I say to McDonalds “the truth hurts.” And why should a business be so touchy? In my view, that is unprofessional behavior. No one expects a fast-food restaurant to be anything but a low-paying job for young people, or uneductated, unskilled people. The same can be said for all fast-food chains. Only the franchisee or the manager make a living wage.

If people need a better-paying job, they need postsecondary education, or wealthy parents, or a trade.

It would probably be more effective, in campaigning against a word, not to use the word within the campaign itself…

Besides, the OED doesn’t control or create words, it reflects usages and neologisms. McDonald’s repeated use of the term only gives it further cites.

I’ve never worked in Burgerworld, but from what I hear from friends who have, Wendy’s is a far worse place to work than Scrawny Ronnie’s. Of all the McJobs around where I grew up, the ones at McDonalds were actually far better than most, because there were regular pay reviews and increases. I spent five summers (1991-1995) slinging ice cream for a local franchise and my only increases over the first three summers came as a result of increases to the min. wage ($4.35-$4.75) and promotions to supervisor ($5.50) in the fourth and assistant manager ($7.00–but it would’ve been $6.25 had I not insisted on more) in the fifth. The only reason the McJob name has stuck is the catchiness of McDonald’s own ad campaigns and marketing tricks, McThis, McThat. Big McDeal.

It is interesting that many people have not actually worked for McDonald’s and yet they think they can comment. Where do you think Managers come from if it isn’t from the ranks of the “unskilled” workers? McDonald’s offers OTJ training and business classes that are equal to college courses. When a person completes the courses they earn real college credits. McDonald’s offers opportunities to people that may otherwise not know what they are capable of achieving. They may not have the means or ability to just run off to College. It offers opportunities to people that are unsure of what they want to do, from the teenage mom to unemployed Intel workers. There is money to be made at the Management level. By learning from the ground floor and moving up in the ranks a person gains knowledge and experience that is always transferable to any leadership position with any company. Yes, McJob may be grounded in McMarketing, but the word should be defined correctly and not be Mcmisrepresented.

I worked at Mc Donalds throughout much of highschool and I can tell you that the so called “opportunities” available to the employees are slim to none. It is like any low end food service/retail job, low pay, high tunrover, and often dehumanizing. I worked there for three years and after my experiences, I will never work in food service again. All that talk about “awesome opportunities” is just so much propaganda. Rob in Victoria is right on when he mentions that the OED doesn’t create, but rather reflects word usages. To force the OED to change the meaning into something that makes McDonalds happier would only be a lie. People know what McJob means; they know it doesn’t mean doctor or teacher or world leader.
I remember the “awesome opportunities” spiel givien to all the new employees on training day, I have yet to hear a larger pile of BS than what was given to us on that day. Questionable workplace safety training and procedures aside, nobody dreams of being employed in their own McJob one day, and rising up the McLadder of managerial positions to plateau at middle management.