Being a student is difficult but being a working student is chaos for me. Mcdonald's is one of the most well-known fast-food restaurants in the whole world. As a graduating student, a lot of pressure has been added to us especially financially. Because of the cost of our ongoing thesis to support my financial needs. I decided to work as a service crew at McDonald's even though it has a lot of consequences and my time on schoolwork will split. Time management is the key to proceeding and being successful on your ongoing journey as a degree holder.
At first, I did not intend to work at McDonald's it was my boyfriend who encourage me to work during the pandemic he said that imagine the money we earned. I was nervous during the interview, but it was a casual interview after that I was quickly hired! they gave us the requirements we needed before we start our orientation. A lot of lists are what we have to acquire, we plan on getting them by the week only, and we did. It was our first orientation, and it was located at Antel General Trias I don't have any friends yet, so I am nervously shy to interact with them as an introverted person I just observed, we were oriented by the Restaurant Manager during and after the orientation. He presented and showed us how it was good to work at a fast-food restaurant he said that he was also a working student at McDonald's, which is one of the reasons he graduated. Showing all of the achievements he had, and also his store made me feel more encouraged and pursue work.
We also had a break time, it was a free meal a burger meal comes with fries and drinks. After that, he showed us the rules and regulations during and after our shift. And also, the one that caught my attention is the benefits of working here, free meals,s and the other benefits to us including the SSS nor Pag-big. After the orientation, our manager told us that we were going to train at Las Pinas, one of the McDonald's stores there but first is that our task is to sell one of the Mcdonald's tabs that includes an umbrella with a chicken meal the first 20 who sold those will receive rewards sadly I was on the top 22 on that and did not get a reward still it is okay as long as they hired me and have a work.
shift.
My shift during the training days was the opening shift starting in the morning to lunch even though it is a tiring day I enjoyed my training lasted 3 weeks. December 16 was the crew assembly here I saw all of my workmates every batch of it. I made friends here, especially with my batchmates we also have a free meal after the assembly. Our batchmates invited us to celebrate our first day with them, we plan and ended up in one of my batchmate's houses. We ate and party also drink it was a fun night to remember for me because it was a start and a stepping stone for me to socialize. I experienced all the shifts here at Mcdonald's closing is the most difficult shift because a ton of customers came time by time until the end of my shift during my shift, I eventually forgot to have a meal break because of the number of customers. Still, the graveyard is my favorite because my friends are on that shift our jolliness makes the work lighter for us even though our manager or shift manager is close to us, they always make us believe that they know how the stress we are because of our school work.
December 19 was the grand opening day of the store a lot of customers came to the store and even in the drive it was full-packed, we have a short dance presentation to entertain them and a lot of well-known people came. It was also featured as one of the biggest McDonald's in the South. My station on that day was as a Lobby person I was the one who accommodate and greet the incoming customers and also who help the customer's requests or complaints. I was handling a lot of complaints during that day for me it was reasonable because a lot of us did not have a lot of time to train to every station especially the kitchen crew even though we knew that we will have a lot of customers on that day still as a customer they don't want to wait for their food by an hour or so, that is why they came to a fast food restaurant to serve their food fast.
I was good at handling the complaint I was even commended by one of the managers for taking every customer's request even though it was a lot of pressure I still managed it and I was so proud of it. It was my first time talking and mending with other people. I met a lot of friends during the opening day, and we talked and enjoyed our first time here. It was a wonderful day even though it was stressful and tiring still we had an accomplished and opened the store successfully.
During those days my shift was closing shift eventually I shifted to the graveyard because of school matters, and our university decided that it is now safe to have a face-to-face class. During the graveyard shift the customer are lesser than the other usual shifts. My duty during the shift is to clean the store we will pull out every designated area even the tiniest area we will have to clean. After my shift I will go straight to our campus good thing is that our store's front is the campus satellite road, no hassle no commuting for me I will just walk to my classes. It was so tiring and draining I thought of giving up but still I refused I have no choice but to work to support my financial expenses.
Even though working here is tiring and draining it was eventually replaced by a simple commendation on how hardworking we are. There is one time that there was a pageant event in General Trias and a lot of customers came, we are a full house that night even the mayor came. I was the one who accommodated the mayor and have his orders, they have a lot of orders plus several customers waiting to get their orders from the front counter. After that event our manager gave us a commendation and a free meal for the great job we did the tiredness on us has been replaced with relief and greatness.
Working as a service crew had a big impact on me because this is where I met other people and be friends with them. Enjoying the working hours even though it is peak hours. And also, the memorable experience is to talk professionally with irate customers because this is where your patience and respectfulness will test also talking with an older age has been added. This experience is the most memorable for me because this is where I know myself better, what are my other capabilities and how I handle pressure every time. I am a proud working student who supports my own financial needs and also grateful that McDonald's accepted me. I will always remember this and will never forget my first job.
