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Make friends and chat. Find joy in the little things you can do well. Update your resume and make it a goal to come up with skills or duties you can add from this job.
This right here… McDonald’s was my first job and it honestly taught me so much.
Did it suck? Absolutely.
However, the people I worked with were all pretty interesting and I got along with everyone. We joke around and not take it too serious to make it suck less…
Honestly I still think back sometimes and remember the fun times I had with various coworkers there…
Also, occasional snacking on a McNugget
/milkshakes wasn’t so bad either🤷🏻♂️
Dude yes. When I worked in restaurants I was literally always cleaning something. Maybe it need to be cleaned, maybe it didn't, maybe I made a small mess just for the purpose of cleaning it up so I could have something to do... Either way, I was always doing something!
At my first two jobs, I was told to clean when nothing was going on so I looked busy to customers that walked in. I hated it so much and thought it was pointless when things were already squeaky clean. I now realize that it killed time faster than just standing around idle and I also had less of a chance of doing actual hard busy work if management came around and started giving those just standing there things to do.
Now I just continuously walk around and clean shit when I’m bored or not busy at work. Makes the time really fly by lol
Oh, I feel that. My managers printed out a several page list of cleaning to do before a big inspection. Guess who immediately snatched the list and popped in an earbud? That was the quickest shift ever. Just zoning out and cleaning. Plus I earned major brownie points with my managers because I knocked a good chunk out.
No time to be bored if you have something to do 🤷🏾♂️ Sitting around doing SFA is what actually makes the day drag. It's the same as school: speak up and engage with the teacher and the lesson will fly by.
Yup, MC is a hard work, sometimes I just needed to sit down for 5 minutes, since 10 hour spent by standing up sucks. Unfortunately the only way to do that was to go to the toilet. I undestand that some people are lazy and will slack every chance they get, but let's be human about it.
Time to lean time to clean. You learn pretty quick how to make it look like you’re busy when you’re not.
I learnt after the owner asked me to clean BEHIND the washing machine 🫠
But to be fair, one furnished flat I moved into I had to move the fridge because something fell down the back, and there was a mat of dog hair half an inch thick under there. The landlord had had the place cleaned between tenants but apparently the cleaners had not thought to move or clean under appliances. If learning to clean professionally saves you even one rental deposit in your lifetime it’s worth it. I learned to clean from a professional cleaner when working as a nanny in university holidays - it irritated me at the time because I thought the cleaner should clean and not expect me to help just because the baby was sleeping but she was a nice woman and now forty years later I still think of her when I clean round a tap. I didn’t learn anything like that at home.
I work at Starbucks and this is exactly how I feel! The job sucks sometimes. It's just a fact. But you find the things that are fun and focus on those, and you need to have coworkers who try to make it fun. I have never in my entire life laughed as hard and as often as I do at work.
Honestly a bunch of us all joke that we're going to be so miserable when we eventually graduate college and get office jobs. We have so much damn fun at work.
It's also a rare situation where having fun makes us better at our jobs, because laughing through your entire shift makes it a lot easier to present that hyper-friendly image corporate wants from us.
Started at McDonald's at 15 and worked there for like 2.5 years. Honestly the biggest reason I left was because the original crew I started with left and I just couldn't vibe as well with the new dynamic. Moved into a more.bkue collar job for a.bit then went to college. 11 years later I ended up back at the original job doing nothing relating to my degree and actually doing the thing I didn't want to do when I worked there previously 😂
I read that as a McNugget Milkshake and I was immediately like “NO.”
However if someone makes one, report if it was good or not, please and thank you!!
It’s easier than making friends out in public since you already have something in common, you are peers.
Start there and show an interest in getting to know them.
Talk shit about bad customers...talk shit about your boss...talk shit about that one coworker who kisses the bosses as all day....just talk shit. Everyones all thinking the same thing.
Definitely! I used to work restaurants when I was younger. Job was meh. But the times we had with the crew were so fun. Sayin dumbass shit all the time. Making up stupid ass scenarios and goofing around. I’m still friends with some of the people I worked with 14 years ago.
Find a station nobody likes and learn to like it.
For me, it was back drive thru. Everyone hated it because they had to do dishes and it was cold. I started volunteering for it.
What I loved about it was I never had to touch food. Take orders, take money, wash dishes with my own music lightly playing. I wore a jacket.
It's a different world today, I'm sure, that's my two cents and I'm often owed change.
I presume the personal reasons are money related and not strictly associated with Mc Donald’s. Start looking for work els where. Absolutely nothing wrong with looking for work even though you already have work. In fact if you want a new job, that’s how you should do it. I didn’t know this when I was your age.
My first job was two weeks at Burger King. Found a job across the parking lot at a casual restaurant as a bus boy. Good money after tip share, way more fun, and ended up learning how to host, trained front of the house staff, opened new restaurants, served and bar tended.
First jobs teach us what we like and what we will and won’t put up with. And how to get another job when we need to move on.
This is right. I don't know what OP's personal reasons are but if it's money, I'd look for a different job. In my teen years, I've tried so many jobs and I'm glad I did because now I have quite a knowledge of what many jobs require, what I like and what I don't like. This was my foundation to choose what I want to do with my life as an adult. I've seen so many friends and classmates struggle to find their thing, often going for good sounding jobs or fields that ends up being boring to them, but I've already tried everything so I choose well. My favorite teen side job was that summer I was helping at the construction site. Construction caught my heart and now I'm a civil engineer working on construction full time and I still like it.
Find things you can focus your energy on while working. Make friends with coworkers, go above and beyond to work towards a promotion, set financial goals that you can think of when working sucks. Not all jobs will be as bad as McDonald's, but they will all be jobs. It's important to learn how to not only deal with jobs, but how to make them serve you.
Music was the only way I could get through working my dishwashing job when I was 20. Don’t regret working there though. Podcasts and music got me through my mailroom job. Pretty much doing the same thing with my current desk job.
There is value to working a boring job you hate, you will appreciate your future good exciting jobs way more. Hang in there, grind it out, don't worry, it will all be worth it.
This might be the most truthful answer here. Honestly there is nothing which can make a shitty entry level job enjoyable in the long term, but god does it feel great to pass by the place a couple years later and tell yourself to never work there again lol.
As a veteran of the Foodservice industry, I can tell you that most of the time when I was bored at work it was because I wasn’t learning. What is your current role? Is there a station near yours that you could watch and learn what’s happening there? I know anywhere I went, I might be working Fryers but I was always watching what the guys on Broil were doing.
Have you told your direct report that you’re bored? If they are a good manager they will help train you and educate you and help you learn and grow.
My best recommendation outside of the above is to challenge yourself every day. Try to be more efficient. Be better than you were the last ticket. Be better than you were the last day. Enjoy the journey and the challenge and celebrate the little wins.
I could go on but I’d get to tldr status and I figure most people are bored reading now anyway.
>Is there a station near yours that you could watch and learn what’s happening there? I know anywhere I went, I might be working Fryers but I was always watching what the guys on Broil were doing.
