Question: Why can’t causal McDonald’s workers reject shifts if they really need to, when the fair work ombudsman says you are untitled to?

Answer: Here is the thing about assigned shifts - and I while I never worked fast food, I did work in a restaurant. And have talked to people in similar situations.

• At least back when I was a server - shifts went by seniority
• So the most senior person received their preferred hours. (And most servers where I was were either Morning or Evening - very few did both, different menus and slightly different skill sets… Breakfast is fast paced - get them in and out, and so is lunch. Evening service was more formal, at the time. )
• That meant if you just started you would get the weekend shifts, the odd days off or even split days off (not 2 in a row) and you might not know week to week what days off you would have. (Say someone took PTO, then shifts would change)
• Sure you could refuse a shift, but then they might just not schedule you for that day, at all (That is if you needed 4 days, but refused to work Fridays - you may only be scheduled for 3 days)
• The best you could do was to try and work with other co-workers to swap shifts. Which is what I did - find 1 or 2 people who are flexible and work with them if you had to change days.

So circling back

• If you complain/refuse a shift it can
• cost you money as they are under no obligation to schedule you for an alternate day
• refuse enough shifts they may let you go - as you are not flexible enough for their needs
• The basic reason is money - if you need the money you will work whatever shifts they assign you.
• And lets face it when there is a glut of “low skilled
  workers - companies are under no obligation to work around employees schedules - they post them and you take it or leave it… remember most employers in the USA (49:50 states IIRC) are at will. You can quit at any time for any reason, and they can let you go for the same.
• When there is a worker scarcity - employers will work with employees to try and ensure that both their needs and the employees are met, including schedules. But remember companies are in the business of making money - so at some point if they cannot secure enough workers they will figure a way to work around the issue (or go out of business)
  - Hence the online pre-ordering, order kiosks, etc, in fast food
  - Self checkout at grocery, big box hardware stores, and stores like Target and Walmart. Where one employee or two can manage 4, 6, or more checkout stations.

What is a [casual] McDonald’s worker? Is it different than a regular worker? Are they on call? Who is this fair work ombudsman? Is s/he a government officer? Is s/he a corporate officer? Is s/he in the franchise owner’s employ? This is important to know, so all parties know who said what.

Typically, you are allowed to request in writing a shift adjustment or a waiver from mandatory overtime, to work around personal needs such as study, childcare, or eldercare. Once these needs are fulfilled, you must rescind your request in writing. Remember that once you excuse yourself from a shift or overtime, you can’t work that shift or OT, not even “every once in a while”. There are legal liabilities involved, so don’t get yourself in a mess.

It really depends on the over night manager.

The overnight shifts I worked I was the manager, so I had a lot of fun. I had the general rule “if your work gets done we can have fun” so I allowed music to be played from crews phone, which was generally not allowed. I would fry different foods(fried apple pies are so much better) and would allow small talk. I would participate too.

I never really had a problem with the work getting done, so all my over night shifts were like this

I found 99% of the customers between 11pm-3am were drunk, and actually very nice. We would cook most food to order and they were fine waiting. They would tell me interesting stories(most made up I imagine). I even had one drunk offer to give me his credit card. I've never been asked out more than overnight drive through too.

Overall I enjoyed them. It sucked working 8pm-4am, but it is what it is. I can see where a sucky manager could make that shift hell, but since I was in charge I always had fun

When I worked there it sucked. Apart from the free food and how chill the store I worked at was.

Funny story

Thursday 10pm I start work. We were so f**king busy we asked one of the other guys to stay on till 1030–11 (we only had 2 on at night)

Anyway this guy was still there at 1230 he was on ordering and money manager was making the food and I was handing the orders out.

