Taking a stand against McDonaldization wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Since I needed some groceries from Meijer, I decided to experiment there. I wrote a short list of items I needed: bananas, yogurt, peanut butter, bread, and cheese. At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to take on McDonaldization. I thought about the different dimensions of this world model term. The book The McDonaldization of Society talks about efficiency being important for the workers. I thought about how Meijer is set up so the consumers gather their own purchases, and can even check out their own items in the self-checkout lanes; things that greatly increase efficiency for workers. I decided to approach a Meijer worker and ask for the items on my list. At first, they looked confused, obviously because I looked capable of going to get them myself. They even tried directing me to where some of the items were, maybe hoping I would just thank them and leave. To further see if I could get them to actually get me the items, I just politely asked if they would go get them for me. I think they felt awkward, so they brought me to where the nearest item on my list was located and said “you’ll find the bananas here”. I just thanked them and went on my way. I didn’t want to cause a weird scene by my insisting they find my items for me. I also didn’t want to seem rude. I did, however, make sure to go through a check-out lane with a working cashier to subtly ruin McDonaldization and their worker efficiency.
The same book mentioned earlier also talks about predictability, another dimension for McDonaldization. The author states that many places are predictable in the things workers and consumers say to one another. It’s almost as if it’s scripted to a point where complete strangers say the same things to other strangers. I thought about this while walking through Meijer, collecting my short list of foods. While looking at the different brands and price labels for peanut butter, a worker was stocking the shelves right next to me. We made eye contact and, as expected, the employee said hello and asked if I needed help finding anything. I said one of a few answers that they had also probably expected: “no, thank you, just looking”. To break away from the normal conversing, I asked afterward if they had any fun Halloween plans. I don’t think they heard me, or maybe didn’t expect me to be talking to them, so I politely stared at them so they knew who I was talking to. Once they realized, we actually had a short conversation about our weekend plans. They didn’t have too much on their agenda, as I didn’t either. Probably just getting together with some friends, a reason to wear the costumes we had bought. The shelve stocker was being The Joker from Batman, what I commented on as seeing quite a few different versions in the stores, but a cool idea overall. I actually enjoyed my shopping experience more while trying to get a different, less McDonaldized, experience out of it. Maybe decreasing worker efficiency wasn’t the best thing, but I think having normal conversations with the workers is more enjoyable. You don’t realize how McDonaldized society is, and I especially didn’t realize there could be other ways of doing things until being introduced to this world model.
The same book mentioned earlier also talks about predictability, another dimension for McDonaldization. The author states that many places are predictable in the things workers and consumers say to one another. It’s almost as if it’s scripted to a point where complete strangers say the same things to other strangers. I thought about this while walking through Meijer, collecting my short list of foods. While looking at the different brands and price labels for peanut butter, a worker was stocking the shelves right next to me. We made eye contact and, as expected, the employee said hello and asked if I needed help finding anything. I said one of a few answers that they had also probably expected: “no, thank you, just looking”. To break away from the normal conversing, I asked afterward if they had any fun Halloween plans. I don’t think they heard me, or maybe didn’t expect me to be talking to them, so I politely stared at them so they knew who I was talking to. Once they realized, we actually had a short conversation about our weekend plans. They didn’t have too much on their agenda, as I didn’t either. Probably just getting together with some friends, a reason to wear the costumes we had bought. The shelve stocker was being The Joker from Batman, what I commented on as seeing quite a few different versions in the stores, but a cool idea overall. I actually enjoyed my shopping experience more while trying to get a different, less McDonaldized, experience out of it. Maybe decreasing worker efficiency wasn’t the best thing, but I think having normal conversations with the workers is more enjoyable. You don’t realize how McDonaldized society is, and I especially didn’t realize there could be other ways of doing things until being introduced to this world model.