What I Learned While Working the Lobby at McDonald's (Part II)

I think my last post pretty much summed up that I was not a huge fan of working the lobby at McDonald's. I'm a cashier, not a lobby attendant, so I feel out of my element. Well...today I worked the lobby for the second time since I began working at McDonald's. And my experience was quite different. I would actually describe it as really good. When you begin to read the rest of this post, you might think I'm being sarcastic, but I promise I'm not. Bear with me.

I came into work at 11, and right away they told me that I would be on lobby duty for the day. For a split second I wasn't pleased, but I quickly reminded myself that I am not working this job to please myself or to please my employers. I am working this job for God's glory. So that was my attitude for the day: I am working for God.

About a half hour into my shift, I end my first round of cleaning by checking the bathroom. It was relatively early in the day, so I wasn't expecting much of a mess. Mirrors and sinks? Look good. Urinal? Fairly clean. First stall? Not bad at all. Second stall? My heart just about dropped to my feet. The handle was broken, and there was poop in the toilet. But I'm not talking just a little log and a bit of toilet paper. I swear three people pooped in the toilet and filled it with toilet paper. It was as gross as the image that is in your head right now. Trust me. But as my eyes catch their first glance of this catastrophe, my first question was why. Why did these people poop when there was already poop in the toilet? Why were they so stupid? Then I think to myself: maybe if I ignore it, I will get off at five before anyone notices. So I just ignored it. (By the way, that's five and a half hours of nobody noticing a massive amount of poop)

That was around 11:30. We had a lunch rush that began soon after my bathroom check that lasted until 1:30. I was busy enough wiping down tables that I wouldn't have even been allowed to leave the floor to clean bathrooms. So far so good. 

As things began to die down around 2, I was sweeping when a lady came over to me. She seemed relatively innocent. She was probably asking where the ketchup was, or maybe one of the soda machines was out of ice. "I threw up a little bit over there." Oh. Wow. Ok. Wasn't expecting that. I go and grab the mop, and thankfully when I return she had wiped up most of the damage. But the smell remained. You know the smell. Relive it with me. Once the wall of vomit odor passed me, I mopped up the rest of the mess, and it ended up being a fairly harmless experience. 

But then an old friend came knocking. You guessed it, the poop sitting in stall #2.

Someone finally complained about the bathroom, so it was time to work up the courage to clean it. I walked over to my manager, Christine, and said, "There's a....uh....mess in the men's room, and I have no idea how to go about cleaning it. Oh, and the handle for the toilet is broken." I thought maybe throwing in the broken handle would prompt her to call a plumber and spare me the cleaning duty.

"You're gonna have to put on some gloves and scoop it out into a bag. Sorry"

The moment had arrived. The words I was dreading the whole day finally were spoken. For a moment I considered the possibility of running away. They probably couldn't catch me, right? I laughed in disbelief. I was going to have poop and toilet water all over my hands. Well...all over my gloves. But still it was gross. 

I arm myself for battle and confidently strut into the bathroom. I walk over to the toilet, and before I could think too much, hold my breath and start scooping. It was nasty. I'll spare you the details. But I remained sane because I couldn't smell it. So I just imagined that I was scooping Play-Doh or mud. But about halfway through I made the mistake of breathing. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks and, the fact that I was not actually scooping Play-Doh or mud became reality. I did everything in my power to keep myself from making the mess twice as bad (if you know what I mean). As I composed myself, I finally finished the job. 

I deposited the excrements in the dumpster and returned to a pool of brown water. I put on a new pair of gloves, and did my best plumber impersonation. I took a look at the handle and after a couple of minutes of finagling, I was able to fix it. It was as good as new. So I flushed the rest down, threw my gloves in the trash, washed my hands 35 times, and proudly told my manager that I had not only saved our customers from having one toilet to poop in but had also fixed the handle. 

I had two jobs that I would never have asked to do, but I had one of the best days at work. 

