Maybe it's because I work with sick and dying people, but is being a fast food crew member (I think that's the modern title) really a stressful job?
I have a friend who is working at McDonald's graveyard shift and he says it can be incredibly stressful at times. Also I go there for an iced mocha ever once in awhile before my shift at the hospital (mid-afternoon) and everyone looks on edge & strained a lot of the time. Maybe it depends on management. I've seen a particular manager barking at workers like they're handling bars of gold, but not for me to judge since it's up to the worker how seriously they take whatever job they're doing.
Maybe if I worked there or at a place like that I would have a different perspective. Then again the manager's here where I'm currently living start at $9.50 (U.S. Dollars) an hour. I don't think I could live off that even if I adjusted some things financially. That alone would stres me out. Sorry for the long text, just something I've been mulling over lately.

Try getting an order right during peak hours when you've got entire families coming in, Bob wants to switch the fries with chicken wings, Mary wants a McFish but there aren't any ready, and little Timmy wants a Quarter Pounder but is allergic to pickles so they need to be excluded.

I think that can make a really key difference. Although I haven't worked in fast food, mostly hi-tech and a stint in supermarkets when I was a student, managers can really make or break one's daily experience at work: a good manager is a pleasure to work for and can make work an enjoyable experience, but if you're unlucky to be saddled with a total [censored] of a supervisor, it can be absolute hell and really very stressful, whatever the nature of the work itself.

I guess any customer-facing job is also directly affected by the type of clientèle, too. Working in a quiet and polite town probably isn't too bad, but working in a branch in the likes of a financial district is probably quite unpleasant.

Depends on the work ethic and attitude of management. If they are pushy and condescending, you will not have an easy time with an otherwise easy job.

In life, it was my 3rd job and I was 15(2yrs before I got with my current company). I didn't last three days because the unit manager and the assistant manager were very hard to work with, ESPECIALLY the assistant manager. The deal breaker was when I worked 7 hours without a lunch and when I asked for one, she got really nasty about it. When I took my lunch, I sat down at the park and asked myself was this what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and having to deal with that. The answer? I got up and took my ass home and NEVER worked for fast food ever again.

So if the people working there are ok, the actual work will be a synch.

Have never held a job, but I can surmize that it isn't exactly like dealing with puppies and kittens all day. Anyone in the serving industry/FF business has it rough, not to mention keeping orders right.

I haven't done fast food, but working the line in any high volume restaurant can have you bouncing off the walls rather quickly. I think the worst for me was running the line solo in a medium-sized hotel resaurant. It's quite stressful when you're already cooking 6-8 orders at the same time, and then a 10-top gets seated.

Is that industry jargon for Mr Creosote?

A table (top) which seats X number of people. A 10-top means you will be getting 10 orders which all need to be cooked at the same time and served together, all while still keeping uo with all other orders.

edit- I had to Google your reference.

Sounds as bad as being a dishwasher. When all the guys except the kitchen crew(the cookers) call in, and you're the only one there. Dished and pots get backed up and form pyramids.

My first non-farm job was as a dishwasher (in 1972 ).

I don't think I could handle a job at a fast food restaurant. The nauseating smells, the incredibly bossy and stressed people, the rude customers... *shudders*

I don't think I'd be able to work the counters, I svck at communication.

Any job can feel stressful under the right situations. I had a pretty good example of this not that long ago.

I work as a cashier in one of the many stores of the largest grocery store chain in my country, most days are pretty sweet and work goes by with little stress and few problems. Now one day I show up to work and one of my supervisors comes up to me and asks me if I'll go work in one of the stores downtown because they were short on people. Thinking it would just be a change of pace I agree and get a lift downtown to go work there. One of the first things I notice is that none of my co-workers there are smiling and that they have hunched shoulders and don't greet the customer. I take over for the manager of the store who was filling the gap while I was on my way and start working as usual. When the day is over I've noticed the following problems.

1. The cash in the register is not ordered by value as it is where I work, but rather is just randomly placed everywhere, and the placement is different on each register.

2. Being in an area where a lot of small purchases are made rather than few big ones, the coins run out quicker, yet the registers are not loaded with more coin to make up for that.

3. There is no signal system to communicate with your co-workers like where I work (we can press a button and a bell tone will ring, what we communicate with the bells depends on how often in a row we ring it).

4. The workers there are uninformed on many aspects of how the program they are working with works and the setup of the store.

5. With the lack of workers there were no workers that could handle unexpected problems without sacrificing performing their main duty at work.

6. The manager is doing his paperwork during work hours rather than outside of work hours so he is not available to assist around the store at most times.