It came to this lady maybe in her 40s and she absolutely lost it at me abusing me saying she had been waiting for like half an hour (which was bull timer said 15 minutes at that's from when she placed her order) she went on demanding her money back. As I had already given her her drink I asked for it back or I'd have to charge her for it and the cow through it at me. I lost the plot I abused the s**t out her her calling her name's I would never think to say around my mother I went and got her refund walked back to the first window and through it at her and told her to get the f**K out of my drive through before I drag it out with my 4x4

2days later my store manager comes up to me and says they lady had laid a complaint and that he had already talked to the other two workers on at the time and wanted my side of the story I told him exactly what happened at the start I thought I was in trouble big time

But by the time I had finished explaining what had happened he had a huge smiley/grin on his face taped me on the shoulder and said keep up the good work and walked off.

After my first year at university, I ended up working for McDonald’s, where I made a number of friends and several lovers, and even met my first wife.

I generally worked the night shift. The night shift is quite a lot different from day shift: the average age of the workers is slightly higher (at least when I was there, this was decades ago), and the workload is different.

During night shift:

• We spent a huge amount of time cleaning. We deep-cleaned the lobby, dismantled and cleaned the shake machine, and deep-cleaned cooking trays and food prep utensils. (We didn’t have an industrial dishwasher, this all happened by hand.)
• We cleaned the grills, a rather tedious process involving lots of scraping with a dedicated tool that was basically an aluminum handle with a stainless steel blade bolted to the end, another tool with a wire mesh pad on the end, and a special cleaning solvent that would take the hair out of your nose.
• We changed deep-fryer oil.
• We received the supply truck.
• We snuck off to make out in the walk-in freezer. Yes, I’m serious. I had several rather delightful makeout sessions with a lovely woman whose name I sadly no longer remember.
• We played with the helium tanks that the McDonald’s kept on hand for birthday parties. I will never forget working the back drive-through booth one evening when my friend Henry filled a garbage bag with helium, walked into the booth, and pushed it out the window. We all just kind of stood there watching it float away…including the customers in the drive-through lane.
• We played practical jokes on day shift, like stacking the trays the hamburger buns were delivered in all the way to the ceiling, so you actually had to take the entire stack outside to remove the top tray.
• At closing, we’d disassemble and clean the various bits of equipment before we locked up. Then we’d go across the street to the 24-hour Perkin’s, which back then was called Perkin’s Bar and Grill (this was before they re-branded as “Perkin’s Family Restaurants”). We called the place “Perkin’s Brawl and Grill” because it would usually be the scene of at least one or two knock-down-drag-out bar fights a month.

There is a misunderstanding among individuals regarding being unemployed. Many believe that there are always some jobs, just not necessarily the same type job. Therefore the unemployed should not remain unemployed for a long time. The truth is if I am a theoretical physicist and my university has laid me off because adequate grant money is not available then McDonald's will not hire me. McDonald's assumes that I would not be happy and I would be looking for a better job while I was working at McDonald's. Depending on my world view I may be happy but I would probably be looking for a job that pays more than McDonald's. It is usually said that I am "over-qualified" for the McDonald's job. Realistically I can only get a job that is similar to the one I had.

Overnight can be very interesting to work, some people think it’s the “fun” shift to work, but there’s a lot to get done and no matter what there seem to be always a rather interesting type of customers. Safe to say the managers on overnight know just how to handle those people in ways us day shifters probably couldn’t.

But back to things that have to get done. It is true that a lot gets thrown at overnight. Much of the detail cleaning happens during this time. But, also usually have less customers which is why they can’t have a lot of workers. They are working just as hard as daytime crew, just doing different tasks that fit better into that time.

If you’re looking to work overnight expect to be expected to learn everything in the kitchen and service, or at least to a point, because with so few staff you need people who can do at least a little of everything.

Cleaning is a lot of overnight, from dishes to scrubbing/mopping floors to cleaning equipment; A lot of stuff that simply CAN’T be done during the day, or at least not so detailed, because there’s too much happening with customers during the day.

