The food at McDonald's might be largely the same all over the world, but the experiences of its employees can vary quite a bit.
Of course, the atmosphere of each store depends a lot on the customer base, the crew, the management, and the franchise-owner. But there's one commonality that links at McDonald's jobs. Like all jobs, McDonald's gigs serve as a learning experience, for better or for worse.
Business Insider spoke with several current and former crew members to find out what they learned from working at the restaurant. Former McDonald's employees have also posted on Quora about their work experiences.
Here's what McDonald's crew members have learned from the job:
The job is a crash course in the basics of how a restaurant works
"McDonald's can provide essential workforce skills and people can use this to their advantage in their next resume," former McDonald's crew member Sherwin Balugo wrote on Quora.
He said such skills included:
• Operating and maintaining restaurant equipment.
• Teamwork and effective communication.
• Food and kitchen safety.
• Task prioritization.
"This can be easily overlooked, as most see McDonald's as nothing that special, in terms of profession," Balugo wrote.
Team work makes the dream work at McDonald's
One former crew member who worked at the chain for five years told Business Insider that they learned about "teamwork" through their tenure at the company.
They added that they developed many friendships with their fellow crew members.
"Besides learning about the actual tasks at McDonald's — making burgers, fries, customer service — one learns how to work together with other people," former McDonald's employee and Quora user Chuck Chan wrote. "This is usually not the top-tier of people who 'want' to be working, but usually the people who are working there as a means-to-an-end and this job might have been their last resort."
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