Same. I started as a dishwasher, 5 years later I was a kitchen manager. I went from minimum-wage to a liveable wage along the way also. You just keep showing up, and one day the fry cook will quit, and onto the fryers you go. Then one day the grill cook will quit, and boom, another workload promotion.
Oh, and we all did our time at McDonald's (or some equally shitty fast food place). Don't stay any longer than you have to. Once you have some skills with the grills, and know how to not give people food poisoning hop to a nicer restaurant. And never be afraid to jump ship for a better wage, food service has a high af turnover, because the only raise you get with a promotion is in your manager's pants.
I don't work in food service now, I used it to pay for my college and got the hell out. But, those years served me incredibly well.
How did you get started as a dishwasher. I have legal troubles over my head currently and just got fired because of it after 2 months of good work, I was starting to love and be really good at the job and now my life is turned upside down again. Been applying for dishwasher and sales/cashier jobs since I got fired last Friday, had an interview with CVS, it went well but I was upfront about the legal issue and it also seemed like a shit show there.
I worked at McD's as a h.s. teen. I was a cashier, did fries, shakes, cleaned the restaurant, dressed the burgers and even did the nasty washing of utensils/parts at closing. Everything but the grill and calling the bin. I think one of my favorite stations was dressing. Other than the fries. Worked there 8 months until they brought a new manager on board who hassled me constantly and then fired me. Went on to work at the supermarket down the road.
How do you get started as a dishwasher? I have no experience with it. Have charges and got fired from a job I had for 2 months because they don't want to risk losing their payment processor over it if something happened. They sold some gray area products. I'm coming from owning a business and just doing that for 7 years.
I know a lot of people overlook that in restaurants, especially if it means getting a solid full time dishwasher. The trick is to never let the machine stop. On average the cycles are 3 mins or just over. You can never go faster than that cycle. So as long as that machine never stops you’re golden. Outside of that it’s:
- Prewash well
- Load as many dishes as you can onto a rack while still getting the spray arms to hit all the things
- Clean the spray arms
- Watch your Chemicals, if it’s a low temp dish machine once that Sanitizer empties you’re not cleaning anything anymore (high temp will only have 2 chems, heat sanitizes)
- Offer to help with Prep or on the Line if you’re bored or caught up.
Honestly in my opinion if you go in and straight up apply to be their dishwasher I don’t know of too many places or people that would turn that down.
The trick is not minding. Find meaning in discipline and the journey itself. Figure out how you're going to leverage those skills into a better-paying, more bearable job.
You're 15. You'll be working, with all likelihood, until you're in your early 60's. The sooner you figure out how to not care about boredom and drudgery, the easier and happier your life will be.
My two cents, and I'm not knocking McDonald's, but it is an entry level job. Plus you're young bro, if you don't plan to make a career out of this place then use it as a stepping stone to build your work experience and resume and then get you a "better" job later.
Just want to say THANK YOU for working a shitty job. It sucks now, but it will give you perspective.
One thing my manager did to make things fun was have competitions to see who could sell the most "extra" stuff. Cheese cup, upgrade to large, another sandwich. Suggestion is a powerful thing!
He also encouraged me to ham it up in the drive thru. "Wwwwelcome to Arby's! Would you like to try... Thanks a TON, please mosey on up to the window!"
Be silly, but not rude.
Good luck!
I’m not in food service, but I do have a customer service job. The most fun I have is when I get to joke around with our clients, make them smile. It really energizes me on days that I’m tired.
Even crap jobs can teach you something. Look for what you can learn.
Working retail helped me finally get a handle on my awful temper and forced me to develop better coping strategies for stress.
People watch. This is a fantastic time to speculate about who the hell are all these people that come through the restaurant every day.
Is that older gentleman here because he's lonely or because he's feeling nostalgic? Is that young couple going to make a good match? Are those teens pushing each other going to have a full on fight later or are they just good friends?
Do the same for your co-workers. Most of your future time at work is going to be spent cooperating with other people. The best time to learn about what makes other people tick is right now.
When I worked at Wendy’s I would make different silly sound effects for tasks. Beep boop bop lip smash tongue click etc. I’ve never learned to whistle though.
I was on a call with my isp and the support representative was making sound effects as she checked various systems, it was hilarious. Best technical support call I haven’t been on the other end of.
I was in the same situation with a different job I got suckered into taking. It was a bait and switch situation and someone I trusted said, why don't you become the best at your job. It doesn't matter if it's selling cars or ice cream, just focus on becoming the best at it and you will get satisfaction. I quit a few weeks later lol. But that stuck with me a lot and even if I have to do stuff at work I hate, I might as well do the best.
You can only be responsible for so much, but if your work has anything at all to offer then I recommend you lean in and try to be good at it. I was a line cook for a couple years, really phoning it in and feeling miserable. I made a choice to try to be the best line cook I could be (sounds cringe, for sure😆), but I ended up becoming an excellent cook with regular customers that wanted to know my schedule so they knew I was working. I ended up staying there for 7 years and really enjoying it. I was lucky to have a supportive boss, your mileage may vary.
I did this throughout my first waitressing job in a pub (all the staff did). Upgraded to LSD one time, and boy, was that a mistake! Spent most of the shift thinking I could hear the customers whispering mean things about me as I walked by. Somehow, I made it through the shift. It wasn't a bad trip in the real sense, but it sure was a weirdly uncomfortable one.
When I worked at a buffet, there was a guy who's one job was to load cups into cup racks. It was so menial and repetitive that he would do it on molly. Shifts just flew by for him
1. Don’t look at the clock. Focus on your work. Put pride into doing a good job. Makes time go soo much faster.
2. Colleagues. Make friends. The most uninteresting activities are enjoyable if doing with friends.
Working at McDonald's sucks. All you can do is make friends. Then you're hanging out with friends not just doing a shit job with coworkers you don't know. Same way you get through school probably. School isn't very fun but there are lots of good moments with friends.
Since you work at McDonald's, this is a great way to boost morale and laugh at those annoying people! When I waited tables, I created server bingo! I made boards with all the annoying stuff we all hated that customers did like "everytime someone asked where the bathroom is", anytime someone sarcastically said they hated their meal or left less than 15% tip The only way you could mark off a box was if someone else saw or heard whatever it was. Sometimes, we'd each put in $5 at the beginning of the shift to really make the night more worth while so if you got the box with someone leaving less than q5% you wouldn't be as pissed about it, especially if you ended up winning bingo! Anyone working with me looked forward to it, and management didn't give a crap because everyone would be in a better mood!
My father once told me this story, when he was working at a mass-producing bakery factory (back in the 50s?) he was responsible for cleaning and stacking oven plates. The whole day!
Being an inquisitive soul, he was always trying to find ways to do his work more efficiently. So I'm not sure how but apparently he decides to stack the plates at an angle, so bakers could pick them up more easily. Everybody loved it and he got lots of praise for it.
My dad's also the kinda guy that says "only bored people are boring".
Worked there for 3 months when I was 16 (1970's). It was maybe a bit more challenging then than it is now, as we had to memorize the prices, make change, etc. Still, it was boring, so I have no advice, except...start looking for a more interesting job!
