#back drive

I was told to cover a ten in back drive. No big deal. Counted out a drawer quickly, then put in.

...Fifteen minutes later I'm still there. Half an hour later I'm still there. I see the person whose ten I was covering up front, doing what I had been doing before this.

Just... ugh... Okay? You could have fucking told me you decided to keep me back here? I dislike back drive but it's not like I'm going to run out the back door and never been seen again if you put me there.

Just like "Hey, FFT, it makes more sense for the schedule to keep you back here." and I'd have been, "Alright."

Since I've been working mornings, they've been putting me in back drive, where I need to handle prep.

I think I'm starting to impress the morning managers, as so far I've been getting prep down in about two hours (along with taking orders and money for back drive), which is faster then usual for people, at least during regular days with regular customer traffic.

Though...once I finish it I tend to be stuck back there. With dishes that pile up. That I can't do, because I have a terrible reaction to the sanitizer.

A couple months ago I mentioned I had a minor health problem. It was with my hands. They were getting incredibly dry and they would sometimes hurt to move in certain ways. My parents encouraged me to drink lots of water.

I did...still no change. They would occasionally get better but then spring back even worse. I finally went to a doctor. They prescribed some cream but it was still happening.

Finally...I figure out what was happening. Recently I went over a week without being put into backdrive. And my hands...cleared up completely. Then I had to close backdrive, and then be back there the next day. The day after that, my hands got as worse as they had been before.

So yah...I'm having a really bad reaction to the sanitizer used for cleaning dishes. I brought this up to the head manager, who says I should leave a note for the guy doing the scheduling.

I'm getting seriously sick of closing back drive. So many dishes, no help, and I'm there for hours at a time, and I'm ALWAYS doing something. Other positions you can usually relax a bit here and there when you have down time, but not back drive. Don't have orders? Then you need to do dishes, because otherwise you'll be there later doing them.

And if you're not doing dishes, other people are asking you to get stuff from the back for you. No, you can do that. I have to do dishes. You're just standing there. Take the extra ten seconds to walk there yourself.

It doesn't help that even in the rare times I'm NOT closing, I'm still in back drive.

I really need to talk to someone about this, or I'm going to explode and either end up yelling at a customer, a manager, a fellow employee, or just collapse from the stress or outright quit.

When I say "Hello and welcome to McDonalds, how may I help you?" there's two ways to respond to that:

1. "Hello! I would like (insert order here)"

or

2. "Hello! I'm sorry, but I need a moment to decide."

Obviously you can deviate from that to an extent, but please, please, don't snap at me.

Don't yell "GIVE ME A MOMENT!" I have no idea if you're ready or not. All I know is that my headset was beeping so there's a car in drive thru.

And please...don't just sit there and not answer. If I ask how may I help you, and you don't answer at all, I will believe you are an idiot. Say something.

I really, really hate working grill during breakfast. One day I'll write up a post about that, but today, I'd like to talk about back drive.

For those of you who don't understand the lingo, back drive is the person who takes orders for anyone coming through the drive thru.

Now, at the store I work out, we have two windows. One is where you pay, and the other hands you your food and drink. When I say 'back drive' that means where you pay. It's also (usually, though sometimes during lunch someone will take orders and someone else takes the money) who's taking your order.

So when it's busy, back drive usually is counting out change and punching numbers into the register, at the same time they're taking an order. If you get enough experience, you can find a sort of rhythm to it. It's annoying, but you can make someone wait if you really need to focus on one thing.

While that aspect is annoying, it's not something I don't make any fuss about. It's not like I have to do that AND hand out orders as well. It's just a mildly annoying aspect of the job. No big deal.

So why am I going on about it? Because that's not where it ends.

In the morning, back drive is expected to do that. And make salads. And parfaits. And get things ready for lunch, such as getting the onions, pickles, cheeses, tomatoes, lettuce, etc ready and put into the fridge. Well call this “prep.”

Maybe it's done differently at other stores, I don't know. I just know how we do it at mine.

So if it gets busy, even just a steady trickle of customers in drive thru, it pretty much becomes impossible to do. Now and then, I'll complain to a manager, or just tell them that “There's no way I'm going to get all this done before lunch.” So then they have to find someone to do prep for me.

Bare in mind, I don't mind doing prep. It's not overly difficult, but when combined with having to take orders and handle money, it's near impossible. I have to continually put on and take off gloves so I can handle the food, or I have to wash my hands each time, since I've been handling money.

There's also the fact that after a certain point of being forced to do this...you stop caring. That salad from yesterday looks a bit iffy? Nah, it's good enough for you, one less thing you have to make.

Most of the time I only manage to get prep done by myself is because there's salads left over from yesterday.

But, hey, that's just mornings, right? Not too big of a deal.

So let's talk about what else back drive is expected to do.

Dishes, for one. We have to wash dishes. And no, we don't have a dishwasher, at least at my store. So it's good old fashioned soapy hot water to clean. At least we have a thing that automatically makes the soapy water for you in a continuous stream.

Dishes usually aren't too bad. Sometimes you get a lot of them, but we do have down times, and it can be awkward just standing there.

Now, what really, really annoys me is that people up front expect you to be able to run and grab you things, or put things in the oven for you.

Here's a story. There's three cars who I need to take their money. It's lunch time, so it's not slowing down anytime soon. Someone up front wants me to put down seven strawberry pies (which are actually really good, so, yah). They still have four that they haven't even boxed up yet.

So, they want me, the only person taking orders or handling money in back drive during lunch, to make a bunch of people wait while I find a tray, get into the freezer, get seven pies out from the box (and possibly have to open a box), put them in the oven, then get the timer started.

Or they tell me they need sauces, or apples, or lids, or spoons, or any other numerous things. Instead of taking ten seconds to walk over and do it their goddamn selves, they expect me to do it for them.

Of course, if I have no orders, it's fine if you need me to grab something quickly. But I probably have other things I should be doing, like dishes. Or taking orders.

So if you're driving through McDonalds, and the person who should be at the window isn't there, remember that poor bastard is probably being forced to get something that's not their job.

Or if you're asked to wait a moment before someone can take your order, remember.