Current Events > What's it like working in fast food?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've always wondered what the work is like.

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Bump - anyone on CE ever worked in fast food?

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I worked at Panera Bread for almost two years. It's better than a lot of fast food jobs but customers are total karen's. Also it's a heavy work load, unless you establish you have limited availability they will basically try to call you in on every fucking day off. I was working on my Masters at the time (I took the classes online with SNHU so this was manageable) and literally working over 40 hours a week even before overtime wasn't enough for these people. Like I would have one fucking day off to get a week's worth of homework done and they would get mad that I didn't come in on my one measly day off, Like fucking whatever, people would call off on my shifts and I'd have to do a two person job myself and we never called anyone in on those days.

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There was nothing more annoying that closing at 1am, and someone pulling into the drive-thru at 12:55a and ordering the entire fucking menu.

However, working in fast food (Wendy's) was one of the funnest jobs I've ever had, and might to this day be the most fun I've had at work. I was 17-20, though.

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Politics posted...

I worked at Panera Bread for almost two years. It's better than a lot of fast food jobs but customers are total karen's. Also it's a heavy work load, unless you establish you have limited availability they will basically try to call you in on every fucking day off. I was working on my Masters at the time (I took the classes online with SNHU so this was manageable) and literally working over 40 hours a week even before overtime wasn't enough for these people. Like I would have one fucking day off to get a week's worth of homework done and they would get mad that I didn't come in on my one measly day off, Like fucking whatever, people would call off on my shifts and I'd have to do a two person job myself and we never called anyone in on those days.

That doesn't sound like fun at all. Did you question why they never called anyone else in when you were the one who had to be working short handed?

EnterTheTekken posted...

There was nothing more annoying that closing at 1am, and someone pulling into the drive-thru at 12:55a and ordering the entire fucking menu.

However, working in fast food (Wendy's) was one of the funnest jobs I've ever had, and might to this day be the most fun I've had at work. I was 17-20, though.

How long did that set you back from officially closing?


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I worked at Wendys when I was a teenager

Basically you deal with Karens all day, work with some slutty girls, steal food, and smoke cigs out back.

cmiller4642 posted...

I worked at Wendys when I was a teenager

Basically you deal with Karens all day, work with some slutty girls, steal food, and smoke cigs out back.

Would you say it's hard work? A lot of times I see fast food places that are just like... seem continuously busy. Hour after hour car after car.

But then there's some where they get a car here and there and it's not some crazy continuous flow

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Houston posted...

Would you say it's hard work? A lot of times I see fast food places that are just like... seem continuously busy. Hour after hour car after car.

But then there's some where they get a car here and there and it's not some crazy continuous flow

I worked there for like 3 months and then quit because I was up all night playing KOTOR and didn't feel like going to work on the opening shift that day.

It was dead sometimes and busy sometimes. The work sucks. It's hot and dirty and nasty.

Working the grill at Wendys. Best analogy I can give is this:

imagine you are in a hot room with several alarm clocks. Each time one of those alarms goes off, you have to do some sort of physical task.

sound like fun? No way its miserable

The only low wage job I can think of that's worse is call center telemarketer
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The best fucking job I ever had was Blockbuster

I worked my way up to assistant manager there. We would literally just hang out, read magazines, and hide movies from bitchy Karens just for laughs.

I got like 4 blowjobs in the parking lot after work.

I 2nd the Wendy's grill sucking ass. It was a giant flattop that was hot as shit, especially during the summer. And if you got slammed, because of the way Wendy's handles food to order, you'd be the reason why customers would be waiting.

So now you have all eyes on you and you are sweating bullets. I'm so glad I worked sandwiches and drive-thru later on.

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You need the one with the grill skill

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The only fast food I worked was Arby's when I was 19, and I only did it for a few months. It honestly wasn't that bad. Was neither fun nor horrible. I took orders at the drive thru, only stressful thing really was when people would talk like they're garbling on a cock and I couldn't make out what they said. I think we only had one Karen, but I don't remember what she complained about. Usually it would be pretty busy during the lunch hour, but then dead all day until dinner time.

Working at McDonald's now, it's a real shitty job imo. I'm one of only like 3 people who work here that knows every position, so I get bounced around all over the place. We're almost always short handed, customers are all fat fucks who order way too much food, and no one ever cleans up their own messes

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Currently a manager at panera. Before this shit it was fine but now it fucking sucks cause we only have half the employees but expect the same level of performance. Oh and it's just as busy pre covid

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I was a Dairy Queen manager for a few years. Customers would try anything to get free stuff. Kids at lunchtime would actually take drink cups out of the garbage instead of paying for a soda. Of course being a DQ summers were a nightmare and winters were pretty slow.

Admittingly I was a terrible immature manager, did alot of things I shouldn't have. Female employees knew how to get me to do them a favor. And let's just say there's certain perks to having prices memorized while working drive-thru. Again not proud of all this, but it was a thrill at the time.
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Not many people know this, but people on the closing shift have to clean almost everything and it's disgusting when you see the type of fats and oils come out of these equipments. I think changing the oil fryer is the worse one.

I worked at Arby's for about a shift and a half before I quit. That should tell you how it was. Only time I ever tried fast food.

21WIVES_CHILL posted...

