26 SOUTH WALES EVENING POST FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009 visit our website www.thisisswansea.co.uk visit our website www.thisisswansea.co.
visit our website www.thisisswansea.co.uk
Pupils Czech
out tourist
destination
STUDENTS from Gorseinon
College have been putting
theory into practice with a
visit to the Czech Republic.
Youngsters studying
AS-levels in travel and
tourism spent time with
students from the Hotelova
Skola leisure and catering
college in Teplice.
Jerry Steele, Gorseinon
College’s leisure and tour-
ism co-ordinator,
“Towards the end of their
stay, our students gave a
said:
presentation on Prague as a
tourist destination for
visitors from the UK to staff
at the Hotelova Skola,
which was very well received
by all. ”
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Cleared of rape charge
A 52-YEAR-OLD man who had sex
with a 15-year-old has been
cleared of raping her.
David George Rees, who
admitted having sex with the teen-
ager, pleaded guilty to an offence
of sexual activity with a child.
But it was not a case of rape, he
insisted at Swansea Crown Court.
Rees, of New Road, Neath Abbey,
denied that, when they had sex on
October 17, the girl was not
Woman shoplifter jailed
A WOMAN shoplifter has been
jailed for four months.
Swansea magistrates imposed a
custodial sentence on Kelly Dalling
after she indicated she would not
comply with any community
penalty.
The 26-year-old, of Flatholm
consenting. He was found not
guilty of rape after a three-day
trial.
Rees, who is in custody, will be
sentenced for the offence of sexual
activity with a child at a later date,
after a psychologist has prepared a
report for Judge Huw Davies QC.
Adjourning, the judge told
jurors: “There will have to be a
sentence, but that task will be far
from straightforward.”
Place, Blaenymaes, Swansea, came
before the court to admit stealing
clothing from the Debenhams
store in the Quadrant shopping
centre on March 18.
In jailing her, the magistrates
revoked a community order made
on March 6.
I
’VE got 11 GCSEs,
three A levels and
a university de-
gree from one of
the finest seats of
learning in the land.
But could I find the Big Mac
button on the till?
In a word: No.
It is a maze of colour-coded,
touch-screen buttons that surely
must leave all but the cleverest of
IT geeks nonplussed.
I am in McDonald’s in
Swansea, and yes, I am flipping
burgers.
And why not?
This fast food chain is one of
the few jobs success stories at
the moment.
“Go and give it a go, see what
it’s really like,” I am told by my
boss.
It offers an above-minimum
wage, health and pension
benefits, and is slap bang in the
city centre, so why on earth
not?
As the recession deepens, is
this really the time to start being
picky about potential em-
ployers?
McDonald’s has just launched
a recruitment drive to fill 4,000
“McJobs” to help it serve an extra
two million customers a month.
The fast food giant has defied
plunging High Street sales to
increase takings in Britain by 10
per cent in the first half of this
year.
Bosses say better menus,
longer opening hours,
refurbished restaurants and free
wi-fi have driven growth, with up
to 10 new restaurants planned
for this year.
Experts say it is more
recession-resistant than most
food outlets because of its low
prices.
Hard-up families are spurning
dearer alternatives to buy its
burgers.
T he fast-food giant claims
the new My McJob
campaign will encourage
potential employees to
reappraise the career benefits
and opportunities available at
McDonald’s. It will see the chain
celebrate, rather than defend,
the term “McJob” for the first
time.
Do the job and do it right, and
even those with a long-term
unemployment record might
just find themselves back on
track again with a management
position.
It pushes its “promote from
within” strategy — to find the
best staff and put them on
a management route to suc-
cess.
Leigh Woolcock, aged 21, did
exactly this. He started working
for McDonald’s part-time when
he was 16.
He is now the manager of the
Oxford Street restaurant.
No, he tells me, there aren’t
really any bad points to his job.
Even the hordes of drunken
revellers who come from nearby
SOUTH WALES EVENING POST
McJobs flipping burgers
are fast becoming a
credible career choice,
writes RUTH MOSALSKI.
Wind Street every weekend can’t
dampen his enthusiasm for his
work.
“We have had so many
applications, it’s unbelievable.
Nobody else is taking on at the
minute,” says Leigh, as he passes
me my apron and not-so-
fetching cap, ready to start
my shift.
A nd so, now it is my turn.
After some brief till
training, I am ready to greet
customers with my “Hi, can I
help you?”
The speed at which
McDonald’s staff work is
unbelievable.
