should screaming at work get me fired?

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ok this isn't what it looks like. I got canned from Wal-Mart for anger problems, but that got resolved for good a few months ago. I now work at McDonald's for almost 3 months now and another problem came up. A few weeks ago, I burned myself making steamed buns for Filet 'o Fish and screamed, causing them to cut my hours from full time to one day a week. My counselor said I'm lucky not to get fired for that and so did Yahoo Answers esp since it's a serious offense and it's not my first time screaming. Customers could hear it for God's sake. The thing is, I would love to be able to refrain from screaming, but I'm more sensitive to pain than my coworkers, who gets burned just as frequently but never scream.

If you were the manager, would you have fired me outright instead of giving me another chance? They warned me on that before and siad it disrupts the restaurant. What kind of consequences do I deserve? btw, I'm so glad they didn't can me, but I'm worried about burning myself again. My counselor said if I do it again, they WILL can me.

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Type: Question • Score: 23 • Views: 10,967 • Replies: 115

@dirrtydozen22,

If I was eating at a restaurant and heard screams coming from the kitchen I might become very nervous and wonder at the cause. I'm almost 50 years old and have never heard screams of pain in a restaurant. I once witnessed a bus boy being fired and that involved a little screaming and some colorful language, but it didn't sound like someone being tortured. I think you'd better find a way to control your expressions of pain and discomfort. Your mouth is going to be the death of you.

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@dirrtydozen22,

I have two co-workers on the one day a week plan right now.

you need to look for another job.

mebbe one with no open flames.

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@Green Witch,

So you're saying that I'm scaring away customers, right? Right after I screamed that day, I was like, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Becuase I really didn't. However, the mgr still acted like she's just about had it with me. She made me leave the kitchen to do some stocking. Oh and btw, tnx God there was no colorful language involved in my case. I would never do that.

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@dirrtydozen22,

It only happened once? I don't think once should be that big a deal- and you apologized. If it was an on going problem I could see why they would not want you around.

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@Green Witch,

actually, it wasn't my first time screaming. They warned me a few times before already before they cut my hours.

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@dirrtydozen22,

so, you want a medal for not cursing and screaming?

How old are you? Some of thee questions kind of resolve themselves with more years behind you.

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@farmerman,

I'm not looking for a medal, just answers. As glad as I am to still be employed, I'm just curious about the right consequences for this kind of behavior. I'm 20 by the way.

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Instead of looking for a set of consequences that you can live with, why not focus all this energy on learning methods to get better control of yourself. That seems to be the core issue here in all the circumstances you bring to us.

Have you ever given yoga a try? I think you would receive a great deal of benefit from it.

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I would ask the employee to accomodate me with gloves that don't conduct heat to your hands.

or buy them yourself....$12.95.

http://img.tradekey.com/images/uploadedimages/products/4/1/A111301-20060330064241.jpg

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@dirrtydozen22,

Hard to form an opinion without having been there. Depending on the burn, a little yelp of pain and fear doesn't sound at all unreasonable. Also hard to control. If you had spilled one of those vats of boiling grease, you would still be screaming to this day.

You say your coworkers get burned as often as you. Who knows, maybe McD has some kind of safety problem that has slipped under the radar. Maybe McD workers are just careless. I can't tell from a distance, but these are things to consider before deciding what they could have done.

I might even wonder about the training and competence of this counselor. It could be some kid who was awarded a blue shirt for standing up to the pressure for two months without quitting or screaming. I mean, you are probably not dealing with a well trained professional in either counciling or labor relations.

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@roger,

I still have this 2 inch scar across my left wrist and screamed loud enough to be heard in the lobby. Sad

As for this counselor/shrink, he graduated med school from Wash U in St. Louis, so I wouldn't question his competence. And believe me, anyone who's ever worked in the kitchen anywhere gets hurt like that from time to time. When I was at Wal-Mart, they had a deli and my coworkers who worked there gets cut or burnt on a regular basis.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

I would ask the employee to accomodate me with gloves that don't conduct heat to your hands.

or buy them yourself....$12.95.

here's another off the wall, wacky suggestion.....

Tongs

http://www.somerville-siam.com/productimport/kitchentools/foodstongs/parderno-breadandpastry.jpg

You know, you're really lucky you were burned by just the fish o'let buns. I hear the big mac bun burns are murder.

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@dirrtydozen22,

I'm guessing you have no interest in practical solutions, huh?

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@dirrtydozen22,

Great you take responsibility, but if people are getting that kind of injuries at work, and especially if it's being considered routine, that employer needs to take a hard look at their kitchen procedures.

Guy graduated from medical school and went to work for McDonalds, huh?

1 Reply

An outfit like McDonald's probably has a well-defined procedure for handling
such a situation. If it keeps happening, the manager will follow procedure and
that most likely means he will let you go.

I ditto Rockhead's advice.

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@roger,

nope. he graduated Med School and is currently my shrink.

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I like Chai's idea of the gloves. It's true you can get seriously burned in a kitchen, but I just don't hear a lot of screaming when I eat out. The fact that it happened more than once is the problem.

Roger, it's not so unusual for an MD to go work for a major corporation instead of setting up a practice. They don't have to deal with all the insurance issues public doctors are choked by and they have a guaranteed income with vacation time. I work for someone who is on the payroll at General Electric as a company MD, he is apparently paid well and says he usually gets home in time to have dinner with his kids.

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@roger,

roger wrote:

You say your coworkers get burned as often as you. Who knows, maybe McD has some kind of safety problem that has slipped under the radar.

I'll go with that. There's obviously either a problem with procedures, or OSHA enforcement. If people are constantly getting hurt in the workplace, then something needs to be done about it.

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You can tell chefs and cooks by the scars on their hands and wrists. Even with good practices it's fairly common for kitchen workers to get burned and cut. I would think it might even be worse in a place where fast is considered a good thing.

1 Reply

should screaming at work get me fired?

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