Ever seen anyone over the age of 18 working at McDonald’s in Finland?
I worked very late last night at the office and picked up McDonald’s on the way home. Have any of you ever seen anyone over the age of 18 working at McDonald’s in Finland? I’m dead serious. I feel like asking those kids where their babysitter is.
But it doesn’t matter, the service at fast food joints in Finland is amazing, you always get some young, friendly, energetic teenager, who may not exactly love their job but take pride in their position and work very hard at it. Meanwhile in the U.S., your average employee is typically some pissed off punk pothead., some beat-looking single mother, or that late 30’s child-porn watching pervert guy with the twenty year-old thick glasses and “assistant manager” badge on his uniform who is clearly getting his revenge on this cruel world by bossing the pothead and single mom around in front of the customers.
So I was wondering, why does McDonald’s U.S. have to take any bum off the street while McDonald’s Finland can sort through hundreds of resumes and handpick the most enthusiastic university-bound youngster with the highest grade-point average? Cause as I teenager in the U.S., I’d honestly never have taken a position at McDonald’s, I could always find a better job - but in Finland, with it’s very high youth unemployment at 21.6% (even higher than France!), maybe I’d have to take a job at McDonald’s, maybe I’d have to compete with my peers for that job?
Is working at McDonald’s in Finland kinda olympic gymnastics where at age 19 you’re already too old, there’s so many unemployed hard-working youth out there that some 30-something single mother ca’nt compete? But maybe she doesn’t need to bother to compete, the welfare is so good here in Finland.
I suspect it has to do with the studying culture. In the US and UK (which is similarly full of deadbeats serving MacDonalds), when you study, you study and that’s it. I knew very few people who had a job when I was at University in the UK. However, in Finland, pretty much every student I knew had a job in one place or another.
There’s also the factor that MacDonalds employees get paid much more in Finland so people might not worry so much about working there.
Of course the unemployment is also a factor.
Comment by finnsense — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 8:52 am
I knew very few people who had a job when I was at University in the UK. However, in Finland, pretty much every student I knew had a job in one place or another.
Really? I thought just the opposite, it seemed that all my university friends back in the states had jobs but few students here bother working because the state pays them more. (I’m talking about the 18-21 crowd)
There’s also the factor that MacDonalds employees get paid much more in Finland so people might not worry so much about working there.
How much is the hourly wage at McDonald’s in Finland? First year fast food work in the US is usually minimum wage or maybe a dollar more.
Comment by Phil — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 9:19 am
Well have you seen anyone under the age 18 working there? No you have not.
Comment by finn — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 11:53 am
Ever seen an immigrant working in a Finnish McDonald’s
Just how much Finnish do you really need to work in McD’s?
Comment by Finnish honesty — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
Over two thirds of finns have a higher education, so it’s only natural that only teenagers work in fast food places.
Comment by Anonymous — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
“Ever seen an immigrant working in a Finnish McDonalds”
Yes, plenty. Ever been to Helsinki?
Comment by finnsense — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 1:16 pm
I have yet to go to Maccas here.
Comment by gopha — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
Mostly the reason is that young people in Finland see McDonalds as an easy place to get work at. At least among the people I know, everyone thinks is that if you need work and don’t mind much about the kind, McDonalds is the place to apply.
They don’t really require previous experience, nor do you need an education to work there, so young people apply there because it’s easy to apply there. I know plenty of my friends have worked at McDonalds since they’ve turned 16.
The work at fast food places is also not seen as that respectable, which is why older people rarely apply. I also think it’s because McDonalds likes to keep a youthful image, so the younger the people working, the better.
Comment by Rithiur — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 3:45 pm
At least in Hämeenlinna most of the people who work at McDonalds are over 18. And what comes to the question why Finnish young adults are willing to work there but most Americans are not, might have something to do with the fact that Americans eat out more often and there are much more semi nice restaurants in the US where young adults often work instead of McDonalds. In Finland we almost only have either fast food or really nice restaurants and not the ones between.
Comment by Sini — Sat, May 27th, 2006 @ 8:27 pm
olympic gymnastics.. what an excellent comparison
However, I think it is required by law that anyone working nights (late nights) has to be over 18. I regularly see people over 18 working at fast food joints, but they aren’t much over…
Comment by Frustrated Finn — Sun, May 28th, 2006 @ 3:12 am
Goes to show how much I know. I actually thought that the US MacDonalds employees were all top of the crop enthusiastic youth etc. Since I heard that they are much nicer over there. Like, they smile all the time and the procedure for the whole customer service is alot ‘tighter’ there than it is in Finland. But I guess that’s all bull then?
Comment by Reko — Sun, May 28th, 2006 @ 3:05 pm
But I guess that’s all bull then?
Sure is. Especially inner-city Maccas.
Comment by gopha — Sun, May 28th, 2006 @ 4:08 pm
Most people working at McDonalds are over 18, but still they are young, the average age is probably around 20.
Comment by Krisu — Mon, May 29th, 2006 @ 1:46 pm
I seem to remember that the “very high youth unemployment at 21.6%”- figure was checked by Statistics Finland, who found out that the actual figure is somewhat lower, for the simple reason that the HDI study for some reason or another classifies the young men and women in the army and the civil service as “unemployed”. The HS reported this some weeks ago, I think.
Comment by Drakon — Mon, May 29th, 2006 @ 6:09 pm
Well the forced labour people are technically unavailable to work or not in work and thus countable.
Comment by Hugh Janus — Tue, May 30th, 2006 @ 12:29 pm
Hugh, that is a question of definition. For me, the meaning of “unemployed” is not “unavailable to work” but rather the exact opposite, the people that could be employed at any time if someone would need their labour. I definitely would not say that the people in the army are “not working”, just look at the amount of hours the consripts do at basic training, for example. The work they do might be very unproductive and extremely poorly paid, but then again, so are many jobs in the private sector…
Comment by Drakon — Tue, May 30th, 2006 @ 11:59 pm
I happen to know, that the wages in Mc Donald’s is quite good. Well, you can’t really say good, but it is better than in most of the grocery stores.
I have been working in Mc Donald’s, when I was 20, and almost everyone there was about my age.
I would like to correct the typical idea about working in mc donald’s. It it not easy, as many might think. It is very hard work and actually quite difficult job, in the sense, that you have to work really hard. If you are slow, there is no way you should even apply to mc donald’s.
Comment by Visitor — Sat, Jun 3rd, 2006 @ 12:26 pm