A McDonald's employee shared why people should respect fast-food workers — and now it's going viral

Associated Press

This McDonald's worker wants respect.

Mike Waite, a McDonald's employee from Edinburgh, took to Facebook to explain exactly why he gets frustrated when people judge him for working at the fast-food chain. Now, the post, which Waite wrote on Sunday, is going viral, with more than 44,000 reactions and more than 7,000 likes.

"McDonald's has this reputation which is quite unfounded in the recent age," writes Waite. "Every person I work with has a story and every person is working their a-- off in what can be a very tough job for their own reasons."

According to Waite, many employees choice to work at McDonald's because provides a flexible job with opportunities for growth, with fellow workers "becoming pilots, lawyers, designers, architects, and people who are at a point in their life that they will do whatever it takes to look after their family."

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"I work with people I would aspire to be like, who have strengths in areas I wish I had, who have overcome situations I never could," writes Waite. "In the past I have known and worked with very rich folks in very high end jobs, and a few of them could never match the resilience and work ethic of some of the current lads/lassies."

Waite himself is currently saving for college, and says he plans to progress on the management side of the business — something he believes will enhance his job opportunities in the future. While he acknowledges that pay can be low and that every job has its negatives, he says working at McDonald's has helped him in innumerable ways.

"Overall please just take your preconceptions and be rid of them," Waite sums up the post. "I work with some amazing people, and like many of them McDonald's is not a 'dead-end’ of my working life but rather part of the beginning. Now, what drink would you like with that order?"

Comments have been largely supportive, including input from other McDonald's employees with similar stories to share. 

The post clearly resonates with others who work in the service industry. In addition to the positive responses to Waite's post, in February, a former Costco worker published an article on Refinery29 on her top annoyance while working at the retail giant: that some customers considered her position working at the big box chain was less important than a "real" job. 

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