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If his timeline and application are true, he was technically still the chairman of his company while working at McDonald's, if in name only. > 10/99-10/01: cha

If his timeline and application are true, he was technically still the chairman of his company while working at McDonald's, if in name only. > 10/99-10/01: chairman, i-traffic (an agency.com company) > 10/00-10/00: counterperson, mcdonald's (4th & broadway, nyc) I sometimes think about going back to work at food service jobs after I retire, just to keep busy. I enjoyed those jobs as a high school and college student, and I wonder if I still would, or if I might be too spoiled now. And if my back was tired at the end of a shift when I was 21, I guess now I might just die.

jprd 2y ago
I dream about working at Toys R Us again, at least a few times a month, 20+ years on. I can no longer put the cheapest metal swing set on my shoulder and carry it out to a customer's too-small car. But damn it was fun.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  Somehow the retail arm of the chain still exists in Canada. 80 stores remain. Note to self: invite US visitors with kids to toys R us.
swozey 2y ago
I'm around the service industry daily/nightly, used to bartend, lots of my friends still bartend. Apart from the social aspect of actually enjoying working with your coworkers, cool regulars, general night life fun, etc, the world has collectively lost it's mind since 2020 and there is not a chance I would ever do industry again. The amount of drama, fights, and just people in general being rude assholes since 2020 is astronomically higher than it was when I bartended around 2005-2010 and way higher post 2020. I used to bartend on dirty 6th in austin a decade ago and I won't even walk down that street today. Society has lost its mind. I live in a busy bar neighborhood here in denver and we just had a door guy get shot and killed 2-3 weeks ago, literally on my street at a restaurant I go to every few weeks 4 blocks away in broad daylight on a Sunday. A 14-15 year old (iirc) running around on a scooter harassing people shot him in a scuffle.
- bogota 2y ago
  I still live in denver but in the very outer burbs. I moved from market st about a year ago and it is so much better out here. Denver needs to gets its downtown under control. I used to love nightlife and going out to bars but after 2023 when places were all open again I never went out again as it didn’t feel safe after 9pm. Really hoping they turn it around.
  - swozey 2y ago
    This isn't a $XCityBad thing. It's happened to drunk crowds everywhere and is completely irrelevant to location or whether you're even downtown. I guarantee the two step bars in the burbs are filled with drunk drama too nowadays. I was in Austin, Tampa, Dallas, Houston and Denver over the last decade and go to a few of them yearly. Denver is far away the safest out of those and I'm glad to be here. I live in 5 points, which I'm sure you think is a big scary place. I will happily trade seeing a person living in a tent and being able to go out and do an incredible amount of various things literally every single day without driving to living in the suburbs, but glad you like it. Cities are scary. Can't walk home after 9pm.. lmao. I'm more afraid of sitting at the airport nowadays than walking around downtown. That's where the real psychos are nowadays. Or hotel bars when traveling. Awful, rude impatient people who act like they've never left the house before. 2020 really did a number on peoples aggression/patience levels and industry people are taking the brunt of it. Hell, if you look at the /r/boomersbeingfools subreddit it's all of the people living in the burbs being harassed by old angry grandparents constantly. I rarely see that crowd out here.
    - reaperman 2y ago
      I live in one of the cities you mentioned. I think part of the problem is that many of the “fun” areas have become expensive and bring a different crowd, or people feel entitled to a certain experience because of the prices they’re paying. The bars that still have $2-3 drinks (yes, these exist!) still have a wonderful, self-policing crowd. I also used to bartend in the same time range as you, at the equivalent of a 6th street bar.
bobthepanda 2y ago
I feel the same way, but rather about being a receptionist. Which is an option if you are concerned about manual labor.
colechristensen 2y ago
I did this between jobs (and slightly overlapping) for a while, about 6 months. It didn't pay the bills and I got a seemingly permanent repetitive stress injury from working in the kitchen, but it was fun and an excellent change of pace. My god I was never confused about how to do a task and when I left work I was just done, there was no todo list hanging over my head.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  Reminds me of a summer job I had once, sitting at a machine assembling the plastic part of toilet blocks. I sat at one end where my job was to place a foam slice rough-side up onto the plastic bit appearing in front of me. Pssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. 8 hours a day, break every two hours where I'd spent some of that money on a snack, CD player with pirated music doing its thing. I mean I only spent two weeks or so doing that if I recall correctly, the rest of my time there was supplying the eight or so machines (times five people per machine) with parts and taking the finished boxes away, but still.
hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
> he was technically still the chairman of his company while working at McDonald's, if in name only. He discusses this in the blog post: > in my interview, the manager (ralph) asked if i can handle a fast-paced, intense environment. i said yes. he looked at my resume and asked about my current part-time job as chairman at i-traffic. i said, "it's an internet thing." he said "ok" and then asked me for my waist size.
- sandspar 2y ago
  Did he really use lowercase? The status-seeking, high status lowercase mixed with the "outside looking in" account of working class people written for the benefit of other rich high status people, Jesus.
  - xeromal 2y ago
    His whole site uses lower case. Seems like a stylistic choice. Check it ou
hackeraccount 2y ago
Yeah. My first real job was at a restaurant and there was something totally zen about the work. It wasn't exactly turn off your brain but I would just be too busy to think for hours on end. Plus the people I worked with were all over the map but they were all a hell of a lot of fun to be with. You'd work a long shift and then hang out in the parking lot after drinking beer or go out to a party. Ah... it's sad to say but I probably just miss being 20.
bg24 2y ago
The key is "Enjoy". There is no substitute to meet people, smiling, happy, no politics, no desire to grow or get a raise. Plus fixed hours and you are not responding to slack/emails/oncalls after that. This is not stress, this is fun as long as you do not have to pay large bills. Yes, it also gives you ideas for new businesses.
SoftTalker 2y ago
From what I've seen, it's not the same. I worked at McDonalds in high school and college. It was fun for the most part. But most of the employees were like me. Young, not really adults yet, pretty carefree. The people I see at McDonalds today are not the same at all. Mostly older, disinterested, no energy, no spark, marginal care for personal appearance. You rarely see a high schooler or young person working there. It's just depressing to even be in there watching them.
- kranke155 2y ago
  If McDonalds is to exist, it would make sense it would be a young person's job. To think that there are large swathes of the population who can do no better in prospects is depressing indeed.
- konfusinomicon 2y ago
  my 6 month stint at mcdonalds was pretty amazing as a sophomore in high school. it was 2 no nonsense managers and a few chill managers that corraled a bunch of teenagers and young adults that liked to get high and have fun. which we did with reckless disregard and it was AWESOME! some crazy shit went down after close in the ball pit over there lol. i got fired by my friend because me and a coworker came in after a smoking sesh in the woods to get some free food and i was supposed to be working that evening. i brushed it off and asked for some free food which we got. it was a great first job and i made several connections with people that im still friends with to this day. also, i ate so much free mcdonalds in that 6 months that i have only had it a handful of times in over 20 years since.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
  That's interesting. I wonder if it's related to the corporation. My local McDonald's hires people who seem to be mostly in their early 20's. OTOH, the Dairy Queen that's just a few minutes down the road seems to rarely have anyone older than 19 or so working there. Average age at DQ seems to be around 16.
  - Scoundreller 2y ago
    McDonalds probably has more hours to cover per week, all hours of the day and more year round need. A DQ may be open early and year round too, but really needs people in summer evenings and weekends when high schoolers are most available.
ilamont 2y ago
There was a movie subplot that featured something like this as part of the main character's midlife crisis. Something with Kevin Spacey. American Beauty? People who retire from professional jobs often do pick up part time work that would be classified as "menial" because they want to keep engaged and/or make a little extra money. I've had older Lyft drivers who retired from professional backgrounds including one guy who was a comptroller for an engineering firm in Boston. The WSJ sometimes profiles retirees who fall into this bucket as well. IIRC there was a former CEO who couldn't stand being at home and decided to work at the local airport information counter, maybe even as a volunteer.
- al_borland 2y ago
  >American Beauty? Correct
bluGill 2y ago
Food service needs a lot of people to work the 2 hour lunch shift from 11-1 and then go home. You get out of the house, get to talk to real people. Doctors have noticed that people who sit around doing nothing tend to die earlier than those who stay busy, and people who talk to others also do better, so that 2 hour shift could add years to your lifespan. That you get some extra spending cash is a nice bonus, but not why you do it. (at 16 you do it because they are about all that will hire you and you need then money)

jprd 2y ago

I dream about working at Toys R Us again, at least a few times a month, 20+ years on. I can no longer put the cheapest metal swing set on my shoulder and carry it out to a customer's too-small car. But damn it was fun.