Not many people know this, but people on the closing shift have to clean almost everything and it's disgusting when you see the type of fats and oils come out of these equipments. I think changing the oil fryer is the worse one.

I used to love being the closing manager. Not now. Or store had to absorb the managers of a non profitable store. Now every time i close or anyone else for that matter, one of them will send an email in the morning saying we didn't do our job good enough. Fuck off you assholes.

Can't wait until they're store opens back up so they can get the hell out of here.

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I have

My brother was my boss, I worked with friends I already knew, and it still fuckin sucked

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I will never work fast food again Fuck That

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all low wage jobs depend upon your manager. Shitty manager, shitty job. Good Manager, good job.

Fast food offers the small perk of a free (or greatly reduced) meal. My Highschool job was working in a small local foodshop that was more like fast food. We had no indoor seating and a few benches outside. About half the business was pizza and half was burgers/hotdogs/italian beefs/fries and a few other various things. Working there was better than working at Circuit City and working at Hobby Lobby was better than either, because that was the quality of my managers.

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SevenTenths posted...

all low wage jobs depend upon your manager. Shitty manager, shitty job. Good Manager, good job.

That's not just fast food that's anywhere. In fast food employees still have to deal with the public constantly treating them like shit though, good manager or not.
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I once worked the day shift at Wendy's where all my close friends were working with me. It was easily the most fun I've ever had at a job.

Conversely I've worked a fast food job where it was borderline factory work with no social atmosphere and it was one of the worst jobs I've ever had.

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I worked at a Jimmy Johns and it was great. Lived with my cousin who was a badass and a delivery guy. Everyone was friends and potheads. Wed work then play Halo 2 online while getting wasted and annihilate people, my cousin would always be piping girls down. JJs is way less disgusting than places with fryers and grills. I worked at a BK for a very short time and I cant stand eating there after what I saw.

Worst job i ever had. Makes you really hate the general public and if you do it long enough you know when someone is going to be trouble.

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EnterTheTekken posted...

There was nothing more annoying that closing at 1am, and someone pulling into the drive-thru at 12:55a and ordering the entire fucking menu.

However, working in fast food (Wendy's) was one of the funnest jobs I've ever had, and might to this day be the most fun I've had at work. I was 17-20, though.

Arent drive through a 24 hours? Whats the point of staying open until 1:00, weird.

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Sucked imagine working ur butt off for 40hours a week going home smelling like fries and burgers and not.clearing 300 dollars a week.

Freeney posted...

Arent drive through a 24 hours? Whats the point of staying open until 1:00, weird.

This was early 2000s and in the burbs.

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cmiller4642 posted...

I worked at Wendys when I was a teenager

Basically you deal with Karens all day, work with some slutty girls, steal food, and smoke cigs out back.

This but KFC. We found all of the blind spots for the cameras and ate whatever we wanted through the shift

I actually had a lot of fun there until the cool people quit

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voldothegr8 posted...

That's not just fast food that's anywhere. In fast food employees still have to deal with the public constantly treating them like shit though, good manager or not.

what low wage job do you think exist that you don't have to deal with customers? I was treated poorly by customers more in the 4 months i worked at circuit city than the 3 years I worked at the restaurant. A part of being a good manager includes standing up for your employees when the karens come around.

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i worked at a krispy kreme in high school
it was probably in the bottom 3 jobs i've had from a pure job standpoint
on your feet all day, trying to make thankless people happy, churning things out, rush hours are misery, pay is terrible, hours are terrible, bosses are petty people

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SevenTenths posted...

what low wage job do you think exist that you don't have to deal with customers? I was treated poorly by customers more in the 4 months i worked at circuit city than the 3 years I worked at the restaurant. A part of being a good manager includes standing up for your employees when the karens come around.

I worked at Old Navy for a couple of months and it was very relaxed. Most of the time I was just fixing up areas where customers made a mess of the clothes. I helped them find stuff but I didn't have to deal with too many "Karens". Most people were grateful or polite. I guess the only bad thing about the job was how boring it was
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I worked at Wendy's for a few months when i was 17. It was alright. Few cool people my age working the grills together, cpl hot chicks our age working the registers. A bunch of us became friends and hung out outside of work.
I was mostly on the grills, but would fill in wherever was needed. It was a fun job. Got busy sometimes and had a huge list of orders. But making the stuff became so routine that it wasn't really difficult. We could pretty much do it without thinking. Some asshole customers of course, but that wasn't my problem. The shift manager dealt with all that.
I think it's a great job for a teenager or whatever.

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cmiller4642 posted...

I worked at Wendys when I was a teenager

Basically you deal with Karens all day, work with some slutty girls, steal food, and smoke cigs out back.

Excellent description! I worked at a Wendy's too. This is perfect lol

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It was too much work for not enough pay. I remember being forced to be the only person taking orders for hours at a time. I would be having to make people in the lobby wait so I could take a window order and the other way around, too. Customers got angry and took it out on me and the only reason this happened is because the store wanted as few people on the floor as possible.

If minimum wage is low where you live, you will have people to help you, but you wont get paid enough to justify it. If minimum wage is high, then you will get more money, but you will be working a skeleton crew every day because corporate secretly wishes it could pay everyone $7/hr. Youre either criminally underpaid, or youre worked until youre about to pass out.