7. There are not trashcans, cleaning paper, staplers and other items you might need during the day at each register.

8. Not all of the workers speak the home language causing communication problems.

9. At the end of the day the store is not properly cleaned, leaving floors dirty and not all return items returned to their place.

At the end of the day I even found out that the manager was still busy with some of his work so he couldn't drive me back to my usual workplace so I could pick up my car, so I had to take the bus back to where I work, then drive from there home. In comparison the manager of the store where I work paces out his work more and can normally just leave as the store closes.

Now while I normally end work on Mondays I go meet up with some friends at the local hobby store and play Magic: The Gathering, that evening though I was feeling way too tired to attend and just relaxed for a bit and went to sleep.

These days when I attend work I appreciate all of the order and the abundance of workers and high work ethic held there when I think of all of the chaos in the store downtown. Even during bad days at my workplace I can think to myself that at least I am not working downtown. So the same simple job can really be different in terms of how stressful it can be, depending on the situation.

Any job can be stressful. Is fast food more stressful than most? I don't know. I think it becomes more stressful because of the managers (who know they can get more workers) and the people you work with, plus customers having no respect for you.

On the other hand, if you screw up, you might get yelled at, and the story ends. Nobody dies. That's not really true in some jobs.

Ah, I see. I'd hate that. They reckon that most people can juggle seven concurrent things in their mind: I'm lucky if I manage one. I certainly wouldn't manage a table of 10.


They may not get more workers: I've known managers like that, and been unfortunate enough to work for some, but they eventually end up getting marginalised by their own superiors once they start to cause problems, and "adequate" departmental performance due to their behaviour is just the start.

Of course they never learn, it's all their subordinates' fault, etc.

I've never worked fast food, but ive worked at really busy restaurants like The Keg, Earls, Montana's Cookhouse, and a few bars. Im sure that fast food isn't as stressful as cooking for a table of 20 on a sunday morning Steak and Eggs special and everybody gets steak and eggs, all cooked differently and you're the only one in the kitchen, cus it's a sunday morning.. (yes this has happened to me, now THAT is hectic).

After working at those restaurants over the years, I KNOW that if I ever had a job at a mcdonalds or something, I could dominate those places and be a manager no problem.

So in answer to your question, No, fast food is not stressful at all in comparison to MANY jobs out there. Yeah, maybe its stressful to 14 year old kids with absolutely no work ethic and no attention spans, but to the everyday joe blow, fast food is an entry level job for a reason.

Was a supervisor in fast food for 3 years

Currently spend most of my time in either the emergency room or operating room.

Both can be stressful in their own ways and both have a lot to do with what customer/patients you are getting that night and who you are working with.

I mostly had good workers under me and when I was on, there wasn't anyone above me so I didn't have to worry about pushy managers or the sort. With the exception of a couple fairly stupid employees that had to be babysat (since they were great at doing things like accidentaly setting the fryers on fire) and the occasional complete of a customer, it wasn't so bad.

Most days in ER or OR aren't so bad either though, you get used to it and it becomes routine like anything else, with the exception of the occasional patient (normally drugs and alcohol are involved) or particularly grumpy surgeon.

It can be more draining in healthcare due to constantly being around the sick and dying, but fast food certainly isn't the greatest job in the world either.

Honestly at this point I'd say my least stressful job I've ever had was when I was a winemaker.

I'm sure there are military jobs and other careers that involve a consideral element of mortal danger that are somewhat more stressful than a job in McDonalds.

Yes, it is. I mean obviously people have harder jobs. People don't realize just how stressful it is at a restaurant during a huge rush. Everyone is pissed, Customers have their whips out, managers are expecting you to do everything right and fast, the company wants to pay you as little as possible for as much work as they can make you do. I am not saying fast food is the most stressful situation ever, I am just saying just because you have a seemingly more stressful job does not mean mine does not matter. Stress is stress, whether your out there saving lives or your just filling peoples fat faces with food they really shouldn't be eating. Until you work in the situation you won't quite understand the stress that comes with it. It is usually only during the rush, I don't ever sit at home stressed about my job.

Probably depends on where you're workig.

I did a bit of time at Burger King making the food. it wasn't bad at all. However, I worked weekdays, when there were working moms, grandparents, etc. working. Might be different if it's all high schoolers on the shift.

But I wouldn't want to work the drawers nor be a manager.

Right now, i'm trying to get a job as anything, including a dishwasher. Sad to say that I can't even find a job as that. Bet I couldn't even get one shoveling giant manure piles off the road and into a truck. Guess I would need a degree for that too.