I was just watching an Arby's commercial on TV and it sent me into a painful summer job flashback full of wiggly semi-solid 'roast beef' material and vats of liquid fat and french fry bits. I'm gonna have nightmares, I swear. I've been seriously scarred. So I'm forming FFFWA: Former Fast Food Workers Anonymous. Feel free to share memories of your fast food past or present without fear of judgement.

We can make it through, together.

creamychemist said:

Good thing I'm vegitarian!

Zum said:

I actually don't think it was even really roast beef

I had the "BK Broiler" post at the "Home of the Whopper." I lasted 3 weeks, then quit without ever picking up a paycheck. This job was in Kaneohe, HI. I was 15 yrs old.



At my station, I loaded 2 sizes of frozen meat patties on the broiler conveyor belt, and collected the cooked result at the other end. On an adjacent toaster belt, the buns were loaded. Same process ensued as I watched the toasted bread emerge in synch with the meat. I was then in charge of assembling the basic sandwich, just the meat and bun, and they were then placed in a "steamer" for safe keeping. Later, when a customer orders a hamburger "their way," the meat/bun combo is taken from the steamer and magically transformed to exact specifications on the assembly line.



It was nasty work. If you prepared too many meat/buns, then they languished in the steamer, and after 10 minutes, we were supposed to throw them away. On the other hand, if you fell behind, the trip through the broiler took several minutes, and the whole operation simply grinds to a halt. Very stressful.

I'm happier with my current job.

TheMax said:

Yep. For a fairly mindless job it could be quite stressful. I always feel for the drive-thru people when I see them working. That was my job for awhile - I'd always have assholes not telling me about some stupid 4 cent coupon until they were at the pay window - something Arbys technology was not in any way prepared to handle. Some people!

I started working for Wendy's in 1992 when I was 14, because they were one of the very few employers in town that would hire 14 and 15 year olds. (State labor laws gave employers much more flexibility with 16 and 17 year old employees.) Back then, minimum wage was $4.25 per hour, and that was my starting pay.

(I don't know how things are right now, but in the late 1990s, when the economy was hot, the fast-food industry was dealing with a labor shortage, which forced them to start new employees at wages above minimum and led more places to hire 14 and 15 year old workers.)

I had the job for about 3.5 years, which isn't bad when you consider that the average fast-food employee supposedly only lasts three months. At one point I was promoted to "Crew Leader." But eventually I got tired of it (especially coming home smelling like grease and needing a shower), and so I moved on.

In hindsight, I think Subway would have been a more pleasant working environment (no grease). Also, while it isn't exactly "fast food," I later spent some time working in the pizza business, doing everything from taking orders over the phone to making pizzas to delivering them to being an assistant manager. When it comes to working conditions, I think pizza beats burgers.