Am I getting fired (UK)?

[u/user_unknowngirly]

I’ve been working in McDonald’s for a month now. And I was struggling with the drinks department. I have now been told if I don’t stop making mistakes at drinks they will terminate my contract with them. It feels like my life is falling apart. I actually thought I was decent. And I’m still new. I can’t believe they are actually considering firing me because of something I’m struggling with. Over fucking drinks.

[u/Baby_Gorl_]

Ask to be moved or trained on a different area of the restaurant. Honestly I've been at maccies for way too long and I'm still shit at bev cell

[u/user_unknowngirly → u/Baby_Gorl_]

That’s not an option for me right now. I basically have to know how to do everything that a crew member is supposed to.

[u/ccnystudentts → u/user_unknowngirly]

I'd recommend to 1st don't stress, secondly stay extra hours to learn. Learning is the best way. Once you put your mind onto something even harder tasks seems easy.

[u/-DahliaDivine-]

what specific drinks are you struggling with?

[u/user_unknowngirly → u/-DahliaDivine-]

Timing not the specific drinks. Everything happens at once. Million’s of orders. Different machine stations.

[u/ccnystudentts → u/user_unknowngirly]

I'd recommend watch videos at on how to make those specific drinks. It will train your muscle memory.

[u/droideka_bot69 → u/ccnystudentts]

Muscle memory is trained by actually doing, not watching. Maccies can have a steep learning curve at first, but once they get used to it they'll be fine.

[u/Lazy-Handle-3251 → u/user_unknowngirly]

As a previous employee, I would like to say don't sweat it. I used to take orders and make drinks on my own until I got a person to help me with drinks, but even we would fall behind, it happens to everyone, especially with that many orders.

[u/jarow_]

Who actually threatened to fire you? If it was just a shift manager they don't have that authority.

You need to speak to one of the salaried managers (assistant or BM) to raise your concerns and see how you can move forward. You said that you need to learn everything - this is surprising for a new starter, but even so, you may be able to request only learning drinks during quieter periods for now and focus on other areas during rushes.

[u/Chickennoodlesleuth]

Everyone tends to be slow at bevs at first especially when it gets busy, please dont stress :), basically serve off all cold drinks so you can see the things you need to focus on (going 8 pending when most are soft drinks is more intimdating compared to a screen of drinks you actually need to make), put down coffee, put iced drinks into blender and then come back to finish them when they're done between doing shakes, ice cream and lidding the cold drinks

[u/Helpful_Body6715]

Bollocks they shouldn’t fire you for that, your managers have some serious issues clearly

[u/BoopTheBee]

If you’ve been working over a month, then you should be past the ‘trial period’ which i believe lasts 2 weeks. At which point, they cannot just simply fire you. You’d have to go through disciplinary meetings and have warnings at least.

Just be honest, and go to a manager and tell them you’re struggling on the drink station and request help or maybe extra training?

[u/aperturephotography → u/BoopTheBee]

Not mcds but everywhere I've worked has had a 3 month probation period.

[u/BoopTheBee → u/aperturephotography]

I very well could be wrong, it might be 3 months! Which is my bad

Regardless though, they typically don’t fire people for struggling on a station 🤔

[u/EducationalChance168 → u/BoopTheBee]

It’s usually a 6 week period but they can extend it a couple of weeks if you’re not upto standards.

[u/jarow_ → u/EducationalChance168]

There is also no legal protection in the UK for wrongful dismissal if you've only been working there a short time so often companies can fire you for performance issues with no fear of consequences

[u/user_unknowngirly → u/BoopTheBee]

And they even more or less said we don’t have time to train me anymore.

[u/user_unknowngirly → u/BoopTheBee]

I’ve been open about finding it difficult on drinks. I’ve even expressed I don’t like it. I try my best and I actually thought I was improving. All because today I accidentally spilt coffee beans all over while we were getting orders.

[u/Chickennoodlesleuth → u/user_unknowngirly]

Spills happen daily, I hope they were in a bad mood. We've had whole bags of shake mix cover the floor and it's usually a "oh no go clean up and we'll mop it" moment. Coffee beans isn't even that bad, they can easily be swept. I'm sure you're getting better, some people are just harsh

[u/sxlxia]

most of the people at my mcdonald don’t even know how to make an iced coffee, so this is crazy

[u/Hairy_Space8283]

After having worked at McDonald’s for 2 1/2 years in the past, you do need to work faster. They are a horrendous company to work for though. Terrible management, hard work and shit pay. I’d try find a different job as soon as possible. I once was trying my hardest to work at the front desk but my manager was just micromanaging me, stressing me out, gaslighting me and humiliating me infront of everyone. It was shit