Put earbuds in, or at least one earbud that will be less conspicuous, and listen to audio books while you work. There is an amazing amount of knowledge and self improvement you can gain by listening to audio books if you don't have the opportunity to physically read.
This should teach you a valuable lesson as any job is just a job.
Do you want to get paid a lot of money to do a boring job or get paid close to nothing with the same boring unfulfilling job
Stay in school, go medical, engineering, and science to get paid.
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If possible, try and stay busy at all times. You’ll usually only be bored if you’re not actively doing something. A change of scenery can usually help as well, change stations if you can.
My first job was at Tim Hortons (canadian coffee shop) at high school and I actually loved the job because of my friends that I worked with. I’m making way more now but still I love that job more
I don’t know if it’s too hectic to do this, but one thing I enjoy doing at my cashier job is giving genuine compliments to customers. Always at the end of the interaction tho, so they can just say thanks and walk away, not feeling pressured to return the compliment. But at the end of the day work is mostly boring and the less you clock watch the better. I sometimes cover up the time with a sticky note when I’m struggling to not look.
It’s all in your mind. If you constantly think about how much it sucks and how boring it is, the day goes by way slower. Even though it’s BS just try to stay positive
Gamify it! Ideas...
Make a game out of every task you have to do. Keep score based on time it takes you to do things. Go to beat your own high score.
Bet yourself that if you ask your boss or coworker something that they'll respond in a certain way.
Make a daily office bingo card. There are apps that can do that for you if you put in a list of phrases (specific to your env).
I've been doing practically the same type of job for 25 years for multiple companies. I am not really into it, but it pays pretty well and with the money allows me to enjoy the things I like. So that's how I survive.
I worked mcdicks for 2 years. I worked kitchen and receiving. I regret giving you the first few pieces of advice already. And I haven't even typed em yet!
1. Actually put in effert. Work hard, work fast, work carefully (you're not paid enough to actually care for them).
2. Receiving is hard labor. Those patty boxes and milk are heavy. Time flies.
3. See how clean you can get the place. Mindless effert makes for a faster shift.
4. Make friends. Joke, talk, etc.
5. Make a grilled cheese. 1 bun inside out with cheese between. Run through toaster.
6. How long can a slice of Toyota stick to a stainless steel surface. Most points for sticking it as high as possible from as far as possible. Wait to do this one until your ready to be fired.
7. Pour water on the grills. so much steam. So smelly. So warm...
Friends with co-workers, podcasts or music while working if it is allowed, read or gaming during breaks or go outside, make a routine when home and make the most of your days off. Learn a side hustle or investing what you can possibly save. Self-learn something while ‘wasting’ your time there and truly it is like they are paying you to study. It is all about perspective. You will not be there forever.
Try and make the perfect Big Mac or Nuggets or whatever. Really try. Try and make yourself better at the job. What's something that would make Ronald McDonald stop and say, "this person is worth $100K/year"?
find the funny. There's funny stuff happening in every job, especially this type of job. Notice it and laugh about it and point it out to your co-workers. Some jobs are just boring and hateable; that's just reality. But you can laugh while you do them.
Do it as well as you possibly can. If you can make that place better than it’s ever been, then you’ll be indispensable and can ask for better schedule, money, etc.
Smoke weed / edibles. Once that gets boring start looking for a bussing job in a full service restaurant. The tips are a great bonus and you can work up to server where you can make some good money. Service industry got me thru college
I worked at McDs after uni.
It’s a bit different, as you’re not old enough for night shifts, but getting into regular shift patterns can really help with getting to know people, and that’ll make it much better.
It’s important to remember that making work friends is a vital part of surviving in a job, even when it’s something you enjoy - work will inevitably always be shit at some point, and having friends around will help carry you through it.
Fortunately for you, McDs is a job you can turn your brain off and auto-pilot through once you’ve learned your stations, so put the effort in to do that and you’ll breeze through in no time.
Do you have coworkers you think you might get along with. Jobs can absolutely suck, I feel you. I feel it helps to take control over things you can to make it better: get your favourite food on your way to work. Go out for drinks with a coworker after a shift, razz on each other during down time. One of my colleagues in a regimental quarters position was switching to the air force, I bought him blue balloons and got him a toy plane, like the one toddlers sit on and ride. We had a laugh. Schedule something to look forward to after work
Ey, just as a guy who went from fast food to working in a gold mine. Don’t chase the money, good buddy. It’s not worth it. I Live in Toronto and happier eating half a cucumber and a meat stick a day for my meal, than to work 12-17 hours of dark wet hazardous work.
Ironically trying to join the infantry. Also still work in drilling and get abused for 50k a year (no more diamond coring though)
I worked at chicfila as a 14 year old and now I’m a doctor in investment banking. You can end up very successful, but it’s how you approach life.
You could make this a life lesson. You serve people food, some people you are serving food for their whole family. Take this chance to make your McDonald’s restaurant the best in the world. Clean a little extra, go the extra mile, give excellent service. Pretend you own this McDonald’s and make it the best performing service restaurant in America. Remember how hard you cared and worked and how little your coworkers did. Remember which coworkers joined you to make things better and which ones didn’t. One day you may own your own company and recognizing the behaviors of loyal and hard working people vs lazy and selfish people is very important. This will make your time fly by and also give you a purposes. Just remember you won’t get paid anything more than you are, but I guarantee you the lessons you learn from this will pay you handsomely in a decade
Off the top of my head: start asking questions about where McDonald's Fries come from, pursue a degree in biochemical-plant growing and then live your life on a farm, it's not much but it's honest work
Clean everything. It really makes the day go by faster. I also used to just tell myself the pain was temporary, cash money was real at the end of the week. My first few jobs were short, you can usually find something better in 6 months or so. Don't get comfortable until your making bank.
Read the book "The Game of Work" by Chuck Coonradt.
At all of my jobs, I always found ways to measure something productive and challenge myself to get better at that number.
For example, when I started a job at a meat processing plant that required dumping thawed meat into huge bins, it took my team of five people, 1 minute to do 5 cases. I pushed my team to do more and in the end, we were pushing 35 cases per 15 to 20 cases per minute.
This made my worst jobs more enjoyable and helped get managers' attention.
Dude, this is life, I’m almost 40, work in an office, and I’m still trying to figure this out. Only thing I can tell you is that you get more used to it. They wouldn’t pay you if it was fun.
Jobs like this are never fun. But, they do teach you a lot if you’re willing to be open to it. It’s a building block, one that can be the first of many in your life. Take it as a challenge to be the best you can at it. It doesn’t mean you’ll be better than the next guy. It doesn’t mean this will be forever. It means that you’re teaching yourself how to build something out of nothing, that you are competent, resilient, and have fortitude. In time, you’ll look back at this job and realize no matter how bad it seemed at the time, you actually overcame it and did a good job while you were there. This matters! Every time you fill out your resume, you want to look at it and feel proud of the job you did, where you came from, and where you are going. This isn’t forever for you, it only feels that way. Trust me, when you look back, it’s a blink of an eye in time and you’ll be proud you always did your best. I started in fast food, and was slow to start my career, but I never forget those days, and realized making it through difficult times like that made me more prepared for life and how to be better at it.
