The summer after my first year of college, I was finally ready to get a job. At 18 with zero work experience, my options were limited to retail and fast food; I landed on the latter and snagged my first gig at White Castle.
Ironically, I worked at the same exact White Castle location that my dad did when he was around the age of 18. And he repeatedly asked me if I really wanted the job because he knew just how demanding it would be.
At the time, I just wanted to earn money to buy more clothes, so I took the opportunity and made the best of my 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. I wouldn't say it was my favorite job, but it taught me so much that I'm still able to apply to my current role in the corporate world.
DON'T MISS: The No. 1 soft skill you get working in fast food ‘can help you excel in any job,’ says McDonald’s HR exec
3 skills I learned working in fast food that I still use today
1. How to maintain clear communication when my patience is tested
In fast food, the customer is always right, even when they're wrong. This was extremely hard to grasp at a young age, especially when a regular customer got angry at me for not automatically knowing their order on my first day.
"You must be new here," he said after chastising me for several minutes. And yeah, I was, but I had to accept the rant and adjust in the moment to provide the most appropriate response as an employee. I also made a mental note of his order because my co-workers let me know that he'd be back tomorrow.
Though I don't have customers yelling at me as a journalist, there are moments when I need to be patient and think about how I should respond to people.
Communication and customer service are critical skills that fast food employees get to cultivate on the job and apply to other work experiences including in the corporate world, Tiffanie Boyd, McDonald's senior vice president and chief people officer for the U.S., told CNBC Make It in October of 2023.
2. How to handle co-workers with many different personalities
Let's be frank: You won't always have a nice boss. Thankfully I do now, but at White Castle, I had rotating managers.
Many of them were super nice and supportive along the way. But one of them made it their duty to remind me of how incapable I was at doing a job that I was actively learning how to do. At first, I took it personally. How could I not as a teenager? But I soon learned that focusing on their delivery was pointless.
It was much more important for me to listen for the actual pieces of advice that I could use to be better at my job. At the end of the day, I still had to flip burgers and drop mozzarella sticks in the fryer.
Approaching conversations with "difficult people" this way has made navigating the corporate world so much easier for me. Of course if someone is being extremely rude, you should report it to HR.
But if it is a matter of dealing with someone with an abrasive personality, it makes no sense to let their words get to you, especially because that will probably lead to more mistakes. Just be open to good advice, and leave the rest.
3. How to navigate a fast-paced environment and adjust quickly to change
One night shift was going seemingly well, and then someone ordered about 20 "crave cases," which have 30 sliders in each of them. But that wasn't all, because this was for an event so they also needed around 50 orders of fries and 30 veggie burgers too.
Not to mention the other orders that were coming in because time doesn't stop when major changes happen. This meant all hands were on deck. Needless to say, it was a long night and I didn't leave my shift exactly when it was supposed to end.
"You have to navigate a fast-paced environment and the tight deadlines and expectations that come along with it: getting orders out on time, managing an influx of customers," Boyd told CNBC Make It.
In any job, you have to be ready to adjust to changes because they will come. Sometimes I have to schedule interviews, research the material and write the article within two hours; one example of that was when an ominous haze covered NYC due to wildfires in Canada. I have my job at White Castle to thank for my ability to pivot at work during intense moments like that one.
So, remember to be extra kind to fast food and retail workers. They experience a lot on a daily basis and could probably do your job well too.
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