Management 101 - The McDonald's Birthday Party

During the early 1990s - I worked at McDonald’s . Being in Grade 9 - I was invincible - and of course too cool to be working at Rotten Ronnie’s . Nonetheless it was a Part Time job - and I was earning $5.20 an hour .

My store location was labelled as a “poor performer” - and based on the amount of store managers that rotated through there - it’s wasn’t hard to see why . One week-end I was introduced to Ming - the new store manager . He was apparently a great “organizer” - and was sent there by Head Office to turn around our store . It was a challenging weekend as 3 staff members called in sick - so Ming turned to me and said: “Jason - I need you to run a birthday party.”

This sent shockwaves to my teenage brain . I was only there to earn enough money to buy Nike basketball shoes and Nintendo games . I told him I wasn’t trained - to which he replied: “What’s there to know ? It’s a birthday party - you take food orders at the beginning - deliver the food - and light candles on a birthday cake afterwards.” The 90’s were a different era - clearly - as instead of refusing - I walked over to the lobby and started to “run” the birthday party .

Long story short - what I learned that day set me up for an amazing management career .

1. Greet The Customer
1. In this case the “Customer” was the parents who were paying, the birthday kid, and the party goers .
2. Establish the Customers’ Needs
1. I asked the parents if any of the kids had special dietary concerns .
2. I spoke to the birthday kid - and asked him what type of party he wanted . (No! I didn’t actually do that ! I read the situation and saw how his friends were behaving and gave them all space . Needless to say - we didn’t play “Pin The Tail On The Fry Guy !”
3. Get Help When Needed
1. I’m not a natural born singer - so when it came time to sing “Happy Birthday” - I enlisted the help of a few team members who were hiding at the back of the grill .
4. Get Feedback
1. I took every opportunity to check in with the parents

Looking back on those times now - I’d say I learned a lot from my days at McDonald’s - lol ! And the Birthday Mom tipped me $5.00 too ! (Equivalent to almost $9.00 today)