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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe 7 Worst Things About McDonald's
http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/7-worst-things-about-mcdonalds***SNIP
1. It wants employees to work Thanksgiving and Christmas without overtime pay.
McDonalds has a long history of terrible labor practices, but this is especially Scroogey: this holiday season the company urged franchisees to stay open on Thanksgiving and Christmas (McDonalds restaurants are usually closed on those holidays). Worse, employees who work those days dont get paid overtime. According to a company spokesperson, When our company-owned restaurants are open on the holidays, the staff voluntarily sign up to work. There is no regular overtime pay.
***SNIP
2. Workers dont get fair pay in general.
Not getting overtime pay on major holidays is bad, but unfair wages is a widespread problem for McDonalds workers year-round. As Sarah Jaffe wrote at the Atlantic recently, [t]he term McJob has come to epitomize all that's wrong with the low-wage service industry jobs that are a growing part of the U.S economy because no matter what your job might be, it's assumed to be better than working in a fast-food restaurant. And of course, McDonalds is the biggest fast-food restaurant chain there is.
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3. Its marketing for kids is creepy and predatory.
Two years ago the watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest threatened to sue McDonalds over its creepy and predatory marketing practices aimed at children. In its letter of intent to the company, CSPI likened McDonalds to the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children and said the company uses unfair and deceptive marketing to lure small children into McDonalds.
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4. It has a salad with a higher calorie count than a burger and fries, and about the unhealthiest oatmeal on the planet.
McDonalds once introduced a Caesar salad that was more fattening than a hamburger -- with fries. The Daily Mail reported that with dressing and croutons [the salad] contains 425 calories and 21.4g of fat, compared with the 253 calories and 7.7g of fat in the standard burger. Whats more, Adding a portion of fries to your burger brings the calorie count to 459 -- still less fatty than the salad at 16.7g. That is downright impressive.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,869 posts)I don't know if they will be open this year or not.
I think it's the food that's so bad. All of it.
Around here the workers are either young or old. No inbetween.
Cirque du So-What
(25,965 posts)and I must have passed 50 McDs along the way. Each one proudly exclaimed the following on their sign: OPEN 24 HOURS CHRISTMAS DAY. The Burger Kings I passed said the same thing.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,869 posts)Cirque du So-What
(25,965 posts)Are these stores actually expecting a deluge of business on Christmas Day? Sad to consider the exploited workers, earning only the pitiable wage they get on any other day of the year.
onethatcares
(16,178 posts)got a reply back from Sara in CustomerCare in which she told me it was all a-ok, that the employees get to take other days off if they want.
There will be no dollars going to mc ds from this onethatcares. you can bet on that.
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)I will not support any nonessential business open on Christmas Day.
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Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)That is so true. I say it all the time when people complain where I work (and I really do work in a "workers paradise" of a manufacturing facility. We are paid well above the prevailing normal wage for the sector and benefits are great). "Hey, I hear there is an opening at McDonalds if you don't like it here".
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)Flashmann
(2,140 posts)8.The McRib
ProfessorGAC
(65,138 posts)I can't taste anything but the salt on those sandwiches.
If they had a better sauce i'd probably love them, but they're just not good.
Flashmann
(2,140 posts)The one time I tried one,it was like that scene in "Big",where Tom Hanks is made aware of what exactly the caviar is,that he's just put in his mouth...The way he just kinda let it fall out...Horrible taste...Horrible texture and yes,horrible sauce....
socialindependocrat
(1,372 posts)When I was a kid one would open a business in an available/vacant building - that was already there!
Now, we accept the fact that all the buildings of a franchise need to look the same.
We accept this as the norm.
They spend money to tear down an existing building
and then,
They build a brand new building in it's place
and they are still considered a "discount" food chain.
I think they charge too damn much money for their goods if they can waste all this extra money.
And we accept this as the norm!
Same as a sky scraper. It's just the middle finger of a large corporation saying to the public "look what you paid for."
1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)If you're on the way to grandmaw's 100 miles from home and out on Interstate I-90-something when you discover you need to go to the bathroom those old yellow arches can look mighty welcome to you.
LeftinOH
(5,357 posts)the employees are well-groomed and attentive. Their standards for training and cleanliness are a benchmark --or should be.
With other restaurant franchises, the locations can be hit or miss: Grubby dining area staffed by indifferent teenagers; McDonalds locations are never like that.
ShadesOfBlue
(40 posts)that would make you rethink your view.
1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)It may have something to do with McDonald's franchising procedures or requirements but if you stop at many fast food places it becomes noticeable pretty quickly that McD's are generally clean and well staffed compared to most others. I would suggest this though, some chains are noticeably more friendly than others. Hardie's seems to have more friendly employees locally but overall I've noticed one thing that never changes. If you are in a rural area and go into a fast food place the service will be very much noticeably better than from one in an urban area. The difference is like day and night.
fugop
(1,828 posts)But their oatmeal is so tasty! Let me escape with my fantasy intact! Yea, I know it's unhealthy, but mmmmm!
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I like the big breakfast with hotcakes and the sausage Mcgriddles with egg combo.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)Mariana
(14,860 posts)with no differential, do they? Sure they do. I've worked at several places where it was made perfectly clear that the employees had better "voluntarily" sign up to work unpopular shifts if we wanted to keep our jobs for any length of time.
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)The Caesar salad comparison.....
Caesar salads are always fatty. It is the dressing.
Just go Google a caesar salad dressing recipe for yourself and check out the calorie count. It isn't as if McDonald's salad is so much worse than any other. In fact... according to Fatsecret.com McDonald's dressing (Newman's Own) is less fatty than others.
< one packet = 59.2 ml. >
59.2 ml = 4.00358 Tbsp.
78 x 4 = 312
So a 59.2 ml packet should have ~312 calories in it if it were the same as this other dressing. It only has 190. That means it's caloric value is only about 61% of other Caesar dressings.
190 / 312 = .6089 = ~61%
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/caesar-salad-dressing
^snip^
There are 78 calories in 1 tablespoon of Caesar Salad Dressing.
Calorie breakdown: 98% fat, 2% carbs, 0% protein
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/mcdonalds/newmans-own-creamy-caesar-salad-dressing
^snip^
There are 190 calories in a 1 packet serving of McDonald's Newman's Own Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing.
Calorie breakdown: 87% fat, 9% carbs, 4% protein.
Obviously a slanted article. I didn't bother reading any more than what was in the post. Of course McDonald's is bad for you... DOH! You think people don't know that? Maybe I should write an article about how stubbing your big tow qualifies and owie, but not a boo boo.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)I just refuse to eat their crap.