okies...

[Nejeda]

So I have a new job a mcdonalds and the way it works it I HAVE to eat my lunch from there. I can't take in food. So what is the healthiest choice for people like us? I have been eating the snack wraps and a water, because I can't think of anything else.

[valc3]

On the rare occasion I stop at McDonalds, I usually have a salad.

[Jaclyn]

chicken sandwhich?

[spike]

So I have a new job a mcdonalds and the way it works it I HAVE to eat my lunch from there. I can't take in food. So what is the healthiest choice for people like us? I have been eating the snack wraps and a water, because I can't think of anything else.
chicken cesaer salad. the only thing I eat there except for a regular hamburger once or twice a year. I go to In&Out for my burgers.

[camjen1]

I can't believe a workplace is allowed to put restrictions on what an employee can and cannot eat.

[KickStart101]

Hi: Is Butler in the states? My Daughter works at a similar
franchise and she always takes her own food from home
and eats it at work. I heard on the news a few months ago
the healthiest items at Mc's is chicken Mcnuggets and fries. :eek:
Of course their fries are pretty skinny but who wants to eat that
all the time? I'm sure other foods there follow close behind, if this
is accurate in the first place. The good and bad of food(according
to these senseless expensive studies of the yr.) seems to change
every time you turn around. :rolleyes:

[Keezheekoni]

Nejeda,

I know that McD's has their nutrition info online. You could always look there and pick the healthiest items for yourself. However, you also are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act which basically makes it so that employers cannot *force* you to eat certain things if you are on a specialized diet. (McD's has been sued by employees under this Act before...)

I know that McD's and other restaurants are very sticky when it comes to what you can eat in their stores... here we hace a McD's and a BK right next door to each other, and the employees are constantly swapping food for meal times. Shhh, don't tell on them! LOL

[Stuboy]

i would NEVER eat at mc donalds... they can't legally MAKE you eat food from their resturant, you're a diabetic and you need to know what you're eating and they need to understand that!

Do you get paid for your lunch breaks? If not, then you're entitled to go whereever you want to eat. I'd really dig my heals in on this one if i were you.

You really shouldn't eat anything from there, i wouldn't trust them to what's in that food as far as i could throw it, it's disgusting! (personal opinion)

[Nejeda]

The food makes me sick, everytime I eat it. I'm used to low fat to no fat meals, and the high concentration of fat makes me ill.

I've already had to fight about having water with me, I get dihydrated quickly, and I drink water almost constantly, which isn't allowed. I had a fight with the one of the managers, she was a jerk about it and told me I was allowed water, but only 16 onces and only every two hours. That isn't enough. I had to go above her head, so now I'm in the middle of that battle.

As far as I know, I'm not allowed to carry my lunch, and I'm not sure if my lunch is paid or not.

[JasonJayhawk]

That's a lot of water! Are your glucose levels running high?

[DeusXM]

So I have a new job a mcdonalds and the way it works it I HAVE to eat my lunch from there. I can't take in food.

This is illegal under basic workers' rights, and that's before we've even begun to look at disability rights.

Take your own lunch in. If anyone dares even to question you, politely but firmly remind them that you'll be able to throw the book at them so hard that the owner will need to take bus fare to the court because you will most certainly be driving their car back home.

I'm not joking. A legal case like this would bankrupt the franchisee in a matter of hours.

[Nejeda]

That's a lot of water! Are your glucose levels running high?

Actually they are so-so, for me. Right around 120.

[spike]

The food makes me sick, everytime I eat it. I'm used to low fat to no fat meals, and the high concentration of fat makes me ill.

I've already had to fight about having water with me, I get dihydrated quickly, and I drink water almost constantly, which isn't allowed. I had a fight with the one of the managers, she was a jerk about it and told me I was allowed water, but only 16 onces and only every two hours. That isn't enough. I had to go above her head, so now I'm in the middle of that battle.

As far as I know, I'm not allowed to carry my lunch, and I'm not sure if my lunch is paid or not.


Have you started looking for a different job yet? sounds like MD's treats their employees like slaves. What you said about being required to eat there is illegal. They can't MAKE you do ANYTHING during your lunch period if you aren't getting paid for that time. IF it's a break, only, you may be required to remain on the premises, but NOT for a lunch/dinner break that is unpaid time.

[Nejeda]

Have you started looking for a different job yet? sounds like MD's treats their employees like slaves. What you said about being required to eat there is illegal. They can't MAKE you do ANYTHING during your lunch period if you aren't getting paid for that time. IF it's a break, only, you may be required to remain on the premises, but NOT for a lunch/dinner break that is unpaid time.

This is my first job... so my parents won't let me look for a new job. I have to "stick with it."

[labob]

Nejeda:

As someone who worked at fast food restaurants (including McDonald's) in suburban Missouri in his teens and who is now, some thirty years later, a lawyer at a large law firm in Los Angeles, let me offer my two cents.

While I can't pretend to offer advice for jurisdictions other than where I'm admitted to practice, it's hard for me to believe that an employer could legally require an employee to eat only the food provided by the employer. Back in the day when I worked at McDonald's (and Arby's), when we ate on site, we had to pay for the food just like any other customer (at a discounted rate, though). I don't recall any prohibition preventing us from eating off site (though there may have been, whether or not it was enforceable); I definitely don't recall any rule against eating food that we brought from home, however. Even though I'm typically a defense attorney, I would love to take on the case of a 16-year old Type I diabetic who is forced by her manager to down a Big Mac, fries and shake on break, especially when she has to pay for the privilege of sending her glucose levels through the roof. I would easily be able to retire. I would bet, though, that McDonald's is a large and sophisticated enough corporation not to set itself up so easily, so there might be some misunderstanding about what the real rule is.

Your assistant manager (or manager) may have misunderstood the message from corporate about permissible break food, in which case you should challenge them. Go the next level up and explain that you simply want to bring your own meal from home to eat in the back room during your break. If they object, tell your parents and have them contact the franchise owner. It might seem a bit embarassing to have your parents challenge your boss, but believe it or not, 19-year old assistant managers don't always know what they're doing, and your folks might be able to straighten this out.

But you might also want to try the salads. Back when I worked at McDonald's, we didn't have options like that. You do. Depending on your choices, what you bring from home might not be much better than what you can get at work, at least not if you choose wisely.

Just remember, though, that no one can force you to eat what you don't want to eat. And as difficult as it may seem after you spend the day watching hundreds of people eat that stuff (smothered in ketchup), you really shouldn't eat burgers, fries, and other fried stuff very often, if at all. I disagree with folks who claim that fast food restaurants are not clean -- the ones I worked at were spotless -- but there's not much way to get around the abundant fat, salt, and carbs.

Good luck at your first job. Other jobs are waiting for you, but learn what you can from this one. I've always maintained that part of my work ethic came from what I learned as a 16-year old at my first job at a fast-food restaurant.

[Nejeda]

thanks... I think I'll do just that.

[Tim_Roy]

I suspect this is the local franchisee making up a rule so that the restaurant makes sales to employees.

Suggestion: Tell them that your diabetes means you need to eat healthier. Look them dead in the eye as you're saying this. If you're looking up, down or to the side, it can make it seem that you're lying.

Ask them for the policy in writing.

Your boss may either begin to have second thoughts about applying this policy to a diabetic, or he'll find another reason to fire you. Though he'd be opening himself up to other sorts of legal troubles then. Though with it being fast food and near minimum wage, he/she may figure you wouldn't be bothered suing. Though you could probably find some state agencies that'd pursue giving them some kind of warnings on violating employee rights.