According to McDonald’s corporate website, the fast food giant operates 42,000 restaurants in over 100 countries – that’s a staggering number. Equally striking is the chain’s number of employees, which number in the millions (approx 2 millionmore accurate).

One way that McDonald’s successfully operates such a beloved fast food chain is by selling reliable tasting food at a reasonable price. Another way is to provide fairly strict directives to those millions of employees. Just like the employees of other major chains, such as, for example, Chick-fil-AMcDonald’s fast food workers follow many specific, strict rules of conduct.

I did some research and found some strict rules that McDonald’s employees must follow in order to keep their jobs at the franchise. A few of them made us wonder what exactly went on behind that drive-thru counter or window that made these additions to the employee bylaw necessary in the first place.

No free documents, ever

With an extremely limited number of exceptions, McDonald’s workers are strictly prohibited from giving away free food. No ice cream cone for a kid, no coffee for a cop, no gratuities, period, unless you want to risk getting fired for actually stealing from the restaurant. It was a refreshing departure when McDonald’s OK gave some food gifts to healthcare workers in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The sandwiches must be prepared in a certain order

McDonald’s sandwiches like the Big Mac or the McDouble are meticulously designed, with everything from ingredient type to assembly order tested and locked down. Conformable Mental threadany employee who does not follow the exact assembly steps of a McDonald’s menu item risks termination.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Frequent hand washing is mandatory

You know those signs in restaurants (and other bathrooms) that say, “Employees must wash their hands before returning to work,” right? Well, these are really enforced policies. But it goes even beyond that, on Salon: At many McDonald’s locations, managers require every employee to wash their hands every 30 minutes or be disciplined or even fired.

Ronald McDonald is bound by many rules

For starters, McDonald’s employees can only refer to the iconic clown mascot as Ronald McDonald (meaning no nicknames like “Ronnie!”). As for the person playing the clown himself, that man is bound by a number of strict rules, including agreeing never to reveal his true identity, protecting company secrets indefinitely, even beyond his tenure in the chain and respond to customers using a set script, according to Reader’s Digest. In addition to maintaining a stellar reputation for the worldwide chain, Ronald McDonald has a special code of conduct that does not allow the mascot to appear anywhere that is inconsistent with its core personality – which specifically does not include nightclubs or lounges –Business Insider reports.

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Tips don’t go to the employees, they go to Ronald

McDonald’s workers don’t often tip themselves, but even when they do, any donations must be immediately put into Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC) register box. Employees are expected to follow this rule because, as the corporate website puts it“McDonald’s restaurants have a team environment that is not about rewarding individuals.” In addition to adhering to an equality-based business model, RMHC serves to help sick children around the world and their families, which is why the company would prefer the additional change of customer or generosity goes to such an audacious cause.

Improper portion sizes can cause problems

According to a former McDonald’s employeeif a worker does not have measurements of bulk items such as fries or milkshakes, they may be terminated. In the case of milkshakes, the commenter cited a very strict window of only plus or minus 0.25 ounces that results in a shake being considered unacceptable, and a few unacceptable shakes (or over- or underloaded containers of fries) could do this thing.

Black pants and shiny black shoes

McDonald’s provides its employees with most of their uniform, including a shirt, hat (or visor), apron, and name tag. But when it comes to pants and shoes, the worker has to bring their own, and they have to meet very strict criteria. Pants must be black and cannot be denim, sweats or leggings. Shoes must be non-slip, black and can be polished, i.e. leather or artificial leather material.

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Yes, you have to work on Christmas

And on other holidays too. According to an article on environmentif a McDonald’s worker is employed at a location that will be open on a particular holiday, he or she may have no real recourse to avoid a scheduled shift on that day, unless he or she can prove a extraordinary need for an exemption – in other words, just saying you celebrate Christmas won’t get you off on December 25th.

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Jordan Summers-Marcouillier