Other than that it’s food safety checks, prepping for breakfast, there’s a point where the system has to go down for a time (variant from store to store as I’ve heard). I keep reading here that some stores don’t take orders during this time, but we still do. We just have to do what we call “Manuals”. We can’t ring up the orders technically or take cards, but we have a book with breakfast prices and a calculator to do tax. We just take cash only and ring in the orders we’ve done to that register assigned to the till when the system comes back up, to account for the difference in money that we’ve taken.

Note: There will ALWAYS be somebody acting crazy about the fact that we can’t accept cards for a very limited time, but we can’t do anything about it. However many customers are nice, and some even patiently wait for the system to come back up if all they have is card.

Very possible. Very likely. Why would they want to retain someone on their payroll who isn't dependable and appears to be disinterested?

The rest of the team has to assume the missing person's responsibilities. They have to work harder. Their job is more stressful. The quality of service affects the customer experience. It effects turnover when team mates have to cover for their missing colleague. They don’t get paid more and their job isn't enjoyable.

Employees who don’t pull their own weight at work are called “dead wood.” Keeping deadwood around can cause morale problems. Good employees won’t cause a financial or psychological burden on the team.

People who accept the responsibility of employment, then don’t show up for their shifts are basically undesireables and are not worth the risk.

Unfortunately every job I have worked in in the food industry was like this. They tell you not to come in sick, but then if you call out they are pissed off at you. This is because it’s so hard to cover the shift and usually by the time someone calls out, there is no time to see if anyone else can work. I’ve been an employee, and I’ve been a manager. One job would even confirm with a doctor to make sure your doctors excuse was real. I would never get mad at an employee calling out because of an illness. I actually had someone quit because they just assumed and didn’t come talk to me. Once I realized what happened, I reached out to them. But even so, in both positions (employee and manager) there was tension if I ever called out or if someone else did from the owner.

i don't know about McD’s, but I used to work at an all night restaurant. The night crew consisted of me (cook) and one server.

If it was slow, we would nap in a dining room closed that time of night. The server would take orders then go cook them. About a third of the way through the shift, she would wake me and I would take orders and cook whilst she napped. I would wake her before the managers showed up.

We almost got caught a couple of times when a manager showed up early. I just said she was in the bathroom, then snuck into the back dining room to wake her.

If it got busy, we would wake the other person and each do their assigned task.

During my awake time, I would do the prep work required for the next day.

I had trouble with this because I just started school and wanted less hours. I told them when I got the job I would work as much as they wanted until I go to school. They continued to give me close to but not 40 hours a week and schedule me for 6 days a week (keep in mind this wasn't the only scheduling problem I had with them.) You fill out a availability sheet. And if your a good worker and have a good attitude you'll basically get all the hours you want. Anyways I told three different managers including the one who does the schedule but nothing changed til I went to the general manager and informed him of what was happening. He fixed it asap. So technically they're flexible but you shouldn't have to risk going over 3 managers heads and having them angry at you, even if they were the ones who didn't do their jobs. The other problems were minor things like making me work late one night and having to be there first thing in the morning. Other then the pay my only other complaint (which will happen at any job like this) would be some of my co-workers attitude both from the teenagers and older adults who work there. Sorry I thought I was posting on something else. But I've seen people work two shifts of 3 or 4 hours a week. My longest shift has been 10 hours not including a half hour lunch break. And I've worked 6 days a week at most. So there really isn't a system. It goes more by what they need.

Because everyone at McDonald’s they do not recognize me anymore because I have changed a lot since when I first came here to work in McDonald’s for my first time I was nervous because I never started working there before in my life that I do not want to have so far because my disability is Down syndrome Trisomy 21 because I am always in trouble for causing problems around work people they think that I’m the Queen of the Lobby and this means that I’m not working properly because of everything that I have done something wrong that causes me to change myself with my appearance when I come to work or my personality is different people with different disabilities they can’t change or control it that doesn’t mean that they aren’t perfect in any other way I’m Marian Sarah and I deserve to be at McDonalds because I want to be Treated with Respect and looking after my job very well I don’t want to be in trouble if I was sick in a couple of years I feel much better since 2022 and 2023 I’m doing better with my job and I have moved on in my life this year this is the New Marian Sarah that everyone knows Me and recognizes Me very well.

