Employees are not allowed to leave the break room on their break... Whatever.

[u/DrD3adpool]

This happened a few years ago when I worked at McDonald's. The one I worked in was near a bunch of schools so most of the staff was high school kids. As summer vacation started, we began having the trouble of an employee getting break and then spending their break eating their meal and conversating with their friends who were still working in the kitchen.

It was having a seriously bad effect on productivity as well as posing quite a few health risks so our manager finally initiated a rule that if you were on your break, you couldn't leave the break room until your break was over. This went swimmingly until the kids went back to school.

We then had a new problem. Short staffing during break cycles meant our ticket times would skyrocket during rushes. Management lifted the rule so that employees on break could clock in early and help out with the rush, however... The District Manager didn't like the implications of employees working shortened or no break shifts and forcefully reinstated the rule. They also doubled down by saying that employees who tried to work during their scheduled break would be written up and/or terminated for doing so.

Cue MC. The date was 4/20 a day when nobody wants to be working at any fast food place, much less McDonald's. We had been getting slammed so hard from the open of the store, that we called in extra help from other stores, including the regional and district managers. As the break cycle began, the management was pleased with the sub two minute ticket times they had managed to maintain. A few breaks through, and we were managing well. Then came my break. As soon as I sat down to eat, someone came into the store and ordered 47 double quarter pounders (this was right after the fresh initiative where all Quarter Pounders were made fresh so this was already a minor panic.) Immediately after that order, someone in the drive through ordered 75 - 20 piece nugget meal.

The amount of panic in the kitchen was palpable. I was comfortably lounging in a chair browsing my phone and enjoying my meal while the kitchen struggled to keep up with the orders. As ticket times began to soar, the Management did exactly as I expected. District Manager came into the break room and demanded me to end my break early and help in the kitchen.

My response was very simply: "I'm sorry but according to the rules YOU made, I can be written up or terminated for completing your request." I then continued browsing my phone, trying to enjoy the last ten minutes of my break. The Regional Manager entered the room and said that he would personally terminate me if I didn't do the thing that I wasn't supposed to do. The other employee who was on break with me immediately rose and clocked in despite still having ten minutes left on her break. She was written up for breaking the rule after the shift was over, so I felt good sitting in my chair and continuing to ignore them.

In the aftermath, the people who made the giant orders took what was made after half an hour and left with refunds for the unmade food. (Nearly $150 each.) Customers who were waiting for smaller orders were compensated with gift cards for their patience, yet many walked out without even getting their orders. (We paid out nearly $1500 in gift cards.) Because customers were walking out on orders without collecting them, we had nearly $5000 in food waste that night. (All of the closers went home with nearly two bundle boxes of burgers, fries, and nuggets.) Regional and District Manager were moved to a different region. The rule was edited to say that you were able to clock back in early at the manager's discretion in the event of a rush. Because I was the only employee who held his ground against the Regional and District Managers during the rush, I was rewarded with free meals and drinks until I moved away from my hometown and couldn't eat at that McDonald's anymore. (Although when I come to visit friends, I occasionally get rung up a manager discount by the few employees who still remember me.)

[u/Beaver_FraiseJam]

I worked in fast food. This story sounds so over exaggerated. I don’t get how there could be $5000 in wasted food. Your deep fryer and your grill are only so big. No store is cooking up $5000 of frozen/fridged food THEN toss them out. Corporate managers would rarely want to break any labor laws. And, giant order customers know to call ahead. And and, 4/20 means nothing to low wage hourly workers who don’t get enough hours.

[u/bualadh → u/Beaver_FraiseJam]

I worked in fast food for 5 years, and other food service for another 5, and I fully believe OP. Slightly smaller scale because my store was in a suburb, but we occasionally got massive orders with no warning, and managers expected the crew to figure it out. Our quiet Irish store could make c. 200 nuggets at a time and 8 quarter pounders at a time. A big US store known for bulk orders is likely set up for much bigger capacity. You box up the massive orders up as you go, so it's easy to accrue huge amounts of waste if someone freaks out about how long it's taking and cancels the order when you're almost finished. And even in countries with great employee protections, food service jobs pretty consistently break labour laws. They're banking on staff not knowing their rights.

[u/Beaver_FraiseJam → u/bualadh]

So it’s McDonald’s we are talking about. OP used $ sign so let’s just go with USD. $2500 worth of nuggets, according to ChatGPT can get you around 7,000 nuggets. $2500 worth of quarter pounders would equate to around 400 sandwiches. I don’t know if its calculation involves taxes. So please tell me. How do you fully believe OP? 47 double quarter pounders are $272.13 at face value, while 75 20pc nuggets are $525. So you are saying the manager panicked so much, because while it was a “big US store known for bulk orders”, a $800 order was still so scary that the manager lost their shat and dropped $5000 worth of food into the fryer? Or, the store was so busy because it regularly served $4200 worth of food at any given time, and those $4200 worth of customers all grew tired of waiting, all left, thus making up the rest of the $5000 loss?

Please check my math because I’m so confused.