I wrote about my thots on working temp @McDonalds in Japan months back.... just sharing it with everyone now..Am I loving it? Hmm…I’m not too sure…but I sure love the fries!I had a fair share fun & unhappiness at McDonalds. The money & job wasn’t that good but it beats surviving on savings. Can’t believe that I stayed on for 11.5 months when I wanted so much to quit during my 1st month there.
What’s the image of working in McDonalds? Almost everyone who knew about my job laughed about it. “Ah, so u’d get free burgers & fries?” “Do u say Good morning, may I have your order please?” etc. To set the record straight, there’s no freebies that comes with working here, tho depending on the manager on duty, we do get free food (it’s illegal!) sometimes. And I was based in the kitchen only since I can’t speak Jap well.
Why McDonalds? Not many would want to work for McDonalds in Spore, and I guess it’s the same for Japan, based on how poor their recruitment response is. I wanted a job near home with flexible hours so that I could have the time to study, and McDonalds fitted the bill then.
Armed with the standard phone conversation lines learnt in class, I called for an interview. Didn’t understand what she was saying, but managed to catch the date & time of interview anyway. I was so worried about the interview ~ practiced the standard interview lines we learnt in class umpteen times.Failed big time for the interview. The interviewer was speaking at Shinkansen speed while I was processing her lines at snail’s pace. Was like chicken & duck talk but somehow things worked out. The funny part’s that when she offered me the job, I didn’t even know coz I didn’t understand her! I wonder why she offered me the job then but am glad for the chance anyway.
Started work during the 1st week of January. Fresh start of the year or beginning of 11.5 mths of misery? To begin with, I’m a little princess at home. Household chores were rare tho staying alone now meant I had to do it, but 4 hours of washing at the sink? Well, that’s “Closing” at McDonalds ~ tonnes of washing. In addition, there’s the dreadful “Grill-down” which meant cleaning the grill plate. The first time I saw my colleague do it, I was a little concerned about the safety of it. He donned thick rubber gloves and put on those big plastic mask over his face like some firefighter and when he poured the cleaning detergent onto the grill, there were fumes… scary…From taking ages to do it coz I was so afraid of being scalded, to doing it within minutes w/o the use of the mask…I’ve come a long way man...(but I still dread it!) And washing / other cleaning duties? It’s something that I’ve learnt to like coz at least it’s a dead job.
Learning to make burgers was a little tough. I rarely eat burgers so remembering what’s in each type of burger was tough. Being Ms Blur, I made burgers using either the wrong meat or the wrong sauce! My classic cases? Bacon burger w/o the bacon or cheese burger w/o the cheese! Hahaha…luckily these mistakes were corrected on time! I hardly had the chance to do hands-on practice in the beginning as the assembly line was dominated by the seniors. I could only watch how they do it while I toast trays of buns. So I cherished every opportunity during closing slots to learn how to make the burgers.
In the beginning, McDonalds went by the stock method of making burgers, i.e. warming up the pre-made burger when there’s an order for it. When there’s no stock, the counter person would shout the order and we’ve to make it. Now, that’s a challenge. Their use of Katakana drove me nutz. “Nuggets” was pronounced as “Na-get-toe”. “Hamburger” was “Ba- Gar-“. “Cheese” was “chee- su”. I had problems understanding their order ~ took me ages to be used to the Japanese version of English. And they had problems understanding my English version of Katakana too…hahaha… To make things worse, they would often shout the list of orders non-stop as if we’ve a computer memory to remember them! Things finally became better when they went by the receipt method of making burgers in April coz the code used was English abbrev.
What’s toughest about the job was the environment. It was very intimidating ~ being the only foreigner there, hardly understanding what everyone said and made worse by the fact that the kitchen was male-dominated. I never considered those factors then. I was so enthusiastic to start work, to interact with the Japanese ~ so it came as a shock for me. Besides the managers and a few crew, the rest were either indifferent towards me or hostile. Some took every opportunity to pick on me, while others discreetly tried to help. My manager probably sensed it, coz she would often ask whether I’m ok, whether I’d cry at home after work. (of course not! But I was pretty affected by it…)
During peak periods, I was doing all the bits & ends of jobs ~ toasting buns, mopping floor etc… Felt very helpless when everyone’s busy while I’m idling coz I’m done with my work and can’t find anything else to do. They would often talk among themselves and it was quite difficult for me to join in the conversation. So I became the outcast there. It was emotionally tough then. I wanted very much to quit. But I didn’t want to just give up like this. So I decided to make the best out of the situation & since I’m the outcast, I might as well enjoy it as being in my own world…so music flowed in my mind at work, shutting out all unhappiness. Whenever they picked on me on anything, I’d remember it & make sure there’s no chance for them to do so a 2nd time.I’m lucky I had very nice managers & other co-workers who made life better.
