A Job at McDonald’s Now Includes Singing and Dancing on Demad
http://www.thenation.com/blog/196777/job-mcdonalds-now-includes-singing-and-dancing-demand#But McDonald’s is now asking its employees to do even more. They have to come up with cutesy tasks for their customers. And if the ad itself is any indication, they can’t just deadpan a request that a family hug. If someone dances, they have to dance too. If someone doesn’t seem too pumped to call his mom, they have to needle him into it. And they have to react with joy when the asked-for response is delivered. The workers are being told to put on a performance for customers in order to get a performance back.
This is a pretty blatant example of emotional labor: the requirement that a low-wage employee not just show up to work and adequately perform her duties, but that she put on a veneer of happiness and cheer for the customer to elicit an emotional response in him. For example, in 2013 Pret A Manger put up on its website (and then subsequently took down) expected “behaviours” its employees were supposed to exhibit, like creating a “sense of fun” and appearing “genuinely friendly.” The ones it wouldn’t allow, on the other hand, were bad moods and acting like they were “just here for the money.” Because ordering a sandwich is now supposed to be a delightful experience, and of course a low-wage clerk is at work for something other than a paycheck.
This is what’s pernicious about emotional labor: it requires poorly paid people to slather a smile onto their face and cover up the real conditions under which they labor. McDonald’s has been one of the fast-food companies hit by massive, repeated waves of labor unrest by striking workers demanding better pay, the ability to form a union and an end to retaliation for their actions. Workers have been vocal about the fact that they and their families can’t survive on the money they make. But the company instead wants its customers to see employees who are genuinely delighted that a mother hugged her son in front of them.
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As a consumer and customer I find these cutesy little programs dreamt up by someone sitting in an Air Conditioned Office in an Ivory Tower somewhere else simply stupid. When I go into a store or fast food restaurant I simply want what it is that I am trying to purchase without a floor show. 
I have in the past left establishments when I encountered this type of silly behavior and then emailed corporate offices telling them why.
Corporations just keep lowering the bar. They pay crap, unlivable wages, and want to force their workers to become circus clowns on top of doing their jobs. Emotional labor. WTF? 
you're required to be Fast, Fun and Friendly.
Of course it's not as egregious as this over-the-top McDonald's debasement campaign, but it can be very taxing to always be "fun and friendly", especially when some condescending or abusive jackass swaggers into your check-out lane during a part time, minimum wage shift with no benefits, which is irregularly scheduled so that you can't hold a second job.
Oh, and it's company policy not to provide any references, so your attitude and quality of work is not verifiable by alternative prospects. But be sure you keep up your checkout pace, your quota of selling useless product warranties, and signing up people for Red Cards with a 22.9% interest rate. If not, you'll have to commit to a "coaching" session.
And nobody wants that:
Target grades you "red, yellow or green" on everything from the initial psych exam to job performance.
Have you heard about the anti-unionization videos they make you watch?
That's a topic for another time.
Faster, faster- while looking like you're having fun and being oh so friendly.
