Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life

Rating:
Summary: A Prophecy Fulfilled?
Review: Hungry and tired of the banality of couscous, hara (a tomato based soup) and tajine that I had been eating in Morocco for the past four months, I burst through the doors of one of the McDonald's in the city of Casablanca. I was on a mission. I had dragged several of my friends by train, bus, taxi, and foot for the singular purpose of eating a Big Mac. I was feed up. I needed food that I could trust to be produced in some standardized fashion, that would be clean and well cooked. I also needed to use a bathroom that was clean. This "quest" occurred during a foreign exchange to Morocco during the fall of 2000. But the story begins much earlier perhaps in 1994 when I was 12 or 13. My father had taken me to our local Borders bookstore in the suburbs of Philadelphia to hear a lecture about McDonald's of all things (I was home schooled at the time and going to lectures such as these was a continual part of my education). Robin Leidner's lecture was probably my first exposure to sociology and I believe one of the causes that lead to a radical shift in my adolescent thinking. Never again was the world the same. In a sense, Robin Leidner gave birth to my "sociological imagination." Ever since I have also been fascinated by McDonald's as an indicator of American culture. There is something awe inspiring about the success of McDonald's and its guarantee of a certain quality of food, cheer, and service no matter where in the world I should travel. (The phenomonem of McDonald's seems reminscent of something one might find in a dystopian post-industrial science ficiton story.) That at, one time, 7% of US workers had worked at McDonald's at one time or another, speaks to the influence of McDonald's in the lives of Americans. On the other hand, the routinization that has been key to McDonald's success raises questions of alienation, autonomy and robotization of employees for the sake of profit. Ever present is the conflict between self-identity and existence in a corporate world that requires all things to be standerdized. Dr. Leidner provides insight into corporate culture that many of us will at sometime or another participate in. It would be good judgment to know what we are getting ourselves involved in. I, for one, have learned to appreciate the significance of McDonald's organizational structure, while being cogent of the impact of its corporate values on the individual and society. There is a sense of empowerment in "decoding" society and locating ones position in society and it is my hope that others, outside of academia, will read Leidner's book and become consciouse of their organizational context. There is the sense of a prophecy fulfilled. After first seeing Dr. Leidner and reading of the expansion of McDonald's to Morocco, I have, seven years later eaten at the first McDonald's in Morocco, always with "Fast Food, Fast Talk" in mind. The impetus for this has always been to see for myself if Dr. Leidner was right: could McDonald's really be the same everywhere? It would seem that my life has already come full circle. As the result of my first exposure to sociology from Dr. Leidner, I am currently studying the sociology of work and occupation!