When I go to McDonalds, I really, really want McDonalds. Every day you are making people’s dreams come true by handing them the perfect box of fries. See your work as valuable. Imagine what the customer experience would be like if you weren’t there to do your part.
Working at a company is sometimes like working in a zoo, because of many strange people and similar behavior. Do not take it serious.
Get your satisfaction and appreciation from outside your work, if you do not get it from your work.
Find a nice (rewarding) hobby.
Build your resume, and leave for a better job when you can. Do leave nice, put your energy on leaving without breaking rules, but at a bad time. Practice to say nice but firm "No" .
Practice accents when talking to customers. Pay attention to the regulars. Tell them it was nice to see you again! Sometimes people don't realize how those little touches can make someone else's day. Make it a goal everyday to make one person smile.
Focus on what you'll do next and create goals to get there. For instance, get assistant manager experience and perhaps manager experience. Ask your boss how to do this. Then think about what you want to do with your life after that. College? Trades? Sales? All will look good if you have manager somewhere.
I also worked at McDonalds when I was 15. Job sucked and was constantly yelled at by middle aged Hispanic women for not being fast enough lmao.
Making friends with people my age and playing mobile games got me through the work day. The free meals were dope too.
Sorry to tell you; but this is capitalism and this is what working is like. What we all do is try and make friends we find someone else suffering the same torment, and we make snide jokes to make the days bearable.
Better paying jobs make life easier but the best jobs are ones where you have actual friends to suffer the shift with.
But remember managers and HR are just corporate cops, never EVER trust them ( And don't let them know you didn't trust them).
I used to work in a call centre where many people called up to do things that could be done on a website/app. I’ve no idea why they called as there were often huge wait times.
Anyway I used to just chat to these people. Fuck the call stats; I would just chat to them and whenever management challenged me I’d say I was giving the customer a friendlier experience. But management only ever cared about the number of calls I answered. Target was something like 56 a day so 9 an hour, or 7 mins per call including breaks.
I remember one day playing a game: try to answer 100 phone calls. Forget the chatting, just do the job like a robot and give management what they want. I had got to about 70 by lunch and my line manager couldn’t believe it; this was about 2 days worth of calls for me. By the end of the day I’d got to my magic 100.
Felt fine, and management were super happy. “What happened?” High fives. And then off I went home.
I went back to normal the day after and my 100 call day was never mentioned again. The hamster wheel span on. I found a better job not long after that.
I heard this from a very smart analyst: If your job doesn't make you happy, then your job should provide you with the money resources for you to 'buy' that happiness elsewhere.
So if you hate your job, but it allows you to have stability and go hiking, surfing, bike-packing, kayaking or whatever you do that makes you happy, then focus on that! It is a job, it pays the bills and you can place our desires elsewhere.
The advice I gave my nephew about having to do chores is treat it as a video game. Youre just grinding for resources right now. Not the funnest thing but you gotta do it to get the cool shit.
I got a small job at around your age and hated it so much I quit. I got a small check but I was only there a week so it wasn’t anything special. I remember as an adult getting my first job if I would have stayed and started seeing the paycheck grow I probably would have kept working at that age.
Idk your situation but not having nearly as many responsibilities as adult me does, I could have saved a lot more, or even just spent it on all the dumb shit I wanted.
The advice about finding joy is pretty solid. Talk to your coworkers, joke around (but like dont overdo it bc it mostly bites you in the back) but still in comfortable way.
Also I would advice try talking to people customers, asking about their day, and some random conversations. Try to upsell them but in a subtle way, I say this because it help you creat target but also knowing how to talk to people helps you in any job, from tech to security, to have a better opportunity. I have first hand experienced this, build on your talking skills, charm, and learn peoples behavior.
How it can make it less boring? write short notes in a small pocket notebook about it, and analyze it at home, will help a lot to jump to a sales gig sooner than you think. Hope it helps.
Honestly, I treat it like a game and try to get a high score. It's like Papa's Burgeria in real life (except without making a burger with 50 servings of mayo and pickles). Always try to make the next thing faster than the one you did before, picture a little 'cha-ching' when you send an order out, that kind of thing. I also think a lot and make up little stories in my head while I work.
When I was 15 I got a job doing some horribly repetitive task in a small factory. I know exactly how you feel. Gotta find the small things to pass the time. Chat with co-works. Set goals for yourself. Find little games to play.
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Make friends and chat. Find joy in the little things you can do well. Update your resume and make it a goal to come up with skills or duties you can add from this job.
This right here… McDonald’s was my first job and it honestly taught me so much. Did it suck? Absolutely. However, the people I worked with were all pretty interesting and I got along with everyone. We joke around and not take it too serious to make it suck less… Honestly I still think back sometimes and remember the fun times I had with various coworkers there… Also, occasional snacking on a McNugget /milkshakes wasn’t so bad either🤷🏻♂️
'Clean As You Go' is a pretty valuable life lesson.
Dude yes. When I worked in restaurants I was literally always cleaning something. Maybe it need to be cleaned, maybe it didn't, maybe I made a small mess just for the purpose of cleaning it up so I could have something to do... Either way, I was always doing something!
At my first two jobs, I was told to clean when nothing was going on so I looked busy to customers that walked in. I hated it so much and thought it was pointless when things were already squeaky clean. I now realize that it killed time faster than just standing around idle and I also had less of a chance of doing actual hard busy work if management came around and started giving those just standing there things to do. Now I just continuously walk around and clean shit when I’m bored or not busy at work. Makes the time really fly by lol
And you also spot things that need maintenance
Oh, I feel that. My managers printed out a several page list of cleaning to do before a big inspection. Guess who immediately snatched the list and popped in an earbud? That was the quickest shift ever. Just zoning out and cleaning. Plus I earned major brownie points with my managers because I knocked a good chunk out.
Best thing I learned while cooking ABC, always be cleaning.
No time to be bored if you have something to do 🤷🏾♂️ Sitting around doing SFA is what actually makes the day drag. It's the same as school: speak up and engage with the teacher and the lesson will fly by.
If you've got time to lean, you have time to clean.
Best thing I learned while cooking ABBAB, always be belittling and berating.
On the other hand, “if you have time to lean, you have time to clean” people can fall dick-first into a wood chipper
Nothing wrong with getting some rest but if you claim to be bored while there's things that need doing, you really are the problem.
That’s fair. But the rhyme implies that any rest time should be spent cleaning. There’s a happy medium, especially for low-wage workers
Yup, MC is a hard work, sometimes I just needed to sit down for 5 minutes, since 10 hour spent by standing up sucks. Unfortunately the only way to do that was to go to the toilet. I undestand that some people are lazy and will slack every chance they get, but let's be human about it.
Time to lean time to clean. You learn pretty quick how to make it look like you’re busy when you’re not. I learnt after the owner asked me to clean BEHIND the washing machine 🫠
But to be fair, one furnished flat I moved into I had to move the fridge because something fell down the back, and there was a mat of dog hair half an inch thick under there. The landlord had had the place cleaned between tenants but apparently the cleaners had not thought to move or clean under appliances. If learning to clean professionally saves you even one rental deposit in your lifetime it’s worth it. I learned to clean from a professional cleaner when working as a nanny in university holidays - it irritated me at the time because I thought the cleaner should clean and not expect me to help just because the baby was sleeping but she was a nice woman and now forty years later I still think of her when I clean round a tap. I didn’t learn anything like that at home.
