They’re McClueless!
Fast-food giant McDonald’s posted an out-of-touch holiday etiquette guide on its employee website that gave low-wage burger-flippers suggestions on how much to tip their pool boys, au pairs and personal trainers.
The McDonald’s site suggested workers tip their au pairs with “a gift from your family (or one week’s pay), plus a small gift from your child,” their housekeeper with “one day’s pay,” and their pool cleaner with the “cost of one cleaning,” CNBC reported Friday.
The irony comes after Mickey D’s workers in several states staged protests over their meager wages.
A low-paid manager at a Bushwick McDonald’s scoffed at the advice.
“I can’t afford to tip waiters at restaurants,” he said. “If they pay me more, I’ll tip people!”
The website, called “McResources,” also listed suggestions for how much McDonald’s workers should tip their dog walkers and massage therapists.
US food-prep workers average $9 per hour, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics — meaning anyone whipping up Happy Meals is highly unlikely to need advice on tipping their masseuse.
The McResources guide also helpfully suggested the following tips, according to NBC:
- Beauty-salon staff should get “$10 to $60 each, giving most to those who give most to you, plus possibly a small gift.”
- Day-care providers should get tipped “$25 to $70 each, plus a small gift from your child. If only one or two providers, consider higher range amount.”
- Garage attendants should get “$10 to $30 each, to be distributed by manager.”
McDonald’s has an impressive history of highlighting its workers’ low wages with tone-deaf advice.
In July, the company took flak for giving a monthly financial planning guide to employees that included just $20 for health insurance and zero cash allotted for food.
And just last month, McDonald’s was criticized for giving employees advice on how to get out of holiday debt — including returning unopened purchases and bringing sack lunches to work.
A spokeswoman for McDonald’s — which sells $27 billion worth of chow a year — said the content was provided by a third-party partner and quotes etiquette guru Emily Post.
“We continue to review the resource and will ask the vendor to make changes as needed.”