubordination. I was in complete shock. I didn’t even think that I deserved a verbal warning, let along sent home one day, come in the next and sent home again. Now I’m fired? She thrust a paper in front of me to sign. Not quite over my shock, I asked her what did she mean insubordination. She was told by her high up that she had to fire me because a customer was involved. I tried to explain to her that I didn’t ask for the customer to be involved. He asked me what my name was too.
She then again told me to sign the paper and that I could write my own events on a little line under everyone else’s. (She never once asked me for my side of the story.) I asked if it would do me any good and she said no. I asked that she let her higher up know that I would like to speak with her. I was told she would be in sometime Monday and I can try to catch her then. No time, no number. I gave her my number asking her to call me. It is now days later and I haven’t heard from anyone.
Monday afternoon not hearing from anyone, I called a lawyer and was told that West Virginia is an at will work state. I couldn’t do anything for wrongful termination. I am a middle age white mother of two kids that works hard, do my job, and followed all the rules. Now everyone is telling me that McDonald’s can fire me without for anything. They don’t have to follow their own rules.
I have contacted Corporate McDonald’s, the labor board, and even the owner of my store and I haven’t gotten a call or a letter from anyone. This is wrong the way they treated me and I feel that the public has a right to know. We all grew up with McDonald’s. It’s supposed to be a fun experience for the whole family. The past two months I seen things going on in this store that would have it shut down and most of the workers fired.
A manger calls me at home at tell me all kinds of things, but the first words out of her mouth is “You didn’t hear this from me.” Another manager sees me out filling out applications and comes over and talks to me. The same thing, “You didn’t hear this from me”. I have employees calling me at home and contacting me online with outrageous stories. Everyone wants something done about this McDonald’s; just no one knows what to do. While you’re working and you complain, their goes your job. If you quit or get fired, no one wants to listen to you because you must have done something wrong. Well I didn’t.
I have a feeling after I send this in that my husband will end up fired as well. We are prepared. I found another job further down the road than I would like, but I am happy that I found a job. I was a model employee for McDonald’s and I will be for this new company.