The best customer service always starts with a smile. Smile! Even when no one is looking. It makes you happier and helps pass the time. Make conversation with your crew. You can make some awesome friends. It makes work fun with friends. I love working at McDonald’s because of the people.

The reason I'm telling you about smiling and making friends is to create a better you. When you are happier, your customer service skills is increased, you don't get as many angry customers as not many people like to get agressive at a happy chirpy employee.

Work quality? I'm a little confused what you mean. If you wish to do a better job and be recognised faster in your restaurant, put in more effort. If you put in 100% effort and make every drink and desset like you would eat it, you're doing fine. By putting in more effort, the quality of product produced is suddenly better.

I put in 100% effort from day one. I always smile, greet customers like I have known them for years, remember regular customers by name, converse with customers and go out of my way to make sure all customers leave satisfied with their service. I was Crew Member of the Month on my 4th month of working there. I was promoted to Crew Trainer after 7 months of working here. My next rank is Shift Manager. By working hard, you are recognised and rewarded. That goes for every job, not just McDonald’s.

Enjoy your time working there, it is so much more than fast food. Make some friends and have fun.

Any more questions, message me.

All the best, Jack

Edit: I just read the tags, I see you are a little shy. Please, don't be shy. Once you make friends, mistakes are easier to deal with. I have had so many voice cracks when calling out order numbers with a large customer audience. That was very embarrassing. But seriously, I was so shy when I first started. I built my confidence by acting like I wasn't shy at all. Mistakes make the shift interesting, something to talk about later. Be brave, the customers are only people, who are hungry. Have fun!

You’ll leave a terrible first impression, especially if you don't call ahead at least 2 hours prior to the start of your shift or provide a legitimate excuse (such as sickness).

You will most likely be provided with a warning, or possibly even termination of your employment, and you may receive less shifts as a result as well.

I worked with a girl a few years back, we started around the same time. We were both casuals so we didn’t get all that many shifts. But the difference is that I rocked up to my shifts, but she didn’t. It got to the point that my employer would call me at 6am when she didn’t turn up and ask me to come in ASAP - which I of course did.

I ended up with a permanent part-time contract, and she got fired.

I worked there because I was 16 at the time, and everywhere else I preferred either wanted applicants over 18, or wanted more job experience even for an entry level job. Unfortunate problem with entry level jobs is the fact they need entry level job experience to even get the entry level job, so you have alot of people who shouldn’t be there getting jobs teens should get. Makes the ones that will actually hire teens that should be working it rather rare, and quickly taken by those who don’t know any better.

Anyway, I thought myself lucky to have been hired on the very same day I was interviewed, and 8$ an hour wasn’t the worst I thought. 75% off discount for meals during then 30 minute break, and a flexible schedule? I thought it was solid. I was wrong. Horrible register systems, terrible co-workers who were clearly favored by managers for breaks, days with no breaks at all because they scheduled me for 7 hours instead of 8, or just put me on for 3 hours. Horrible scheduling, shifting between 3 different jobs in the building at the same time, as they continue to send people home early. I worked for 3 months, then quit. They had already given me a write up for calling that I’d be late, because of a car issue, when I’ve seen people come in 15 minutes late with no call in about it and be just fine. What made me work there was to make money, and I didn’t make much honestly. It was hardly worth it, and I don’t recommend it. Only thing I can say I’m happy about, is that it taught me what a bad job is.

Very few McDonald’s are open 24/7, and while lulls definitely happen, businesses generally don’t stay open during times when they expect little or no traffic. Closing shift on a fast food restaurant typically entails three activities: cleaning, stocking, and end of day bookkeeping.