This past week, I've been really convicted about how selfish I am. My thoughts revolve around me. My desires revolve around me. My actions revolve around me. The last time I worked in the lobby, God really used it to begin the process of seeing my selfishness for what it really is. The whole time I was complaining to myself about how much I hated the job and how much I would rather do other things. 

It was so pivotal to remind myself at the beginning of my shift that I am working for the glory of God. My whole attitude was different. I was joyful. I was singing along to the radio. I wasn't complaining to myself. Sure, it wasn't fun to clean poop or vomit, but as I was doing it, I couldn't help but laugh and be happy. It was strange. 

This life is not about myself. Summer Project is not about myself. My time at school is not about myself. My job is not about myself. It is all about giving glory to a God who has shown us the greatest love we will ever know. Let us do everything for Him.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

What I Learned While Working the Lobby at McDonald's

Yesterday at work, I had the absolutely miserable task of cleaning the lobby at McDonald's. To most of you, this doesn't mean much. But let me tell you, it was horrible. My duty was to patrol the lobby, the area where people sit and eat. I repeatedly walked around the lobby while checking if the garbages were full, wiping down tables, gathering trays, sweeping, and cleaning the bathroom. It was a continual state of deja vu. "This table is dirty. Didn't I just wash this table?" Yes, yes I did. "The soda fountain is out of ice. Didn't I just fill it?" Yes, yes I did. The tasks were monotonous, and I was utterly alone. The only company I had was the Top 40 radio playing in the background. It became my best friend (and was actually kind of fun to sing along to quietly). But I don't want the radio to be my best friend. No one does. And not only that, but our grumpy owners were in the store for the day and one of them corrected me four or five times on how to do things. It seemed like they were watching my every move.

Basically, by "absolutely miserable," I mean "kind of annoying." But it was more dramatic to say absolutely miserable, and I wanted to hook your attention.

But as I was doing the lobby, my least favorite thing to do was sweep because my arms got kind of tired holding the broom and the dustpan for so long. As I walked around, I would look far under benches to the never-explored corners of the McDonald's lobby floor. It was kind of gross back there, and there was definitely garbage that needed to be swept up. But these areas were the easiest to pass up and skip. It was so much easier to clean the areas where people walk frequently, knowing that it would give the appearance of a completely clean restaurant. But it was really just a facade. The corners and under the benches were filthy, but I figured if no one knew, it wouldn't hurt them. And I think every person that has cleaned the lobby for the past six months has thought the same thing, so the dust and trash continue to build. If it stayed the same for years, mold would probably begin to grow and creep into the walls, endangering the entire infrastructure of the building. It was easy to ignore the dirty parts of the restaurant knowing that it would never be seen. It was even easier to only clean the areas where everyone could see that I had done my job well.

I think in a lot of ways this reflects my attitude toward sin in my life, and I think a lot of people also have this view. It's not that I'm not vulnerable or that I'm not willing to open up about sin in my life, but when it comes to actually taking action against sin, it is easy to be passive against those that seem like they will be hard to remove. It is easy to motivate myself to clean up the ones that are easily visible or ones that I know people will ask about. This is such a small view of sin. This view implies that God only wants us to be fighting sin if it is convenient. It implies that the only sin that matters are those that other people see, when really God sees how sin can take over our entire heart.

But sin is a big deal. Sin is an offense against God. It is a slap to the face. It is saying "You are not enough to satisfy me." It is saying "You love me more than I can imagine, but I don't really care."And there is a reason Paul uses armor as a metaphor against guarding from sin and the attacks of the enemy in Ephesians. Because we are in a constant battle of sin trying to tell us that we need not go to God for all of our love and satisfaction. And it is when we believe these lies that our fellowship with God suffers. And we believe these lies more than we can ever imagine. So let's fight for a better understanding of sin. Let's radically fight sin in our life, even when it won't be easily seen by others. Let's remember that God sees it all. Let's remember that no sin is too big for God to forgive.


And let's celebrate this incredible forgiveness and love we have received.


"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the saints." Ephesians 6:14-18