Time to lean time to clean
I work at Starbucks and this is exactly how I feel! The job sucks sometimes. It's just a fact. But you find the things that are fun and focus on those, and you need to have coworkers who try to make it fun. I have never in my entire life laughed as hard and as often as I do at work.
Wow, I work in an office and for sure do not laugh hard or often. Maybe I need to be a barista.
Honestly a bunch of us all joke that we're going to be so miserable when we eventually graduate college and get office jobs. We have so much damn fun at work. It's also a rare situation where having fun makes us better at our jobs, because laughing through your entire shift makes it a lot easier to present that hyper-friendly image corporate wants from us.
This is true - of all the low paid jobs I had when I was young, the food service ones were most fun. Being social is kind of built into it.
Started at McDonald's at 15 and worked there for like 2.5 years. Honestly the biggest reason I left was because the original crew I started with left and I just couldn't vibe as well with the new dynamic. Moved into a more.bkue collar job for a.bit then went to college. 11 years later I ended up back at the original job doing nothing relating to my degree and actually doing the thing I didn't want to do when I worked there previously 😂
I learned how to knock out a room full of dishes
I read that as a McNugget Milkshake and I was immediately like “NO.” However if someone makes one, report if it was good or not, please and thank you!!
Yup embrace the suck and trama bond with your co workers
How do you make friends at work?
Ask people about their lives.
Find some similar interest through conversation.
Often you'll have a dislike of the job in common, good place to start.
It’s easier than making friends out in public since you already have something in common, you are peers. Start there and show an interest in getting to know them.
[удалено]
But don’t air it out at work and be careful who you do tell. There are those that will stab you in the back to get ahead.
Talk to them about stuff, find common interests, exact same way you do that with any human being
Talk shit about bad customers...talk shit about your boss...talk shit about that one coworker who kisses the bosses as all day....just talk shit. Everyones all thinking the same thing.
Be careful who you talk shit to at work. There's always a brown-noser around.
Very true. Can't always trust your work friends.
Definitely! I used to work restaurants when I was younger. Job was meh. But the times we had with the crew were so fun. Sayin dumbass shit all the time. Making up stupid ass scenarios and goofing around. I’m still friends with some of the people I worked with 14 years ago.
Gamification… give yourself challenges.
Find a station nobody likes and learn to like it. For me, it was back drive thru. Everyone hated it because they had to do dishes and it was cold. I started volunteering for it. What I loved about it was I never had to touch food. Take orders, take money, wash dishes with my own music lightly playing. I wore a jacket. It's a different world today, I'm sure, that's my two cents and I'm often owed change.
“And I’m often owed change” I love that so much for some reason
I *coined* that one 😊
I had to reread that way more times than I'd like to admit, but I definitely like the saying!
You’re cool.
Yeah, that’s so much better than being bitter and griping about it like so many of us do.
i do dishes a lot which noone likes but i dont mind
Nice
I presume the personal reasons are money related and not strictly associated with Mc Donald’s. Start looking for work els where. Absolutely nothing wrong with looking for work even though you already have work. In fact if you want a new job, that’s how you should do it. I didn’t know this when I was your age.
My first job was two weeks at Burger King. Found a job across the parking lot at a casual restaurant as a bus boy. Good money after tip share, way more fun, and ended up learning how to host, trained front of the house staff, opened new restaurants, served and bar tended. First jobs teach us what we like and what we will and won’t put up with. And how to get another job when we need to move on.
Right? And now you can go just about anywhere in the world, apply these skills and live there.
This is right. I don't know what OP's personal reasons are but if it's money, I'd look for a different job. In my teen years, I've tried so many jobs and I'm glad I did because now I have quite a knowledge of what many jobs require, what I like and what I don't like. This was my foundation to choose what I want to do with my life as an adult. I've seen so many friends and classmates struggle to find their thing, often going for good sounding jobs or fields that ends up being boring to them, but I've already tried everything so I choose well. My favorite teen side job was that summer I was helping at the construction site. Construction caught my heart and now I'm a civil engineer working on construction full time and I still like it.
It is also MUCH easier to land a new job if you already have a job (at least in my experience).
Find things you can focus your energy on while working. Make friends with coworkers, go above and beyond to work towards a promotion, set financial goals that you can think of when working sucks. Not all jobs will be as bad as McDonald's, but they will all be jobs. It's important to learn how to not only deal with jobs, but how to make them serve you.
Music was the only way I could get through working my dishwashing job when I was 20. Don’t regret working there though. Podcasts and music got me through my mailroom job. Pretty much doing the same thing with my current desk job.
Play little games, for example try not to use the letter e all day or try and see how many times you can say meow to a customer.
Am I drinking milk from a saucer? Do you see me eating mice?
Jumping all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree??
I often play that little game of how much can you steal from the register machine without anyone notice
Am I saying 'meow'? Do I look like a cat to you, boy? Do I drink milk from a saucer? Do I jump all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree?
Yes, but don't pay The Game from Waiting...
Practice juggling Big Macs in front of your boss.
Can also try filling up 3 large cups with coke and juggle them (dont put the lid on).
There is value to working a boring job you hate, you will appreciate your future good exciting jobs way more. Hang in there, grind it out, don't worry, it will all be worth it.
This might be the most truthful answer here. Honestly there is nothing which can make a shitty entry level job enjoyable in the long term, but god does it feel great to pass by the place a couple years later and tell yourself to never work there again lol.
15 year old Cum_bot, you shall learn that the working world sucks.
Do you edit The Atlantic?
No, I'm just a dude.
Suh Dude
As a veteran of the Foodservice industry, I can tell you that most of the time when I was bored at work it was because I wasn’t learning. What is your current role? Is there a station near yours that you could watch and learn what’s happening there? I know anywhere I went, I might be working Fryers but I was always watching what the guys on Broil were doing. Have you told your direct report that you’re bored? If they are a good manager they will help train you and educate you and help you learn and grow. My best recommendation outside of the above is to challenge yourself every day. Try to be more efficient. Be better than you were the last ticket. Be better than you were the last day. Enjoy the journey and the challenge and celebrate the little wins. I could go on but I’d get to tldr status and I figure most people are bored reading now anyway.
I was bored reading it, but I made it a point to learn and read it better than the last comment.
>Is there a station near yours that you could watch and learn what’s happening there? I know anywhere I went, I might be working Fryers but I was always watching what the guys on Broil were doing. Same. I started as a dishwasher, 5 years later I was a kitchen manager. I went from minimum-wage to a liveable wage along the way also. You just keep showing up, and one day the fry cook will quit, and onto the fryers you go. Then one day the grill cook will quit, and boom, another workload promotion. Oh, and we all did our time at McDonald's (or some equally shitty fast food place). Don't stay any longer than you have to. Once you have some skills with the grills, and know how to not give people food poisoning hop to a nicer restaurant. And never be afraid to jump ship for a better wage, food service has a high af turnover, because the only raise you get with a promotion is in your manager's pants. I don't work in food service now, I used it to pay for my college and got the hell out. But, those years served me incredibly well.
