Bad first shift at McDonalds.

Hey everyone,

I just got a job at McDonald's to help with uni expenses and I had my first shift earlier and I had a really bad time.

I went to my induction meeting last week and everyone seemed really friendly and supportive so initially I wasn't too worried about starting but it just got progressively worse as the shift progressed.

First of all my crew trainer isn't even qualified as a crew trainer, she's a crew member who obviously doesn't want to be lumped with the new person and I was working as a runner, collecting orders and then presenting and whenever I made a mistake she'd be really snide and patronising about it and it really didn't make me feel particularly welcome. I also overheard some other crew members chatting about the management team, they're supposedly unfair and really unreasonable and I'm now freaking out.

I'm not sure if it just my nerves coming into play but now I'm not so sure that I'm good in a fast paced environment like McDonald's and I'm beggining to doubt that I'll be of any use. This is my first proper job though so I need the experience for my CV, but not even making it past probation probably looks awful.

Can anyone who works at McDonald's chime in, does it get better and would you reccomend I stick at it? I'm feeling a bit miserable and some advice would be appreciated!

Stick at it. It will get better dont worry, especially once you get the hang of things. Everyone makes mistakes when they first start.
You say you where trained by a crew member, rather than a crew trainer. This does sometimes happen, in that they get an experienced crew member to train someone up rather than a crew trainer. It all depends on what crew they have in different areas of the store at the time.
The crew member you had training you didnt sound particularly nice though. You may have heard people bitching about the management, but i suppose you get that everywhere. Keep an open mind, they may not be as bad as you think/have heard.

I was in such a similar position when I briefly worked at McDonald's, I was just desperate for anything but I ended up just staying for like 4 shifts before I found another job. I was really badly supervised and felt like I was expected to know everything from day one, I'd just advise to stick it out for as long as you can while continuing to look for work elsewhere, you'll look more employable if you're already in work and it's still experience, good luck!

Hi thanks for the reply!

I had second shift today and it went way more smoothly. My trainer was also much nicer today, we were really busy yesterday and it turned out she was kinda forced to train me so I think she just had a bad day. Happy to say I think I'll be sticking at it for a while