Together with Evelyn, we gave them nicknames (of course w/o them knowing!) ;p There’s “Kodomo” who patiently taught me the basics & was always there to help me, and taught me the Kansai-ben ~ He’s a very crazy guy so it’s always very lively and fun at work when he’s around. But he was transferred away when his relationship with “Ice-queen” ended badly and they couldn’t work together.Then there’s “Chao-geng” who always joked and tried to speak English. His favorite question in English was “I’m a nice guy. Is Ak-kun (another mgr) a nice guy?” My response was always “No comments” and he’d start laughing at Ak-kun who’d be very embarrassed. And we liked to enact a particular advert that was shown then: “Chicken please. FISH ONLY” In exchange for teaching him English, he taught me Japanese. Two words he taught me were: “Ki-ai” (spirit) & “Kon-jyou” (willpower/fighting spirit). He said those 2 are “good words” (tho the rest of the crew thot otherwise!) and he often tested me on it. It was fun to have him around but he left in May. Another nice manager’s “O-xiang” who’s every gal’s dream boyfriend – boyish looks, smart, degree holder. But too young for me lah! He’s a workaholic and always full of zest. But he’s quite strict and rigid sometimes.
The female managers were often based at the counter, but do help out in the kitchen sometimes. The manager who interviewed me left in April. She’s nice but fierce ~ my stress level shot up with her around! Seems like the rest felt the same about her too since they joked less with her around.There’s the very pretty “Ice-queen” who has the most extreme mood swings but she’s very steady at work. Orders kept coming in but she kept her cool and did the orders steadily ~ if it’s the male managers, they’d be working on panic mode.And there’s “Sayuri”, “Nao” & “Ayumi” (not nicknames lah!) ~ very sweet & nice gals. They are based at the counter, but when there’re no customers we do chat a little. I enjoy reading what they write in the crew communication book ~ they share very sisterly bonds.
My favourite manager’s “San-ba” who’s very flexible, fun and caring. At times when I was down with personal problems, she’d try to encourage me. And doing openings/closings with her was the best ~ guaranteed freebies, be it drinks or burgers. Hmm… brings back memories of my last day of work. She was quite quiet in the morning when I came in, then she said something like “cannot cry ah!” and kept saying it’s sad that I’m leaving already. When it was finally time for me to go, she started crying. Haiz… seeing her in tears, I lost control too.
I remember my tutor telling us that it’s the “norm” to cry at graduations/farewells, that a person’s deemed weird if he/she doesn’t cry. At that time, I felt it was all so fake ~ crying for the sake of it. But now that I’ve been thru it myself, I realize that sometimes we just can’t help it! Well, we’d meet up again before I depart for Spore ~ gona drink to our hearts’ content.
After 3 months of work, I was finally “accepted” into the “McDonald’s family” in April when they invited me to a birthday celebration. At the celebration, tho I was “lost” half the time, I enjoyed observing the group. The gals/guys cliqued separately tho they behaved “without barriers” ~ feeding each other, close contact etc. I was a little taken aback when “Kodomo” wanted to feed me his birthday cake ~ “Ice-queen” laughed her head off when I told him I can eat it myself. They must be thinking this Sporean is weird. After this were a few more karaoke parties in May/June. The managers and crew just went crazy at those parties…very fun indeed. Tho it struck Eve & I that we are really old ~ like 2 aunties interacting with the youngsters...
The work environment improved after the bday party in April ~ and also partly because the whole bunch of seniors left around the same period. Nobody to pick on me & I had more opportunities to “hone my skills” in burger making. But sometimes the outlet boss would come and “help” (read: being extra!!) and he’d pick on us. It’s really irritating coz he’s more of a hindrance than help and yet he still wants to throw his weight around!
In came a few newcomers too, including Evelyn.It’s interesting to observe how the newcomers were being treated. Some managers simply just had to pick on them. What pissed me off sometimes were the double standards of managers. And the managers themselves being guilty of the same “mistake” that they had picked on the newcomers.
Goodness…I can go on and on bitching about the people at McDonalds…Used to bitch with Evelyn after work… better make a stop now huh? ;pHmm…overall feeling? I’m so glad it’s over. It’s goodbye to rough, peeling hands, oil scalds and “burnt weekends”. Working at weekend/public holiday lunch-slots was a killer and I always got that slot :( It messes up the whole weekend ~ No mood to study in the morning b4 work, and too tired after work to study, and lunch becomes high tea /dinner or no proper meals, so I’d just rot my weekend away. But it’s more interesting than working those boring afternoon/evening slots coz there’s nothing much to do and yet everyone had to act bz! Sometimes I wonder why I’m wasting my time there.
My lowest points in McDonalds were the Jan – Mar and July – Aug periods. Totally exhausted during April – June (tho it’s my happiest times there) and didn’t have much energy left for the following months. In addition, my personal problems in July made me too depressed to do anything. Sept – Oct was madness, worked like siao. It was much more exhausting than any other periods. I would be very stoned after work, yet can’t get to sleep so I ended up very tired and the vicious cycle went on. Sighz, it’s either because I’m old already, or because when a job becomes too routine, one becomes tired easily. I admire the rest who could do 4 + 4 hours shift there, and those who worked more than 4 hours almost every day there. I dun have that much energy! So I’m glad I’m “protected” by the work visa of 4 hours limit/day tho it meant I could earn less..
Am I lovin’ it? Now that I’ve thought thru it all…ya… maybe I do love it after all. It was a good experience. Observed and learnt a lot more than what books say about the Japanese culture. And I’ve made many friends there.
Today’s the first weekend since I quitted. Feels good to be able to sleep late, relax at home doing nothing ~ I certainly dun miss working!! Who does anyway? ;p
Bao – 21 Nov 2004
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