This is a true case. Jerry Newman $($second author of this book$)$ spent $14$ months working in seven fast$-$food restaurants. He wrote about his experiences in the book My Secret Life on the McJob $($McGraw$-$Hill, $2007).$ This is a description of events in one store$-$which we'll call "Burger Boy."

$\backslash$table$[[,,,,$Avg Hrs$/],[$Person$,$Job Title,Base Salary,Other Wage Information,Wk$],[$Otls$,$Assistant Store Manager,$34k,$Exempt $($no overtime pay$),55],[$Leon$,$Shift Supervisor,$23k,$Nonexempt,$55],[$Marge$,$Crew Member $($fries$),$$$\frac{6\mathrm{.}25}{h}r,$Nonexempt,$30],[$Me$,$Cook,$$\frac{6\mathrm{.}50}{h}r,$Nonexempt,$20],[$Chuck$,$Drive$-$Through Window,$$\frac{7\mathrm{.}00}{h}r,$Nonexempt,$30],[$Lucy$,$Sandwich Assembler,$$\frac{7\mathrm{.}00}{h}r,$Nonexempt,$35]]$

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It's a hot Friday in Florida, and lunch rush is just beginning. Chuck is working the pay window and is beginning to grouse about the low staffing for what is traditionally the busiest day of the week. "Where the heck is LaVerne?" he yells to no one. Chuck has only worked here for six weeks but has prior experience at another Burger Boy. Marge, typically working the fries station $($the easiest job at this Burger Boy$),$ has been pressed into service on the front drive$-$through window because two of $10$ scheduled workers have called in sick. She can handle the job when business is slow, but she clearly is getting flustered as more cars enter the drive$-$through line. I$\text{'}$m cooking, my third day on job, but my first one alone. I've worked the grill for $10$ years as a volunteer at Aunt Rosie's Women's Fast$-$Pitch Softball Tournament, but nothing prepared me for the volume of business we will do today. By $11$:$30$ l've got the grill full of burgers. Lucy is going full$-$speed trying to keep up with sandwich assembly and wrapping. She's the best assembler the place has and would be a supervisor if she could just keep from self$-$destructing. Yesterday she lit a can of vegetable spray with a lighter and danced around the floor, an arc of flame shooting out from the can. She thinks this is funny. Everyone else thinks she's nuts. But she's rumored to be a friend of the manager, Nancy, so everyone keeps quiet.

"Marge, you've got to get moving girl. The line's getting longer. Move girl, move," shouts Otis, unfazed by the fact that Marge really isn't good enough to work the window and clearly is showing signs of heavy stress. "I'll help her," chimes in Chuck. "I can work the pay window, then run up front to help Marge when she gets way behind." Otis says nothing and goes back to the office where he begins to count the morning receipts for the breakfast rush.

My job as cook also includes cooking baked potatoes in the oven and cooking chicken in the pressure cooker, so I have little time to do anything besides stay on top of my job. Finally, at noon, in comes Leon. He will replace Otis at three, but for now he is a sorely needed pair of hands on the second sandwich assembly board. Leon looks over at me and shouts above the din, "Good job, Jerry. Keeping up with Friday rush on your third cooking day. Good job." That's the first compliment l've received in the two weeks l've worked here, so I smile at the unexpected recognition. By $12$:$30$ we're clearly all frazzled. Even with Chuck's help, Marge falls farther behind. She is now making mistakes on orders in her effort to get food out the drive$-$through window quickly. Otis comes barreling up front from the office and shouts for everyone to hear: "We're averaging $3$:$05($minutes$)$ on drive time. Someone's in trouble if we don't get a move on$."$ He says this while staring directly at Marge. Everyone knows that drive times $($the amount of time from an order being placed until the customer receives it$)$ should be about $2$:$30($two minutes, thirty seconds$).$ In my head

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$($minutes$)$ on drive time. Someone's in trouble if we don't get a move on$."$ He says this while staring directly at Marge. Everyone knows that drive times $($the amount of time from an order being placed until the customer receives it$)$ should be about $2$:$30($two minutes, thirty seconds$).$ In my head I do some mental math. The normal staffing for a Friday is $13$ people $($including management$).$ Because of absenteeism we're working with eight, including Otis and Leon. By noon Marge is crying, but she stays at it$.$ And finally things begin to slow at $1$ p$.$m$.$ We know rush is officially over when Lucy tells Leon she's "going to the can." This starts a string of requests for rest breaks that are interrupted by Otis, "All right, for God's sake. Here's the order of breaks." He points to people in turn, with me being next to last, and Marge going last. After Lucy, Chuck is second, and the others fill in the gap ahead of me$.$ When my turn finally comes I resolve to break quickly, taking only $6$ minutes instead of the allotted $10.$ When I return Otis sneers at me and chides, "What was that, about a half hour?" I snap