Kuwait Times

Published Date: August 24, 2007
By Muna Al-Fuzai, Staff columnist

Fast food restaurants are a part of the Kuwaiti style of living and many countries around the world. This is the meal that everyone love to share and eat no matter how old or young they were. But how many times did you think about those who cook those burgers for you and what are the conditions they have to accommodate with. Even maybe how clean and happy they are, and above all are they following any international standards when it comes to their wage?

Today, one of those staff workers talks about his problems and calls for more understanding and appreciation. The below email explains how a nice smile that the staff carry can hide a lot of suffering and a story to tell. Let's see what a burger man thinks.

Dear Muna,

It's becoming more uncomfortable now working in a fast food restaurant here in Kuwait. This is what we go through in our everyday job. I would like to ask for your opinion on our problems. I hope that you will continue reading this and looking forward to reading your own opinion regarding this.

Our company always asserts that customer satisfaction is their goal. But who is serving the customer? Who keep the restaurant clean? And who smiles and greets the customers to show them that they are welcomed? They are us, the employees, the staff and the managers, right madam? We are the base of the restaurant but we are not satisfied for some reasons.

The very first thing is the unjust salary! As the minimum wage for one person is just about 313fils per hour, or KD 65.104 a month, I think this is not fair, and I know that every crew and manager would agree with that!!!

I think that Kuwait's labor law gives now an increase to all people working in Kuwait, especially to all maids (khadamas) but we are not maids, we are the staff that work in fast food restaurants! We don't just serve the customers and clean the tables, we are also required to follow high standards set by the management and it is difficult to do so! Now we lack staff and managers in every store in Kuwait because many resign due to low pay and heavy work load.

As for the high standards, lacking staff affects the standards of any store. Having just two or three waiters on a fast food counter certainly delay the service, right? As in the kitchen, there are also two or three persons that preparing the meat and making all the burgers. So how can you say that the standards are met? If a staff member have certain responsibilities then those responsibilities are doubled, what will happen next? They would neglect his/her work.

Serving the customers would become inconvenient, too many people would wait till they are served. This could be done more smoothly if there were enough employees working from the first place! All we want is just and fair salary!

We also hope that people would understand. Only if you have worked in a fast food restaurant, that you will know that I am right. Have you ever experienced standing a minimum of nine hours a day or sometimes more? Have you ever experienced taking orders for a long time from many customers in the sun? Have you ever experienced being shouted at by a customer in front of many people? Have you ever experienced rushing to make burger and serving many people in the same time due to shortage in working staff? I h
ope you will never not experience that.

These are just few examples of the many problems we are experiencing, and the only thing we hope to get is a fair salary. Forget about the problems that we encounter every day, we only want to see that we are not cheated in our monthly salary for the services that we render in Kuwait! I hope that you understand!!!.... Muna, thank you very, very much!
Cordially yours,

A concerned employee

My dear burger man,

I understand your agony and the pain you all feel because you are obviously a hard worker person, but at the end of the day you don't receive what you expect. There is appreciation from the management or from the people you serve. You want better salary based on dedication at work, what you do and how long do you work for.

Fast food restaurants are one of the few places where you can witness a big smile on the faces of their staff all the time. The minute you walk into any fast food restaurant you find someone who is eager to assist you so you can enjoy your meal as soon as possible. I agree that salaries should be set based on the job. But, I wonder why those employees don't have a union or a society to represent them or gather to call for their rights and make their requests possible?

It is obviously all they want is a better pay that match with their hard work . Maybe this letter will be as eye opener and a wakeup call that will be answered soon. Don't lose hope. You are all doing a wonderful job.

muna@kuwaittimes.net