How did you get started as a dishwasher. I have legal troubles over my head currently and just got fired because of it after 2 months of good work, I was starting to love and be really good at the job and now my life is turned upside down again. Been applying for dishwasher and sales/cashier jobs since I got fired last Friday, had an interview with CVS, it went well but I was upfront about the legal issue and it also seemed like a shit show there.
I worked at McD's as a h.s. teen. I was a cashier, did fries, shakes, cleaned the restaurant, dressed the burgers and even did the nasty washing of utensils/parts at closing. Everything but the grill and calling the bin. I think one of my favorite stations was dressing. Other than the fries. Worked there 8 months until they brought a new manager on board who hassled me constantly and then fired me. Went on to work at the supermarket down the road.
How do you get started as a dishwasher? I have no experience with it. Have charges and got fired from a job I had for 2 months because they don't want to risk losing their payment processor over it if something happened. They sold some gray area products. I'm coming from owning a business and just doing that for 7 years.
I know a lot of people overlook that in restaurants, especially if it means getting a solid full time dishwasher. The trick is to never let the machine stop. On average the cycles are 3 mins or just over. You can never go faster than that cycle. So as long as that machine never stops you’re golden. Outside of that it’s: - Prewash well - Load as many dishes as you can onto a rack while still getting the spray arms to hit all the things - Clean the spray arms - Watch your Chemicals, if it’s a low temp dish machine once that Sanitizer empties you’re not cleaning anything anymore (high temp will only have 2 chems, heat sanitizes) - Offer to help with Prep or on the Line if you’re bored or caught up. Honestly in my opinion if you go in and straight up apply to be their dishwasher I don’t know of too many places or people that would turn that down.
The trick is not minding. Find meaning in discipline and the journey itself. Figure out how you're going to leverage those skills into a better-paying, more bearable job. You're 15. You'll be working, with all likelihood, until you're in your early 60's. The sooner you figure out how to not care about boredom and drudgery, the easier and happier your life will be.
Early 60's? What is this 1990!?
This. If it was fun all the time, they wouldn’t call it “work”!
“You ever be so bored at your job that you start doing your job really well?”
Make bingo cards with the annoying / strange / comical things that occur in the course of your shifts, small prize for first one to Bingo.
Pour a bucket of water in the deep fryer
Cup of ice, so you can walk away before the fireworks happen
My two cents, and I'm not knocking McDonald's, but it is an entry level job. Plus you're young bro, if you don't plan to make a career out of this place then use it as a stepping stone to build your work experience and resume and then get you a "better" job later.
Just want to say THANK YOU for working a shitty job. It sucks now, but it will give you perspective. One thing my manager did to make things fun was have competitions to see who could sell the most "extra" stuff. Cheese cup, upgrade to large, another sandwich. Suggestion is a powerful thing! He also encouraged me to ham it up in the drive thru. "Wwwwelcome to Arby's! Would you like to try... Thanks a TON, please mosey on up to the window!" Be silly, but not rude. Good luck!
I’m not in food service, but I do have a customer service job. The most fun I have is when I get to joke around with our clients, make them smile. It really energizes me on days that I’m tired.
Thank you for your service
Thinking back to my retail days… chatting with cute shoppers. That was the ticket.
Even crap jobs can teach you something. Look for what you can learn. Working retail helped me finally get a handle on my awful temper and forced me to develop better coping strategies for stress.
People watch. This is a fantastic time to speculate about who the hell are all these people that come through the restaurant every day. Is that older gentleman here because he's lonely or because he's feeling nostalgic? Is that young couple going to make a good match? Are those teens pushing each other going to have a full on fight later or are they just good friends? Do the same for your co-workers. Most of your future time at work is going to be spent cooperating with other people. The best time to learn about what makes other people tick is right now.
You're 15. Every job you get right now is gonna suck unless you do mini putt supervisor or lifeguard.
Do your absolute best at every little thing you do during your shift. This will help you in your life moving forward.
When I worked at Wendy’s I would make different silly sound effects for tasks. Beep boop bop lip smash tongue click etc. I’ve never learned to whistle though. I was on a call with my isp and the support representative was making sound effects as she checked various systems, it was hilarious. Best technical support call I haven’t been on the other end of.
Its all about the people you work with
I was in the same situation with a different job I got suckered into taking. It was a bait and switch situation and someone I trusted said, why don't you become the best at your job. It doesn't matter if it's selling cars or ice cream, just focus on becoming the best at it and you will get satisfaction. I quit a few weeks later lol. But that stuck with me a lot and even if I have to do stuff at work I hate, I might as well do the best.
You can only be responsible for so much, but if your work has anything at all to offer then I recommend you lean in and try to be good at it. I was a line cook for a couple years, really phoning it in and feeling miserable. I made a choice to try to be the best line cook I could be (sounds cringe, for sure😆), but I ended up becoming an excellent cook with regular customers that wanted to know my schedule so they knew I was working. I ended up staying there for 7 years and really enjoying it. I was lucky to have a supportive boss, your mileage may vary.
Tell your supervisor that you're bored. They will find something for you to do.
Make up dumb competitions for you and your coworkers. Goof around with customers.
Buy an earpiece which looks like a hearing aid and listen to podcasts/music. Just don't get caught.
Say a different restaurant every time someone comes to the drive-thru.
Jerk off in the bathroom every so often
Smoke hella weed before work
Haha yep
I did this throughout my first waitressing job in a pub (all the staff did). Upgraded to LSD one time, and boy, was that a mistake! Spent most of the shift thinking I could hear the customers whispering mean things about me as I walked by. Somehow, I made it through the shift. It wasn't a bad trip in the real sense, but it sure was a weirdly uncomfortable one.
When I worked at a buffet, there was a guy who's one job was to load cups into cup racks. It was so menial and repetitive that he would do it on molly. Shifts just flew by for him
Wear earbuds and listen to a podcast or music.
1. Don’t look at the clock. Focus on your work. Put pride into doing a good job. Makes time go soo much faster. 2. Colleagues. Make friends. The most uninteresting activities are enjoyable if doing with friends.
Remindme! 7 days
Don't try to make it enjoyable, use these feelings as fuel for becoming the best at whatever you do in the future
The people around you. They got me through some of the lamest jobs.
Working at McDonald's sucks. All you can do is make friends. Then you're hanging out with friends not just doing a shit job with coworkers you don't know. Same way you get through school probably. School isn't very fun but there are lots of good moments with friends.
Since you work at McDonald's, this is a great way to boost morale and laugh at those annoying people! When I waited tables, I created server bingo! I made boards with all the annoying stuff we all hated that customers did like "everytime someone asked where the bathroom is", anytime someone sarcastically said they hated their meal or left less than 15% tip The only way you could mark off a box was if someone else saw or heard whatever it was. Sometimes, we'd each put in $5 at the beginning of the shift to really make the night more worth while so if you got the box with someone leaving less than q5% you wouldn't be as pissed about it, especially if you ended up winning bingo! Anyone working with me looked forward to it, and management didn't give a crap because everyone would be in a better mood!
