Day 191 - 24 Nov 95 - Page 05
1
2 Q. Right. "Everything I have written is true and correct, as
3 far as I can remember. Yours sincerely, Mr. K.J. Baker";
4 and that is signed and dated 24th July, 1993. Can you
5 confirm that you made this statement?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. Is it true?
9 A. Yes, as far as I can remember, yes.
10
11 Q. Right. Could you just say briefly how you came to leave
12 McDonald's?
13 A. In my view, I was wrongly dismissed. I was working a
14 double shift at the request of the Manager; we were short
15 staffed. I was entitled to two breaks and two allocations
16 of foods. I had one break during the day and had my cards
17 signed by the Manager. In the evening, when I had my other
18 break, the Area Supervisor, Terry Eagle, was there. He
19 stated that I had already had a food allocation, what I was
20 doing was theft, and told me that after my break to clock
21 back in, come and see him -- "We will clock you out. You
22 are, you know, sacked for theft."
23
24 Q. Was that the last you heard from the Company, or did they
25 have some further contact with you?
26 A. I was contacted the next day by my Manager,
27 Chris O'Brien, saying that, as far as he was concerned, my
28 job was safe and I could come back to work. But, as far as
29 I was concerned and as far as the Company was concerned, as
30 far as I knew, I had been sacked by an Area Supervisor and
31 I had to be reinstated by either an Area Supervisor or
32 somebody higher.
33
34 Q. So, did you ever go back to McDonald's after Mr. -----
35 A. Not to work, no.
36
37 Q. How did you feel about being dismissed under those
38 circumstances?
39 A. I was upset at the time. It is just one of those
40 things. It is a dead end job, really; it does not go
41 anywhere.
42
43 Q. So do you bear a grudge against McDonald's as a result?
44 A. No.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: I have a couple of questions. You said you were
47 constantly harassed about the speed of your work -- well,
48 the crew members were. Can you just explain what you mean
49 by that? How were you harassed?
50 A. They always wanted us to go faster. They wanted it
51 faster, tidier, better, all the time. They just --
52 whatever you were doing, they wanted it done five minutes
53 ago. It was -----
54
55 Q. How were you harassed? Was it just advice, or -----
56 A. Management would keep saying: "You have got to get
57 that done now. I have got to have you doing this. You
58 have got to have this done. You have to do this."
59
60 Q. Did you consider that you were working fast enough or you
