DAY NINE! (Monday)
This Monday was my first day at McDonald's. I arrived with Katie and Jordan dressed to impress in our McDonald's uniforms and visors, haha. I had NO idea what to expect. I had no idea that they would put me on back drive thru, listening to people's orders and putting in their orders for the kitchen to make/prepare. I had no idea that we would be in the ethnic and socioeconomic minorities. I had no idea that there would be little on the surface that would allow me to relate to these people. But PRAISE THE LORD that He is powerful and can penetrate into a place as broken and performance-driven as McDonald's. I made one friend- her name is Shandy, and she worked drive thru with me. She gave me so much grace and actually genuinely wanted to work with me- I was sad when she had to leave early for a family emergency that she told me about and I genuinely wanted to pray and love on her. After that, I worked and talked with a man named James from New York. On this day I felt really encouraged to know that I was in a workplace surrounded by people that would give grace. And we got to leave an hour or so early! That felt like an amazing gift.
I do not remember much of Monday night except that I was so exhausted. Lisa kept asking if something was wrong with me, and honestly I did not know if I was or not (I told her I was because I knew I would be okay with God's help, but PHEW it was hard to keep that faith). I knew there was no way I could make it through the week without getting more rest and asking God to prepare my heart more for the trials I would see at work.
DAY TEN! (Tuesday)
They had me working drive thru again. Shandy was not there, but I made some new acquaintances and started to permeate names. I worked with Cherell and Drea and Rashonda, who all gave me a great deal of grace when working with the computer. Cherell even allowed me to try working the cash register until I messed up and charged the wrong person with the wrong order (it was quickly fixed, however). But something that came to my mind was that the phrase kept popping up that labor was high. I realized that we are taking the hours of people who could really use them, working a full-time shift here for 2 months. We spoke with our manager and prayed that we would only work 4 (long) days a week.
After getting off early, several of us made a trek to Wal-Mart in Mount Pleasant where I bought some work pants and clothes hangers. I made it back to bible study and shared my testimony (yes, all of it, even the parts most people have no clue about) to a group of girls I had only known for not even two weeks! I will tell you all, something was moving in my heart. We also had women's night where we discussed Eve and how our external circumstances do not justify our sin.
DAY ELEVEN! (Wednesday)
Today, I met another assistant manager. She was very polite and gave grace to us new employees but did not personally see our progress made earlier in the week and placed us wherever she felt was open. I was first put in the position of cleaning the lobby. It was busy work but refreshing to the hustle and bustle of the back drive thru. I enjoyed dancing around while cleaning tables and being thorough with my sweeping. After that I was then put on french fries during lunch rush. Y'all, I can now say that I HATE fries. This was one of the most difficult tasks personally of my entire week- after working for 3 or so hours on fries I began to feel nauseous and so light-headed next to the oil vats and the heating trays. I was also just feeling awful whenever my co-workers would poke fun at me for being slow at fries and it hurt when they would dump out and re-scoop the fries I had already done. I felt like a hindrance at that point. I had not been keeping hydrated and honestly in such a performance-driven role I felt so mentally and physically sick of failing that I would have preferred passing out over continuing to do fries any longer. But thank the Lord I made it to my break at 2:30 and survived on a light shift of fries afterward, being careful to hydrate and to walk away from the heat every once in a while.
After work we met up with our ministry teams and discussed outreach goals of the week. I still need to do my part in it, actually, writing encouraging notes for each room about being more motivated to share with their co-workers in McDonald's. We had a reflection time at Waterfront Park afterwards that I did not get to fully capitalize on- I was mentally exhausted and honestly did not feel like I could reflect in my state on all God was trying to teach me about my experience, so I spent my time resting and talking with Travis on the phone because I hadn't devoted time to him and our relationship for several days. Our group then walked back to the church where we prayed in groups over our jobs and our experiences and different aspects of our lives that God was and is working in.
DAY TWELVE! (Thursday)
Thursday at McDonald's was a spiritually exhausting day, but praise the Lord for pushing me to rely on His strength and not my own. I worked front register with a sprinkling of fries at the end. I worked with Angie who was very sweet and told me about her four kids with such a strong love that I found refreshing in such a dark place. But Thursday also had some of the biggest trials of the week. I overheard some of the employees discussing that they had to hire us, making it seem as though we are a hindrance more than a help. Also, on front register during lunch I found myself yelled at by a curmudgeonly old woman who I thought may have had a stroke but was in fact a very passionate, heavily-accented Irish woman. I thought I was going to immediately die when she sarcastically asked if I knew what black coffee was, but she more so abused my assistant manager who stuck up for me with shocking seemingly-racist remarks and such a rudeness that left me personally shaking for an hour afterwards. He just ranted for a few minutes with her out of earshot about how no one should yell at him (although everyone does) and then he went on with his duties.
It was on that day that I realized why this place was as dark as it was, and why it was burdening me in such a strange way when I went back to my cozy bible studies. It is because working at McDonald's is, honestly, humiliating. People judge you and your status in their words as they order their food and in their treatment of you whether things are right or wrong. There is little grace except for the kind souls that have patience and love on their hearts that you can see in their easy smiles. But most are not this- they order from the dollar menu with ridiculous specificity and impatient, selfish motives. No wonder my assistant manger snorts cocaine and my co-worker hopes to get so drunk he doesn't remember the weekend. I think he just does not want to remember the endless weeks he sees of being persecuted and judged and humiliated for a difficult and performance-based job.
After that, we had a free night. I was so happy, because I personally needed a treat-myself kind of night. I spent it getting dinner with two of my roommates and chilling out in my hotel room, attempting to gain enough momentum to make it through one more day of work for the week.
DAY THIRTEEN! (Friday)
On Friday I finally understood the term TGIF, haha. I worked front register which was not as intimidating or as scary as Thursday (although I was praying that Irish woman would never, ever come back). We left early again with the labor being too high, and I saw James off for his first day off in weeks.
After work, we had a project social which was a fun game night. As I mentioned a little bit before, I think my work at McDonald's is doing a lot more with my heart personally than I would have hoped for or even expected. Because it is just such a socially straining job for me, I have really been coming out of my shell off the clock with people on project. Hiding myself and my experiences now feels exhausting when a lot of us are going through the same thing (I have seen my experiences bring light to others while I have been here), and I actually feel free to be vulnerable and myself around these people without worrying about whether they love me or not. Lisa boasts in how I seem to be metamorphic in my allowing myself to be free. But I can tell I am not drunk on myself or exhaustion (okay, maybe a little bit)- I am filled with God's Spirit inside of me and He is doing some beautiful things in my heart and in my world. :)
After social, we went to Krispy Kreme for National Donut Day and rode with the windows down to Folly Beach. We walked along the pier and the beach, laughing and enjoying a restful celebration of no work for the weekend. I was still tired naturally from a long week but found myself caught up happily in the laughing and good conversations I had with my new friends along the water's edge.
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