Scoundreller 2y ago
Somehow the retail arm of the chain still exists in Canada. 80 stores remain. Note to self: invite US visitors with kids to toys R us.

swozey 2y ago

I'm around the service industry daily/nightly, used to bartend, lots of my friends still bartend. Apart from the social aspect of actually enjoying working with your coworkers, cool regulars, general night life fun, etc, the world has collectively lost it's mind since 2020 and there is not a chance I would ever do industry again. The amount of drama, fights, and just people in general being rude assholes since 2020 is astronomically higher than it was when I bartended around 2005-2010 and way higher post 2020. I used to bartend on dirty 6th in austin a decade ago and I won't even walk down that street today. Society has lost its mind. I live in a busy bar neighborhood here in denver and we just had a door guy get shot and killed 2-3 weeks ago, literally on my street at a restaurant I go to every few weeks 4 blocks away in broad daylight on a Sunday. A 14-15 year old (iirc) running around on a scooter harassing people shot him in a scuffle.

bogota 2y ago
I still live in denver but in the very outer burbs. I moved from market st about a year ago and it is so much better out here. Denver needs to gets its downtown under control. I used to love nightlife and going out to bars but after 2023 when places were all open again I never went out again as it didn’t feel safe after 9pm. Really hoping they turn it around.
- swozey 2y ago
  This isn't a $XCityBad thing. It's happened to drunk crowds everywhere and is completely irrelevant to location or whether you're even downtown. I guarantee the two step bars in the burbs are filled with drunk drama too nowadays. I was in Austin, Tampa, Dallas, Houston and Denver over the last decade and go to a few of them yearly. Denver is far away the safest out of those and I'm glad to be here. I live in 5 points, which I'm sure you think is a big scary place. I will happily trade seeing a person living in a tent and being able to go out and do an incredible amount of various things literally every single day without driving to living in the suburbs, but glad you like it. Cities are scary. Can't walk home after 9pm.. lmao. I'm more afraid of sitting at the airport nowadays than walking around downtown. That's where the real psychos are nowadays. Or hotel bars when traveling. Awful, rude impatient people who act like they've never left the house before. 2020 really did a number on peoples aggression/patience levels and industry people are taking the brunt of it. Hell, if you look at the /r/boomersbeingfools subreddit it's all of the people living in the burbs being harassed by old angry grandparents constantly. I rarely see that crowd out here.
  - reaperman 2y ago
    I live in one of the cities you mentioned. I think part of the problem is that many of the “fun” areas have become expensive and bring a different crowd, or people feel entitled to a certain experience because of the prices they’re paying. The bars that still have $2-3 drinks (yes, these exist!) still have a wonderful, self-policing crowd. I also used to bartend in the same time range as you, at the equivalent of a 6th street bar.

bobthepanda 2y ago

I feel the same way, but rather about being a receptionist. Which is an option if you are concerned about manual labor.

colechristensen 2y ago

I did this between jobs (and slightly overlapping) for a while, about 6 months. It didn't pay the bills and I got a seemingly permanent repetitive stress injury from working in the kitchen, but it was fun and an excellent change of pace. My god I was never confused about how to do a task and when I left work I was just done, there was no todo list hanging over my head.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago
Reminds me of a summer job I had once, sitting at a machine assembling the plastic part of toilet blocks. I sat at one end where my job was to place a foam slice rough-side up onto the plastic bit appearing in front of me. Pssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. Psssht. Pad. 8 hours a day, break every two hours where I'd spent some of that money on a snack, CD player with pirated music doing its thing. I mean I only spent two weeks or so doing that if I recall correctly, the rest of my time there was supplying the eight or so machines (times five people per machine) with parts and taking the finished boxes away, but still.

