Here in California we have In-n-Out burgers. When you go inside, you’ll see a blizzard of employees; all smiling, talking and working at a rapid pace in their clean white uniforms. It’s really a different experience when compared to the average fast food joint, which is staffed by maybe 4-6 employees.
We don’t have them here, but I have found that the people in the places we do have are almost always friendly, and the orders are usually right. The oil boom here brought wages up for folks in the fast food industry, and I’m sure they are trying to keep their jobs and business, now that the boom has died.
I noticed the same thing here and was impressed at the work ethic on display. It all comes down to management ethos.
Looking back at my years in the food business it’s the tough managers who I remember teaching me the most. Most of them were natural hard-arses and felt NO guilt demanding performance (and firing unwilling workers). Nothing worse for morale than a wimpy boss.