Employees speak out about McFirings

If you have ever visited the McDonald's at 40th and Walnut streets late on a Saturday night, you may have encountered a scene of drunken chaos.

But while some students complain that the store's management is "ridiculously absurd" and its customer service "a joke," members of the store's overnight staff say that students play a part in the mayhem as well.

The two opinions came head to head last month when College sophomore Keith Williams and a group of his friends got into an altercation with several McDonald's employees during a late-night visit. Williams started a Facebook group encouraging students to boycott the restaurant, which ultimately led to the firing of several McDonald's staff members.

But employees say they're not the only ones out of line.

One of the McDonald's overnight security guards said students are often rude and obnoxious to the staff, engage in "rough play" and use profane language.

He explained that the students' "loud, out of control behavior" usually occurs on Friday or Saturday nights around 12 or 1 a.m.

According to a female staff member who has worked night shifts, when students don't get exactly what they want, they sometimes get angry and yell obscenities or throw things.

She added that occasionally students will sexually harass members of the staff.

"Sometimes [the students] have to be controlled by the security guard," she said, although she added that the behavior never gets too violent because the security guard kicks out any students that display potentially threatening behavior.

But many students feel that as paying customers, they are entitled to appropriate service.

"I don't deny that . there is an issue of people coming in drunk," Williams said.

However, he added that especially on the weekends, drunken students looking for a late-night snack after partying are "a fact of a college campus" and "something that the employees should be trained to handle."

Some students side with the employees, though - one post in the Facebook group called the students who go to McDonald's "a bunch of spoiled brats."

Many of the restaurant's employees agree that the students' behavior is excessive.

"They come in here and set each other on fire, or throw up on each other," said a staff member who also works overnight shifts, though she did seem amused at their behavior.

"We get a kick out of it," she said.

Williams argued that while the McDonald's managers have no control over the customers, they can give the employees the appropriate training.

"There is no way of ensuring that every student that comes in there is sober," he said.

But relations between students and staff members seem to be fine while the sun is up.

"I've gone to McDonald's during the day and I've had no problem," said Williams.

"They're nice, they're polite, they don't give me any problems," said a McDonald's employee who works day shifts, about the college students that come in.

Corporate representatives for McDonald's could not be reached for comment.

Comments (17)

There is equal blame to go around in this issue. As Penn students, sometimes we don't realize how obnoxious we can be to the employees that serve throughout the campus, especially when someone is drunk after midnight on a weekend. At McDonald's it is frustrating to have limited options on the late night menu and Penn students take out their frustration on the employees sometimes. But, the employees are not bereft of any blame for the tension between workers and students. They are extremely unprofessional and just as rude. I don't think you can expect courtesy when you project indifference and hostility towards a customer. The cashiers are constantly joking around behind the counter and always engaged in conversation with their co-workers which slows down the line and frustrates customers. They are inefficient in their simple jobs, and I do feel sympathy for the employees that lost their jobs because it might have been the only type of job they can get, but that is their choice. Ive avoided McDonalds for the last 2 years on campus because of how rude the employees are, and I can't deal with their unprofessional behavior and disdain for Penn students. They act like they have a chip on their shoulder and then don't understand why they are not given the respect they think they deserve. This is a problem with every service employee on campus, they just don't care about their jobs and always are talking and joking around and it it annoying. I'm never rude or obnoxious, in fact I am always courteous but I harbor a strong resentment towards them for their horrible service. They act like idiots and then wonder why students treat them poorly.

Penn & Teller, I highly doubt that there is a higher hiring rate for blacks than there is for whites at that McDonalds. Do you really think there are that many white people applying there? The community has a majority black community, if you didn't know.

Mark, Whites are not the only people capable of racially discriminatory practices. Ask anyone who has ever been a minority in any business or community. As for racial discrimination in the black community, ask any white person who plays jazz, rap, basketball, or wishes to participate in any black-dominated field, art, business, or organization, and you will discover that blacks no more welcome whites to their organizations than whites welcome blacks. Discrimination is not a "white" thing, it's a human thing. It's an ugly practice everywhere, throughout the world, from the highest levels to our playgrounds. McDonalds serves a great diversity of customers, not just African-Americans. If this were an "African-American" neighborhood or clientele, no one would be mentioning Penn students, a tiny fraction of whom are African-American, but who are a large portion of the population in this neighborhood. White people are so used to being the bad guys--and feeling righteous in being the bad guys--that it's going to take some time for them to begin thinking like humans among humans, and expecting everyone, black, white, red, brown, yellow and tan, to treat each other with respect and fairness, and to expect to be treated with respect and fairness by all.

Why am I always nicer to the service people at Fresh Grocer and McDonalds than they are to me? High schools should teach a customer service class so that the ungrateful employees have no one to blame but themselves for their horrible attitudes and service. Nobody is entitled to a job.

it is not equal - there are customers and there are servers - that's how it works - if people don't want to serve, they don't need to be working - We can't let people treat us badly because of our academic affiliation - McDonald's national office should close down that awful place - or they should acknowledge that the accept the abuse of Penn students

McFirings? Really? No matter who was in the wrong, whether it was the students or the employees, this is serious business to some people, especially to the people who were fired. Why does the original article (which favored the students in its coverage) get a serious headline while this article gets a pun? I know that you guys try to be cute with your headlines, and maybe I'm overreacting, but I think this headline was in poor taste. I doubt the people who were fired would find your wordplay cute. This is a legitimate news story and should have been treated as such. And if the excuse was that you couldn't fit McDonald's in the space, well, that's pretty lame.