As an example of end-of-day cleaning, the fryer oil needs to be drained into a reservoir (which also filters the oil), and then the fryers are scrubbed down. The oil will be pumped back into the fryers the next morning; it is typically only replaced once or twice a week. soda machines are broken down and the parts are clean. Dishes are done, grills are scrubbed, all surfaces need to be cleaned, and then there’s the joy of cleaning the bathrooms.l

When applying for McDonald’s, is the time you put for availability on the application your shift times or do you get to pick your shifts after you get the job?

This is a common question asked of people applying for part-time jobs.

Your answer should be, literally, whenever you could be available for work!

For example, if you’re a college student with classes all day on Tuesdays, and Thursdays, but you’re available all day, any day for the rest of the week, that’s what you put down. If you’re a single parent who needs to collect your kid from daycare by 6 each day, then your availability should reflect that. If you’re in high school, and you can’t work before 4pm on school days, or after 11pm on the nights before school days, you put that down.

It’s whatever hours you’re available.

So how is that information used?

If they need someone for the breakfast shift, but you’re in high school, so you’re not available until after 4, they’re not even going to call you in for an interview. If your availability is so limited that it would impact the needs of the business, you may never get interviewed. Or if you’re available 24/7, that doesn’t eliminate you from consideration for any shift.

Once you get hired, they will confirm your availability, and discuss exceptions. For example, if you’re a high school student, and you said you’d be available after 4 on weekdays, what do you do when graduation day comes, and you want to attend your gradation, instead of working. Or what you should do if you’re suddenly available anytime during summer vacation. Or what you should do if your college classes for the next semester are Monday and Wednesday, instead of the Tuesday and Thursday they used to bel.

Your shifts will be assigned to you by the managers. They will decide how many people they need at any given time, and who they will be. Obviously they don’t want to schedule someone who isn’t available, but they may check to see if anything has changed.

If your availability is too limited, and they’re unable to meet business needs because of it, they may hire someone else. They may just keep cutting back on your hours, or they might take you off the schedule all together to make room for people who’s availability isn’t so limited.

Think carefully about any limits you put on your application. No young person *wants* to work Saturday night, but someone needs to be scheduled, so the person who is willing to work has a distinct edge over the person who says they’re not available when they’re needed.

Based on my experience, whenever you’re available.

If you’re just starting out as a McDonald’s crew member, you will have sent in a form stating your hours for availability. Some people are free six days out of the week, and some people can only work once a month. It all depends on the store’s General Manager, how many hours you get

There’s three/four major shifts you can work:

Opening/breakfast- whenever the store opens until about 11 am is a good shift for early birds

Afternoon shift- whenever breakfast ends (usually about 10:30) until 5

Closing- 6-close, which in my store is 1 am

And of course, you can be scheduled for anytime between or during those shifts, but those are the major time slots

If you want a better chance of getting hired/scheduled, you should put yourself available for at least three days out of the week (and put a wide range of hours). After the first month or so, you’ll settle into a more or less steady schedule, where you’ll generally work the same hours/days every week. Again, it all depends on when you’re available.

Find another job or talk to your manager. I was working at Swiss chalet few months after moving back to my hometown. I was leaving after my shift and noticed that the assistant manager was changing the schedule. I originally had the next day off. I asked him if he was changing my schedule and he said no. But in fact he changed it where I was supposed to be working the next day After I had left. So obviously I didn’t know and spent the day doing errands. The next day after the day off my manager said you were supposed to be here yesterday. Why did you do a no show?? I turned around and said because it was my day off. I asked the assistant manager if he was changing my schedule and he said no. Maybe should have told me before my shift ends to cancel my plans. That was the first thing that they did to try to get me fired.

Short answer is technically yes,they can.

It's a private business,it's not public property.If a repsenative of the business ( ie worker ,but normally in most places it's a manager) ask you to leave you legally have no right to be there anymore.

That being said customers bring money money keeps the big bosses happy, so typically if you are not disruptive in one form or fashion you won't be asked to leave or refused service.

