Hello and welcome to the April installation at the Museum of Me. The staff has been working hard on a new exhibit. This has involved some searching through the archives, dusting, and rearranging. If you'll please follow the docent, she'll show you around this month's exhibit. This month it's a job I had early in my life.
That job was at McDonald's. I grew up in a rural area so there weren't a lot of nearby options for summertime work. McDonald's was only 25 minutes away, they provided me with full-time hours, and it even turned out to be fun. So much fun, that I worked there for three summers, from 1973 to 1975.
I don't have any actual pictures from that time, but this is what we wore:
I have no idea why this is in the National Museum of American History, but the photo does show the delightful shininess of the 100% polyester uniform top. We wore these along with navy blue polyester pants. Polyester was the perfect fabric to hold in the delightful smell of old grease from the grill, but at least I was lucky enough to have two uniforms. I would come home from work, soak the uniform in some Lestoil and then wash it while wearing the spare uniform the next day.And I did. We had a great team of four of us that worked the grill. We were all high school students of the same age, and we learned to work together so efficiently that we also had time for lots of fun. We all worked from 6:00 am to 2:30 pm, so we made each other very strong coffee in the morning, sometimes adding a shot of vanilla, chocolate, or coffee milkshake. If any of us happened to feel a little hungover, the others would cover for us while we rested on the five-gallon buckets of pickles in the walk-in refrigerator. During downtime after the lunch rush, we would melt the white plastic coffee stirrers on the grill just enough to stick them together into sculptures. We made little people, wheelbarrows and bicycles, and even a moving ferris wheel later on.
I love your McDonald's memories! My sister worked at McDonald's in high school, and she has similar good memories. (She also turned down Hamburger U, I'm afraid.) By the time she was working there, the uniforms were sunny yellow . . . same polyester, same "grill smell." We still laugh about her manager's motto (which I'm pretty sure he learned at Hamburger U): "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean." Thanks for sharing your most excellent exhibit, Bonny!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great and fun exhibit Bonny. Look at those prices!!! I'm also cracking up about how selective Hamburger U was. LOL
ReplyDeleteI love this memory! I worked at Micky D's for a stint my junior and senior year of high school I worked after school for the "dinner rush" and it was just enough to know that I did not want to work there for the remainder of my days! :)
ReplyDeleteI am nodding at Kym's comment... Yep, I heard the 'if you've got time to lean...' comment frequently! LOL :)
Thank you so much for sharing this fun memory!
how neat! I worked at a local restaurant and remember exactly what I wore and the fond memories of many regular customers! Look at those prices :)
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have a McDonold's in our area until the 1970s, but I worked at the A&W drive in for one summer. I was also at the grill and wore a polyester DRESS! I couldn't stand the smell and was so happy to quit early so my family could leave on an extended summer trip. The next summer I worked in a rest home kitchen. They didn't have friers and the malodors were different. Thank goodness the next summer I had an office job. I enjoy walking through your Museum every month!
ReplyDeleteI think this might be the best Museum of Me entry to date, although there have been some other very good ones. Your memories of this are so vivid that they evoked lots of other people's memories from that time in their lives, and that made a lot of us smile and laugh early on a Friday morning. Thanks, Bonny, and a job well done! Have a great weekend, maybe a burger?
ReplyDeleteI've been to Hamburger U! I worked for one of McD's ad agencies in the 80s and this was a requirement. Glad you went to college instead!
ReplyDeleteThat's very interesting! I've never known anyone that actually attended before (except our kind manager), so it's always seemed almost like a make-believe place. I imagined Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, and the Grimace as professors!
DeleteI just snorted out loud at "Anyone can go to Lehigh, but Hamburger U. is very selective!" It sounds like this job taught you the very important lesson that sometimes it's not the job itself but the people you work with who make the job a good one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, do you want fries with that? ;-)
We didn't have a McDonalds in our area until my senior year of high school. My first job (besides babysitting) was at Woolworths. This was in our downtown, before the mall opened, and I loved seeing so many people I knew. I worked mainly as a cashier, but also put together Easter baskets, Christmas displays, and helped with the annual inventory. One time another high school student and I got called in when the store was closed to help corral hundreds of turtles that escaped their enclosure and were all over the store! Our manager got us pizza for helping clean up that mess!
ReplyDeleteYour Woolworth's job sounds quite interesting! I loved going to our Woolworth's, which carried everything from record albums to makeup to clothing and turtles. It sounds like you have good memories of that job (and learned the important skill of turtle-wrangling)!
DeleteThis is great! I did a year at Burger King myself. My mother wouldn't let me bring the clothes or shoes in the house after my shift. My uniform went straight into the washer on my way into the house (it was conveniently located between the back door and the kitchen), and my shoes stayed just outside the back door.
ReplyDeleteI love this exhibit and the insight into what it's like to work at McDonald's! I can't believe (sarcasm) you didn't jump at the opportunity to attend the very selective Hamburger U!
ReplyDeleteWow, Bonny - what an interesting story! I'm glad you found so many good things to recall about the experience. and all those years without McDonalds isn't a bad thing either.
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