It's about time Penn students get respect from local businesses - if people dont like the fact that they have to work at 1 AM on a Saturday evening handing out hamburgers - they shouldn't blame their situations on the people giving them the money that allows them to have the jobs

That McDonalds has always been a nightmare. I've lived in the neighborhood for many years, and most who do avoid that McDonalds because it's unsanitary and the counter clerks are as bratty and unpleasant as Penn students can be. Entirely African-American (discriminatory hiring practices?), they sometimes go out of their way to ignore a lone white customer or act as rudely as possible. Other times, there's no offense intended but the wait is ridiculously long and the treatment is hostile, resentful. I'm sure that in the early hours, if Penn students come in displaying their own brand of entitled, repulsive behavior, things get particularly sticky. McDonalds needs to hire adults to work in that place, and to make sure that it's racially balanced. Better still, they should shut the place down. It's a disgrace and on weekend and summer evenings, a trouble spot.

Anyone would be pissed off serving drunk college students, are you kidding me? And we are in Philadelphia--not exactly the best place for customer service. Don't expect great service when you are paying three dollars for a meal, it doesn't make sense for McDonald's to spend money on training employees to provide better service. They know they have a cyclical market (you are less likely to eat mcdonalds after you graduate) and are just behaving like any cost-minimizing restaurant should. If you don't like it, find another mcdonalds. If enough people stop going, they will shut down or make changes. Though as somewhat of a monopoly, they don't have much incentive to do so. They know we are poor and hungry and are pursuing profit maximization, as anyone else would.

For 4 years, I witnessed the racism of Philadelphia -- the racism of African-American service employees against white students. Penn students, most of whom are kind and polite, are regularly treated like shit by employees at McD's and Fresh Grocer. As for drunk students causing problems at McD's at night, these are isolated incidents that are handled via security/Penn Police. The more disturbing problem is the number of assaults and shootings that have occurred at McD's in the past couple of years -- the vast majority of which were carried out by West Philly natives, not Penn students.

I think this problem is McDonald's specific. The food truck workers, who primarily cater to Penn students, treat me with respect. They cook my meals quickly and are polite. On the other hand, the staff of the 40th St. McDonald's has routinely treated me with disrespect. It always seems like that at best one employee is at the register, while a handful are talking on their cell phones or otherwise socializing. As I wait, I often glance at the kitchen and notice that many of the employees are engaged in activities other than preparing my food. I've never been to a McDonald's with worse service. I also think it is among the grossest. I like to order soft serve cones from McDonald's. On at least three occasions, the employees have made "misshapen" ice cream cones, opened up the top of the machine, dumped the ice cream back in, and then poured fresh cones. This strikes me as a bit gross, so I usually just beg them to give me whatever cone they make, no matter how lopsided it is. All the while, I wait as they do "do-overs" with the ice cream cones, not at my request. The staff clearly need better training on how to operate the machine.

When I entered Penn in 1963 in the pre civil rights days we treated everyone in West Philadelphia with condescending contempt. Particularly if we were in a decent fraternity. If there was any crime, it was the occasional beating we handed out to someone panhandling for money. This doesn't excuse the current crime problems (which have been going on a long time and are awful) but it is at least one origin of poor race relations in Philadelphia. Since being agressive and boorish has gone in both directions, a little more dialogue between the races in Philadelphia might improve the atmosphere.

Let's demand that McDonalds close the 40th Street macdonalds - Penn students don't like it and the establishment doesn't like serving Penn students - who make up the community surrounding it - then everybody is happy -

You, and everyone else complaining like this, has never worked in a service industry catering to drunk people. Work in a bar and wake the fuck up. The folks working at McDonalds at night aren't going to win any employee of the year competition. You wouldn't either if you worked the midnight shift and dealt w/ drunken assholes who think they are better than you all night. Seriously, if you can find me someone who is chipper working that shift, I will report them to the nearest psych ward because they are mentally unstable. [QUOTE id="2a18650e-e948-44ec-a528-0436bf3b4b66"]it is not equal - there are customers and there are servers - that's how it works - if people don't want to serve, they don't need to be working - We can't let people treat us badly because of our academic affiliation - McDonald's national office should close down that awful place - or they should acknowledge that the accept the abuse of Penn students[/QUOTE]

I have a good solution. The McDonalds can close earlier and avoid inebriated students. Then the students will have to go somewhere else to cause trouble. If it is closed, then they are not a customer. It is the decision of McDonalds, not the students. So they are doing students a favor by staying open late. If students do not appreciate this favor, then maybe they should withdraw. McDonalds gets plenty of business during the day. They do not need the extra business and aggravation.

McDonalds stays open because it makes money - they aren't philanthropists doing people favors -euphoria neither are any of the business that take money from students without making students feel appreciated Penn should do more to shut down businesses that refuse to treat Penn students with respect - all of the business around would be out of business if it were not for Penn - but you rarely get that feeling PENN IS THE COMMUNITY here -it's time those who want some of its money to give back to it

[QUOTE id="2a18650e-e948-44ec-a528-0436bf3b4b66"]it is not equal - there are customers and there are servers - that's how it works - if people don't want to serve, they don't need to be working - We can't let people treat us badly because of our academic affiliation - McDonald's national office should close down that awful place - or they should acknowledge that the accept the abuse of Penn students[/QUOTE] Wow - is this really the person who the DP allows to write a column? disagree with you and I should - as you so eloquently put it "shut the fuck up" - if people don't want to work at night at McDonalds - they should find other jobs - they aren't drafted or anything -

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