Politicians and business leaders have used their McDonald's experience to burnish their working-class appeal. Kamala Harris worked at McDonald's. Jeff Bezos worked at McDonald's. Heck, Jay Leno worked at McDonald's.
Brad Stanhope also worked at McDonald's. There, I learned one of life's most important lessons: Stay focused.
McDonald's was an important job for me. After losing my first two positions (including at a supermarket where I was fired by a boss who told me in the middle of the store that I didn't need to come in anymore), my confidence was shaky. Working at McDonald's allowed me to be around plenty of people, get training and realize that I wasn't (totally) incompetent.
I was a senior in high school, working at McDonald's in my hometown of Eureka. One of the roles I filled was being the guy who emptied garbage cans, cleaned the bathrooms and was a gofer for everyone. That wasn't all I ever did – I also took orders and repeatedly scalded my arms while making french fries – but on the winter night in question, I was the cleanup guy.
It was wet and cold around 8 p.m., which is typical for that area. The Pacific Ocean was a few blocks west of the restaurant, so it was foggy. As I remember it, there were just a handful of cars in the large parking lot.
I checked the three garbage cans spread around that massive parking lot. Being Eureka, there were always people wandering around. There was a substantial homeless population even then and some of those residents would look in the McDonald's dumpster, searching for food. That made sense because we would make the food, set a timer and throw it out after a certain period.
Anyway, I wandered the dark parking lot thinking of whatever a 17-year-old thought of in that era. Sports. Girls. School. "Welcome Back, Kotter." The Bee Gees. I grabbed one full bag of trash, went to another can and grabbed that bag. Then I walked to the dumpster, climbed up the short ladder, opened it and . . .
A GUY SPRUNG UP LIKE SOMEONE JUMPING UP FROM A CASKET.
OR MAYBE FROM A JACK-IN-THE-BOX.
I gasped and almost fell off the ladder. What the heck?
The guy was equally surprised. He was dumpster diving, about to find some food when . . . some kid opened the lid and surprised him!
I didn't tell him to leave. I probably apologized for bothering him. I tossed the bag to the part of the dumpster away from him and told him it didn't have any good food.
I was mad at myself. I wondered if I screamed. I hoped I didn't make the guy feel bad. I was mad that the guy was there.
Nobody saw it. Nobody knew about it. I doubt I am the only employee of that or any McDonald's who had that experience. But it stuck with me: Always stay focused.
When Bezos or Harris or Leno talk about working at McDonald's, they probably don't think about nearly having a heart attack caused by a Jack-in-the-Dumpster experience when they were 17 and thinking how weird it was that John Travolta was in movies, too.
Yeah, I worked at McDonald's.
I made friends there, gained confidence and learned an important lesson: When putting trash in Dumpsters, always be cautious.
I'm lovin' it!
Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.
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