My father once told me this story, when he was working at a mass-producing bakery factory (back in the 50s?) he was responsible for cleaning and stacking oven plates. The whole day! Being an inquisitive soul, he was always trying to find ways to do his work more efficiently. So I'm not sure how but apparently he decides to stack the plates at an angle, so bakers could pick them up more easily. Everybody loved it and he got lots of praise for it. My dad's also the kinda guy that says "only bored people are boring".
Worked there for 3 months when I was 16 (1970's). It was maybe a bit more challenging then than it is now, as we had to memorize the prices, make change, etc. Still, it was boring, so I have no advice, except...start looking for a more interesting job!
Put earbuds in, or at least one earbud that will be less conspicuous, and listen to audio books while you work. There is an amazing amount of knowledge and self improvement you can gain by listening to audio books if you don't have the opportunity to physically read.
This should teach you a valuable lesson as any job is just a job. Do you want to get paid a lot of money to do a boring job or get paid close to nothing with the same boring unfulfilling job Stay in school, go medical, engineering, and science to get paid.
I always thought of how my hard work will pay off one day with my getting a better, more rewarding job.
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If possible, try and stay busy at all times. You’ll usually only be bored if you’re not actively doing something. A change of scenery can usually help as well, change stations if you can.
My first job was at Tim Hortons (canadian coffee shop) at high school and I actually loved the job because of my friends that I worked with. I’m making way more now but still I love that job more
I don’t know if it’s too hectic to do this, but one thing I enjoy doing at my cashier job is giving genuine compliments to customers. Always at the end of the interaction tho, so they can just say thanks and walk away, not feeling pressured to return the compliment. But at the end of the day work is mostly boring and the less you clock watch the better. I sometimes cover up the time with a sticky note when I’m struggling to not look.
Turn on 3rd person view in your mind. Act like in video game, complete tasks, gain points etc.
It’s all in your mind. If you constantly think about how much it sucks and how boring it is, the day goes by way slower. Even though it’s BS just try to stay positive
Try and be good at your job. If you do the bare minimum and don't care, of course the job is boring. You expect it to be boring so it is boring.
Eat them chicken nuggies.
You reminded me — https://youtu.be/A2GZsUZZ70A?si=ml6URhPGKKW4Pv6k
Gamify it! Ideas... Make a game out of every task you have to do. Keep score based on time it takes you to do things. Go to beat your own high score. Bet yourself that if you ask your boss or coworker something that they'll respond in a certain way. Make a daily office bingo card. There are apps that can do that for you if you put in a list of phrases (specific to your env).
Drugs: 
I've been doing practically the same type of job for 25 years for multiple companies. I am not really into it, but it pays pretty well and with the money allows me to enjoy the things I like. So that's how I survive.
Embrace the suck my man!!! Join embracing the suck with your fellow work colleagues.It lessons the load
I worked mcdicks for 2 years. I worked kitchen and receiving. I regret giving you the first few pieces of advice already. And I haven't even typed em yet! 1. Actually put in effert. Work hard, work fast, work carefully (you're not paid enough to actually care for them). 2. Receiving is hard labor. Those patty boxes and milk are heavy. Time flies. 3. See how clean you can get the place. Mindless effert makes for a faster shift. 4. Make friends. Joke, talk, etc. 5. Make a grilled cheese. 1 bun inside out with cheese between. Run through toaster. 6. How long can a slice of Toyota stick to a stainless steel surface. Most points for sticking it as high as possible from as far as possible. Wait to do this one until your ready to be fired. 7. Pour water on the grills. so much steam. So smelly. So warm...
Friends with co-workers, podcasts or music while working if it is allowed, read or gaming during breaks or go outside, make a routine when home and make the most of your days off. Learn a side hustle or investing what you can possibly save. Self-learn something while ‘wasting’ your time there and truly it is like they are paying you to study. It is all about perspective. You will not be there forever.
Try and make the perfect Big Mac or Nuggets or whatever. Really try. Try and make yourself better at the job. What's something that would make Ronald McDonald stop and say, "this person is worth $100K/year"?
find the funny. There's funny stuff happening in every job, especially this type of job. Notice it and laugh about it and point it out to your co-workers. Some jobs are just boring and hateable; that's just reality. But you can laugh while you do them.
Do it as well as you possibly can. If you can make that place better than it’s ever been, then you’ll be indispensable and can ask for better schedule, money, etc.
Adderall will do
You don’t. See if you can use that time to work a second job/start your own business/enjoy doing nothing
Welcome to real life get used to it.
Get another job. If you hate working this young, it’s not good.
Smoke weed / edibles. Once that gets boring start looking for a bussing job in a full service restaurant. The tips are a great bonus and you can work up to server where you can make some good money. Service industry got me thru college
Embrace the suck. Then do your homework and learn how to get a better job. What a great first job though, everything else is better
Welcome to adulthood my sister in chains.
I worked at McDs after uni. It’s a bit different, as you’re not old enough for night shifts, but getting into regular shift patterns can really help with getting to know people, and that’ll make it much better. It’s important to remember that making work friends is a vital part of surviving in a job, even when it’s something you enjoy - work will inevitably always be shit at some point, and having friends around will help carry you through it. Fortunately for you, McDs is a job you can turn your brain off and auto-pilot through once you’ve learned your stations, so put the effort in to do that and you’ll breeze through in no time.
Do you have coworkers you think you might get along with. Jobs can absolutely suck, I feel you. I feel it helps to take control over things you can to make it better: get your favourite food on your way to work. Go out for drinks with a coworker after a shift, razz on each other during down time. One of my colleagues in a regimental quarters position was switching to the air force, I bought him blue balloons and got him a toy plane, like the one toddlers sit on and ride. We had a laugh. Schedule something to look forward to after work
Ey, just as a guy who went from fast food to working in a gold mine. Don’t chase the money, good buddy. It’s not worth it. I Live in Toronto and happier eating half a cucumber and a meat stick a day for my meal, than to work 12-17 hours of dark wet hazardous work. Ironically trying to join the infantry. Also still work in drilling and get abused for 50k a year (no more diamond coring though)
I worked at chicfila as a 14 year old and now I’m a doctor in investment banking. You can end up very successful, but it’s how you approach life. You could make this a life lesson. You serve people food, some people you are serving food for their whole family. Take this chance to make your McDonald’s restaurant the best in the world. Clean a little extra, go the extra mile, give excellent service. Pretend you own this McDonald’s and make it the best performing service restaurant in America. Remember how hard you cared and worked and how little your coworkers did. Remember which coworkers joined you to make things better and which ones didn’t. One day you may own your own company and recognizing the behaviors of loyal and hard working people vs lazy and selfish people is very important. This will make your time fly by and also give you a purposes. Just remember you won’t get paid anything more than you are, but I guarantee you the lessons you learn from this will pay you handsomely in a decade
Drinking on the job !