hn_throwaway_99 2y ago

> he was technically still the chairman of his company while working at McDonald's, if in name only. He discusses this in the blog post: > in my interview, the manager (ralph) asked if i can handle a fast-paced, intense environment. i said yes. he looked at my resume and asked about my current part-time job as chairman at i-traffic. i said, "it's an internet thing." he said "ok" and then asked me for my waist size.

sandspar 2y ago
Did he really use lowercase? The status-seeking, high status lowercase mixed with the "outside looking in" account of working class people written for the benefit of other rich high status people, Jesus.
- xeromal 2y ago
  His whole site uses lower case. Seems like a stylistic choice. Check it ou

hackeraccount 2y ago

Yeah. My first real job was at a restaurant and there was something totally zen about the work. It wasn't exactly turn off your brain but I would just be too busy to think for hours on end. Plus the people I worked with were all over the map but they were all a hell of a lot of fun to be with. You'd work a long shift and then hang out in the parking lot after drinking beer or go out to a party. Ah... it's sad to say but I probably just miss being 20.

bg24 2y ago

The key is "Enjoy". There is no substitute to meet people, smiling, happy, no politics, no desire to grow or get a raise. Plus fixed hours and you are not responding to slack/emails/oncalls after that. This is not stress, this is fun as long as you do not have to pay large bills. Yes, it also gives you ideas for new businesses.

SoftTalker 2y ago

From what I've seen, it's not the same. I worked at McDonalds in high school and college. It was fun for the most part. But most of the employees were like me. Young, not really adults yet, pretty carefree. The people I see at McDonalds today are not the same at all. Mostly older, disinterested, no energy, no spark, marginal care for personal appearance. You rarely see a high schooler or young person working there. It's just depressing to even be in there watching them.

kranke155 2y ago
If McDonalds is to exist, it would make sense it would be a young person's job. To think that there are large swathes of the population who can do no better in prospects is depressing indeed.
konfusinomicon 2y ago
my 6 month stint at mcdonalds was pretty amazing as a sophomore in high school. it was 2 no nonsense managers and a few chill managers that corraled a bunch of teenagers and young adults that liked to get high and have fun. which we did with reckless disregard and it was AWESOME! some crazy shit went down after close in the ball pit over there lol. i got fired by my friend because me and a coworker came in after a smoking sesh in the woods to get some free food and i was supposed to be working that evening. i brushed it off and asked for some free food which we got. it was a great first job and i made several connections with people that im still friends with to this day. also, i ate so much free mcdonalds in that 6 months that i have only had it a handful of times in over 20 years since.
HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
That's interesting. I wonder if it's related to the corporation. My local McDonald's hires people who seem to be mostly in their early 20's. OTOH, the Dairy Queen that's just a few minutes down the road seems to rarely have anyone older than 19 or so working there. Average age at DQ seems to be around 16.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  McDonalds probably has more hours to cover per week, all hours of the day and more year round need. A DQ may be open early and year round too, but really needs people in summer evenings and weekends when high schoolers are most available.

ilamont 2y ago

There was a movie subplot that featured something like this as part of the main character's midlife crisis. Something with Kevin Spacey. American Beauty? People who retire from professional jobs often do pick up part time work that would be classified as "menial" because they want to keep engaged and/or make a little extra money. I've had older Lyft drivers who retired from professional backgrounds including one guy who was a comptroller for an engineering firm in Boston. The WSJ sometimes profiles retirees who fall into this bucket as well. IIRC there was a former CEO who couldn't stand being at home and decided to work at the local airport information counter, maybe even as a volunteer.

al_borland 2y ago
>American Beauty? Correct

bluGill 2y ago

Food service needs a lot of people to work the 2 hour lunch shift from 11-1 and then go home. You get out of the house, get to talk to real people. Doctors have noticed that people who sit around doing nothing tend to die earlier than those who stay busy, and people who talk to others also do better, so that 2 hour shift could add years to your lifespan. That you get some extra spending cash is a nice bonus, but not why you do it. (at 16 you do it because they are about all that will hire you and you need then money)