My career at McDonald’s was a long one with many twists and turns.
I began working for McDonald’s at 16 after a friend learned they were paying ten cents over minimum wage ($4.65). We interviewed at the Milford, MA, store and were hired on the spot.
Remarkably, I never asked my parents if I could get a job or told them I was applying for the position.
When I was 17 years old and still in high school, I was promoted to manager. I continued working as a manager in company-owned stores in Milford, Norwood, Brockton, Hanson, and Bourne until I was fired at 22 when a deposit went missing, and the police arrested me despite the company’s assurances that I was not responsible for the loss.
“We don’t believe that you took the money, but the police do, so we have no choice but to terminate our relationship with you.”
Three months later, the owner of a franchise in a second Brockton location hired me to manage his store while I awaited trial. I worked at that store for almost two years as my second full-time job while trying to pay mounting legal fees for my upcoming court case.
It was during this time that I was robbed at gunpoint while closing the store.
When I moved to Connecticut at 25, I left McDonald’s for a year before returning for its flexible schedule to put myself through college. I managed a store in Hartford, CT, for five years while I earned degrees from Manchester Community College, Trinity College, and Saint Joseph’s University. I left the company for good when I was hired to teach elementary school upon graduation.
In all, I worked for McDonald’s for about twelve years, almost all of that time as a manager. I worked with an enormously diverse group of people in those dozen years, including some of the most impressive people I have ever met in my life.
I also learned many life lessons while working for McDonald’s, and I suspect much of the success I enjoy today was partly the result of my time with the company.
These lessons include:
- Develop systematized routines that eliminate needless steps in order to maximize efficiency. Much of my life is predicated on this belief and the systems that I have constructed for myself.
- Clean as you go. Never allow mess or disorganization to accumulate.
- Treating everyone on a team as an equal, regardless of title or age, will increase productivity and morale.
- Making a meaningful personal connection with every member of a team will result in an army of loyal allies.
- You can take pride in almost any task. Challenge yourself to be the best at everything you do, no matter how small.
- Your success is almost always predicated on the success of others.
- Never underestimate the value of someone desperate for a job, regardless of their skill level or ability to speak English.
- Always be grateful to have a job.
