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Day: 195 (Monday, 1st July 2002)
Status: Week # 5
Days without PS2: 2 day(s)
Days without Cube: 1 day(s)
Listening to: Creed - My Sacrifice
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So many work-related injuries. Mostly paper cuts. Damn it, have to make sure I have no skin peeling around the finger nails everything I go to work from now on. The paper just gets between the skin and just slices through resulting in a stinging pain followed by bleeding.

The end of another day. It was quite a busy day. Started at 7.30 am and finished a few minutes past 4 pm. I seem to be meeting new people at work all the time. Just today, I met/see another 3 people.

1) Jonno -
Don't know what his name really is, but as you can see, it's shortened from something. Notice the trend, Jezza, Adsy etc. Didn't really get to talk to him.

2) Chris -
This guy is a new full timer. He's been working for 4 years at Macca's elsewhere then stopped, and now decided to work again. It was only much later, when I finished my shift and was having dinner when I noticed that this guy looks a little like Elijah Wood. I almost wanted to call him "Frodo Baggins" but I stopped myself. He was at front counter with me and seemed pretty friendly.

3) Audrey Yeap -
A very petite, Asian girl with long hair, past the middle of her back. At first, I couldn't see her face and from the back, I thought she was AL! Then I saw her talking to Andrew so I knew it couldn't be her. She ordered a Caramel Dream and went in. I was having my dinner at that time. After dinner, I went in to go see this girl and gave the excuse that I was going to check out tomorrow's roster. Saw her in the crew quarters checking out the roster as well and I talked to her abit before I left for home.

Seems like today's update doesn't seem terribly exciting so I'll write abit about the people (customers) I've encountered the past couple of days working at Macca's here.

Let's take for example last week. I served a small group of giggling school-girls. Obviously they can read because after I served them their order, they took it and said " Thank you, Roy " before going off. And the way they said it, sounded so flirtatious! I'd say they were about 12 years old or so. It's something you have to hear personally to know what I mean, unless you can imagine little 12 year old girls acting all flirty etc.

I've seen regular customers, even remember serving some of them before. Most of the people seem to be alright. Some customers are nice, they see my name-tag and then thank me by name.

Today though, I saw this man acting like a small child. His wife (I think) ordered from me and she wanted specially prepared Junior burgers (beef burger in Malaysia, cheeseburger without the cheese). She ordered 3 with just meat and tomato sauce and one with just meat along with a few other items. She apologised about the hassle but mentioned she had 3 kids and they all wanted different stuff. I could have swore I told Jonno the exact order, and I think he messed up somewhere. I can't blame him since he was the main guy working in the kitchen while everyone else was running around serving customers and at the drive-through counters. After a few minutes, he told me the grill was up. (Grill = special requests with certain ingredients added or removed). I only noticed 3 junior burgers when the lady asked for 4. As I packed it in the paper bag, I noticed some of them were really flat. I confirmed the order with the lady and she said it was all wrong. There were burger buns with mustard and no meat. I think Jonno really screwed that order up. Just then, a man came up and started raising his voice at her, saying that the children are restless and banging on the car etc. The woman almost shouted at him to tell him to shut up. It was as though he was throwing tantrums! She told him to go back to the car and treated him like a child. In fact, he acted like a child. After the order was settled, I apologised to the lady, telling her there was only one guy in the kitchen. She was smiling. Very nice of her to be so understanding. I watched as she got into her car and was reversing, on her way out. From where I stood, I could see the man complaining and the lady was driving. Really makes me wonder....

Here's an example of how I have to put in an order for a grill for reference into the register. I'll use the above order as an example:

Step # 1: Press "Junior Burger"
Step # 2: Press "Grill"
Step # 3: Press "Junior Burger" (to indicate the item with special order"
Step # 4: Press "With" or "Without"
Step # 5: Press "10:1 Meat" ( 10:1 meat is 10 patties to a pound, meaning smaller patties for burgers like cheeseburgers or junior
burgers, 4:1 meats are 4 patties to a pound meaning bigger patties used for Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and McOz)
Step # 6: Press "Tomato Sauce"

* Replace Steps # 1 and # 3 with meals or other burgers where applicable *

As you can see, it's pretty complicated. And the buttons on the cash register has multiple functions. It works like a "Shift" key on a standard keyboard for multi-functions. Since the buttons are so bloody small, I sometimes have to look really hard to find the particular ingredient that a customer wants or does not want. You'll probably guess I hate doing orders with grills. There is also a button for "No Meat Discount". Some customers order a burger without meat and as such, we have to give them a discount. It comes on ONE that we have to press. Once for "No 10:1" and twice for "No 4:1" or vice versa. I can't remember.

Also after that lady with the Junior Grills, there was a guy who ordered a Triple Cheeseburger. So, that means I had to press "Grill" and "10:1 meat" and "cheese". Protocol or standard is that I have to press 2 times for 2 meats and 2 cheese, but I just left it at that and shouted out the order to the kitchen.

Yes, I haven't mentioned this but I have to do alot of shouting in this job. When taking a product from the shelf, we have to shout out how many are left. When there are none when we need it, we have to shout out to ask the amount of time needed to prepare it. With people shouting, buzzers beeping, customers talking (kids are the worse because they don't talk, they shout and scream like the little shits that they are), it can be hell. Which was how it was last Friday.

Mandy was here early doing setup and breakfast and left early. Good thing, otherwise she'll throw another fit again. She's really pale and when I saw her crying last week, her face was all red around the eyes. It kind of looks scary. I could tell Ben was really stressed out today too. Alot of people were coming into the drive-through lane. After a few hours, I asked Ben if I could have a drink ( it's a must to ask for a manager's permission or we'll be considered stealing ). He told me to check that the dining room rubbish bins aren't full. I prepared myself a small cup of orange Fanta and before I could pick it up to have a drink, more customers came in. I swear I just don't stop moving. We're kept on our toes at all time. When it's not as busy, we might get to stand around, idling a little while we stock up on cups and lids and other items. Might be good in the long term for cardiovascular excercises, kind of like an aerobics workout. :þ

Well, enough for tonight. Thank god I don't have to wake up so early tomorrow. Only starting at 11.30 am. I don't know what's wrong with me. When I have to be up early, I sleep early but I don't seem to get enough sleep. By the end of the day after work, I notice that my eyes are all bloodshot. I don't know if its due to the lack of sleep or it could be all the oil and other shit getting into my eyes at work. Need my rest.