But do note bad hygiene, in a lot of places is enough to be refused service. A single person who has bad hygiene can and has ran off more money from other customers, than they are worth themselves.

If you give them really limited hours of availability you may end up finding yourself not getting as many hours as you want. I mean..for them 6 hours a week might not be worth training you for.

I worked at McDonald's...a long time ago. They would always try and get me to come in for hours I told them I wasn't available. Plus they always wanted me to stay after if it was busy. But that's probably because I always said yes...overtime heck yea.

Basically how it works is you tell them when you're available. Then they give you your schedule for the week. Depending on the time of year and who else is available you may get more or less hours.

“Is working 30 hours a week at McDonald's good?”

Good in what respect? Good for a student’s schedule as a part-time job? Sure. But even only 30 hours a week can leave you over-extended if in school. You will need time to rest after shifts of more than a few hours. It is a very demanding job, and often super fast-paced or overwhelming when the rushes come.

Do you mean is it enough to make a living? Not really, unless you are a manager and then you wouldn’t have a measly 30 hour per week schedule.

Crew member at McDonald’s is a tough job, but it has its moments of fun. Good first job? Sure. It will teach you responsibility and good work ethics because there is very little slack time. Their motto at my McDonald’s jobs (worked for 3 or 4) was “If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean!”

They taught me how to always find ways to keep busy at work doing something to help the customers, coworkers and/or the company. It also taught me speed and organizational skills when we were really busy, which are priceless tools to have for the rest of your life. So if you can cut it and with a good attitude, you can make it good in many respects.

No, a McDonald's employee cannot refuse to serve a customer .Refusing service to a customer based on arbitrary or personal reasons, such as how busy the restaurant is, goes against the principles of customer service and equality. All customers have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to receive equal service regardless of personal characteristics or circumstances. Additionally, it could be considered discriminatory, which is illegal in many countries and goes against widely accepted moral and ethical standards. Providing quality customer service and treating all customers equally helps to maintain a positive reputation, build customer loyalty, and create a welcoming environment for all.

My experience (store) you must ask for a specific day off 2weeks in advance. If you want a day off and can’t meet the 2week requirement, employees would put a note below shedule asking if someone would trade days or just take your shift over. Then take it to your supervisor for approval. When I request a certain day I always add why..doctors apt, car going into shop, going out of town, etc. If short notice you’ve got to find coverage for your shift..that’s what matters, not where you are going. If I was going to a nite party w/ friends, I’d put family bday party. They don’t expect specifics, and you don’t have to provide it- only coverage!

Err, when I worked there it didn’t work in any particular way. I was good at the cooking on the grill side under the old system (before experience of the future) so they brought me in for the “close” shift so I’d start at 4pm and cook like mad for the first few hours and then spend the next few hours cleaning. Also, they all have different hours of operation, some close at night and some don’t. What are you going to do in there? How good are you going to be too because they give you a zero hours contract so they can just leave you off if they think you are no good, they’re not very nice. They’ll bring you in for training shifts and when they have seen where you are good they will move you to where they think they need you and what times they think you will be good, at busy or quiet times. Basically, it’s not that organised where you will have a set pattern and they don’t give what you prefer a second thought, you can send them an availability request online but if you don’t offer much flexibility they’ll leave you off. They will rob you too, I did an illegal shift for them that was too long to be legal, they said I’d be paid in cash off the record. Guess what? I didn’t get it.

As a college student who used to work two jobs and go to school, I'm telling you it will be extremely hard. Because you'll pretty much be working all week long and on top of that, you have school. Even if you work 3 hours a day with McDonald's and 3 hours a day with Starbucks, you will barely have time for social events. But if you're willing to take the risk, I'd suggest you let both of the store managers at McDonald's and Starbucks know that you're working for the other company and you have school in between. There shouldn't be much of a problem but letting them know early will make them schedule someone else on the days you can't work..