This chapter discusses what goes on behind the counter at a McDonald’s. What happens is that the workers are forced to act a very specific way when working. That not all, the managers go through a special school that programs them to act a specific way. The school is called Hamburger University, a school founded by McDonald’s. This schooling could take years on average, and instructs managers on how to handle situations and equipment. The locations have to buy updated video tapes to train the employees that get employed there. The employees have to act in a specific way, like always smiling. If someone is caught not smiling they get reprimanded. The window workers are allowed to act natural to a very small degree. This is allowed by McDonald’s so the workers don’t seem like robots. Other than that, most of the job is smiling and being nice. The workers wait for some type of equipment to tell them when to do something like flip the burger. A lot of the work done behind the counter is assisted by some automated device. McDonald’s is currently experimenting with a full robotic crew member. It does almost all the work while a real person normal deals with human interaction. So far there is only one location, but other locations are using touch menus. This allows the customers to come in and place there order rather then waiting in line.
3/10/2019
Sociology Blog 