The aforementioned confu-
sing till had probably taken
orders for about half the 220 Big
Macs ordered every Monday, or
one of the 1,500 ordered each
Saturday, but I couldn’t even
find the Big Mac Meal button.
There are still plenty
of people who
won’t work at
McDonalds — but
these people might
not have a choice
We decided I needed to face
some customers, so with Leigh’s
assistance I was let loose on
those who expect their food
quickly — something else I was
struggling with.
After a brief success, we cut
our losses and moved to the
kitchen for me to make my first
Big Mac.
Before I knew it, I was
positioning my heel and crown
— they’re parts of the bun to you
and me — in the toaster, while
ordering the burgers from the
grill, manoeuvring the sauce gun
and using my spare hand to
evenly distribute cheese, lettuce
and the bit Leigh says nobody
likes, the pickles.
As we moved to the chicken
McFacts
lAmerican Roy Kroc took
over the small-scale
McDonald’s group in 1955.
lMore than 70 per cent of
McDonald’s are franchised
stores.
lThere are more than 31,000
restaurants worldwide.
lPrepared food has 10
minutes to be ordered before
it is thrown away.
lChicken nuggets were
introduced in 1983
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009
area, my confidence was at an
all-time high. I was squeezing
the sauce onto the correct bit of
the correct bun, positioned in
the correct half of the box, but
disaster struck when I had to
simultaneously wrap my
Chicken Mayo while dressing my
Legend.
As orders mounted, I was
ushered away before I could
cause carnage in the chicken
section.
Hannah Taylor Davies, aged
18, who has worked part-time at
the restaurant for two years,
chose McDonalds because of the
flexibility and now wouldn’t
change one thing, except “when
customers don’t say please and
thank you,” she says.
Leigh said sales had benefited
from the new decor the
restaurant received last June,
and the revamped healthy menu
can’t have harmed it either.
He says there are still plenty of
people who won’t work at
McDonalds, but these people —
we both agree — might not have
a choice as the recession gets
deeper.
T his outlet of the McDonald’s
empire in Oxford Street is
top in the UK for customer
service — something I hopefully
didn’t damage too badly.
One of its 75 staff recently won
an award for serving an order in
an incredible 25 seconds. As
someone who took at least that
long to find the sour cream dip
button, I have a new found
respect for all McDonald’s staff.
It’s not for everyone, and the
lack of respect from some
customers can bite deep.
But as I took off my apron and
pulled off my cap, Leigh joked
that if I wanted to submit an
application he’d give it a second
look.
The joke may be on me should
I ever find myself going to him
for a job. But I suspect I would
only be successful if none of the
229 people who applied for one
of the vacancies since January
beat me to it!
lChanging plastic salad
tubs for a card alternative
reduced the amount of
plastic used by McDonald’s
by 69 tonnes.
lIt takes less than 60
seconds to make a Big Mac.
Toasting the bun takes 34
seconds while the burgers
are grilled.
As soon as the buns are
ready they are put into
their box, the sauce and
salad are put on, the
burgers seasoned and it
all comes together.
27
REVIEW
Burgers can
Confessions Off
Broadway, Depot
Studio, Arts Wing,
Swansea Grand
Theatre
THE first play to have
be choosers
emerged from the pen of
Louise C McLeod —
presented here as part of
Fluellen Theatre Company’s
lunchtime theatre season,
and tautly directed by Peter
Richards — is a smart
comedy full of richly
at fast-food
observed characterisations
and razor-sharp one-liners.
The piece revolves
around Kennedi (skilfully
portrayed by Madeleine
Hutchins), a young British
woman who is in New York
for the opening night of her
outlet
first play. She is joined by
her brother Brodie (Huw
Richards) and her mother
Bea (Claire Novelli), a truly
theatrical drama queen who
snaffles up many of the best
lines in the play.
Add to the mix a young
man called Kye (or “Sky”, as
Bea insists on calling him),
played by Nick Richards,
and the scene is set for a
rewarding, very funny show
in which life-changing
secrets are revealed.
Fluellen’s lunchtime
theatre offerings have
proved to be immensely
popular, and work well in
such a studio-style setting.
This one is one of the
tightest and most effective
pieces to date.
For those who missed it,
Confessions Off Broadway
can be seen again at the
Grand Arts Wing tomorrow
at 12.30pm.
SPEEDY SERVICE Ruth Mosalski has a new respect for burger flippers after trying her hand at working in McDonald’s, Swansea. Graham Williams
JM310309/E/5
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