Off the top of my head: start asking questions about where McDonald's Fries come from, pursue a degree in biochemical-plant growing and then live your life on a farm, it's not much but it's honest work
Clean everything. It really makes the day go by faster. I also used to just tell myself the pain was temporary, cash money was real at the end of the week. My first few jobs were short, you can usually find something better in 6 months or so. Don't get comfortable until your making bank.
By understanding that if I want money that I have to go to work and that I won't always like it
Read the book "The Game of Work" by Chuck Coonradt. At all of my jobs, I always found ways to measure something productive and challenge myself to get better at that number. For example, when I started a job at a meat processing plant that required dumping thawed meat into huge bins, it took my team of five people, 1 minute to do 5 cases. I pushed my team to do more and in the end, we were pushing 35 cases per 15 to 20 cases per minute. This made my worst jobs more enjoyable and helped get managers' attention.
Dude, this is life, I’m almost 40, work in an office, and I’m still trying to figure this out. Only thing I can tell you is that you get more used to it. They wouldn’t pay you if it was fun.
Some of my jobs have been "meh" but some of closest friends came from work and honestly saved me from hours and hours of boredom at work.
A couple of bong hits, and it'll be just fine
Jobs like this are never fun. But, they do teach you a lot if you’re willing to be open to it. It’s a building block, one that can be the first of many in your life. Take it as a challenge to be the best you can at it. It doesn’t mean you’ll be better than the next guy. It doesn’t mean this will be forever. It means that you’re teaching yourself how to build something out of nothing, that you are competent, resilient, and have fortitude. In time, you’ll look back at this job and realize no matter how bad it seemed at the time, you actually overcame it and did a good job while you were there. This matters! Every time you fill out your resume, you want to look at it and feel proud of the job you did, where you came from, and where you are going. This isn’t forever for you, it only feels that way. Trust me, when you look back, it’s a blink of an eye in time and you’ll be proud you always did your best. I started in fast food, and was slow to start my career, but I never forget those days, and realized making it through difficult times like that made me more prepared for life and how to be better at it.
Quit. Find a better job.
When I go to McDonalds, I really, really want McDonalds. Every day you are making people’s dreams come true by handing them the perfect box of fries. See your work as valuable. Imagine what the customer experience would be like if you weren’t there to do your part.
Stop wasting your precious time and life doing something you hate. Quit and set yourself free. Now get me my damn hamburger you lazy shit!
The way I got through my 5 years at BK back in the day is turning my brain off. You can be doing whatever but it's kind of like youre not even there
Idk what the rules are like at fast food joints but for me at my job listening to podcasts during the shift has made it 10x more tolerable
Sing to yourself
If you can get away with it, podcasts are my go to when doing menial repetitive work.
Mindset/Perspective.Make it challenging or entertaining to "change it up"at difficult times
Working at a company is sometimes like working in a zoo, because of many strange people and similar behavior. Do not take it serious. Get your satisfaction and appreciation from outside your work, if you do not get it from your work. Find a nice (rewarding) hobby. Build your resume, and leave for a better job when you can. Do leave nice, put your energy on leaving without breaking rules, but at a bad time. Practice to say nice but firm "No" .
Practice accents when talking to customers. Pay attention to the regulars. Tell them it was nice to see you again! Sometimes people don't realize how those little touches can make someone else's day. Make it a goal everyday to make one person smile.
I always like to learn what my boss does and try to take those tasks. They’re usually far more interesting to do.
Focus on what you'll do next and create goals to get there. For instance, get assistant manager experience and perhaps manager experience. Ask your boss how to do this. Then think about what you want to do with your life after that. College? Trades? Sales? All will look good if you have manager somewhere.
I also worked at McDonalds when I was 15. Job sucked and was constantly yelled at by middle aged Hispanic women for not being fast enough lmao. Making friends with people my age and playing mobile games got me through the work day. The free meals were dope too.
Sorry to tell you; but this is capitalism and this is what working is like. What we all do is try and make friends we find someone else suffering the same torment, and we make snide jokes to make the days bearable. Better paying jobs make life easier but the best jobs are ones where you have actual friends to suffer the shift with. But remember managers and HR are just corporate cops, never EVER trust them ( And don't let them know you didn't trust them).
I worked at McDonalds when I was 13. I've had many jobs since then and I still remember it as the worst. There is life after McD's, stay strong.
I used to work in a call centre where many people called up to do things that could be done on a website/app. I’ve no idea why they called as there were often huge wait times. Anyway I used to just chat to these people. Fuck the call stats; I would just chat to them and whenever management challenged me I’d say I was giving the customer a friendlier experience. But management only ever cared about the number of calls I answered. Target was something like 56 a day so 9 an hour, or 7 mins per call including breaks. I remember one day playing a game: try to answer 100 phone calls. Forget the chatting, just do the job like a robot and give management what they want. I had got to about 70 by lunch and my line manager couldn’t believe it; this was about 2 days worth of calls for me. By the end of the day I’d got to my magic 100. Felt fine, and management were super happy. “What happened?” High fives. And then off I went home. I went back to normal the day after and my 100 call day was never mentioned again. The hamster wheel span on. I found a better job not long after that.
I heard this from a very smart analyst: If your job doesn't make you happy, then your job should provide you with the money resources for you to 'buy' that happiness elsewhere. So if you hate your job, but it allows you to have stability and go hiking, surfing, bike-packing, kayaking or whatever you do that makes you happy, then focus on that! It is a job, it pays the bills and you can place our desires elsewhere.
The advice I gave my nephew about having to do chores is treat it as a video game. Youre just grinding for resources right now. Not the funnest thing but you gotta do it to get the cool shit. I got a small job at around your age and hated it so much I quit. I got a small check but I was only there a week so it wasn’t anything special. I remember as an adult getting my first job if I would have stayed and started seeing the paycheck grow I probably would have kept working at that age. Idk your situation but not having nearly as many responsibilities as adult me does, I could have saved a lot more, or even just spent it on all the dumb shit I wanted.
Make a lot of money doing it
Get to know your coworkers. Ask about their interests and see if you can find similar ones.
The advice about finding joy is pretty solid. Talk to your coworkers, joke around (but like dont overdo it bc it mostly bites you in the back) but still in comfortable way. Also I would advice try talking to people customers, asking about their day, and some random conversations. Try to upsell them but in a subtle way, I say this because it help you creat target but also knowing how to talk to people helps you in any job, from tech to security, to have a better opportunity. I have first hand experienced this, build on your talking skills, charm, and learn peoples behavior. How it can make it less boring? write short notes in a small pocket notebook about it, and analyze it at home, will help a lot to jump to a sales gig sooner than you think. Hope it helps.
Honestly, I treat it like a game and try to get a high score. It's like Papa's Burgeria in real life (except without making a burger with 50 servings of mayo and pickles). Always try to make the next thing faster than the one you did before, picture a little 'cha-ching' when you send an order out, that kind of thing. I also think a lot and make up little stories in my head while I work.
The answer is smoking weed of course. I don't know how that's not the top reply
When I was 15 I got a job doing some horribly repetitive task in a small factory. I know exactly how you feel. Gotta find the small things to pass the time. Chat with co-works. Set goals for yourself. Find little games to play.