Posted from http://garygranada.com/5%20seconds.htmMy Personal Ordeal with the Arrogant Managers of McDonald's5 seconds
My name is Gary Granada, I am a Kaalagad volunteer, and I need 5 seconds of your time to help reduce the use of styrofoam in fast food chains.
What was meant to be a nice and simple Saint Francis Day motorcade-march to McDonald’s yesterday turned out to be a nightmare. We were rudely treated by McDonald’s, to put it mildly. Weeks before, we already sought a dialogue with them to reiterate our concern regarding their reluctance to reduce their use of styrofoam, despite their pledge to seriously attend to it during our dialogue in 2002! (Jollibee said the same thing, and while we are not satisfied with their response, at least they made some effort to shift to other packaging and serving materials.)
We sent them a letter, went to their office, made follow ups, waited for a response. The most we got from them was ‘you wait for our call’. They never called, never wrote back, but verbally said they will assign representatives to receive our motorcade’s representatives.
When we got there, their representatives turned out to be the Citibank Building’s security detail. Ill-mannered and impolite, they told us that they were told by McDonald’s that they were not expecting us. One of our staff went up to their 17th floor office to find out whether they were willing to sit down and talk matters. Told to tell us to wait, we waited. The giant that it is, the bosses of McDonald’s apparently regard little children, nuns, mothers, priests and concerned consumers as their employees. We asked how long we were supposed to wait and got no straight answer. Finally they sent word for me to come up, just me, no one else. I thought these people must have seen too many spaghetti movies, perhaps they thought they had a hostage crisis. I was led to a conference room that could easily sit six or seven people and was greeted by two bright boys.
Think about it. Naglakad kami papuntang McDonald's, at pagdating namin doon, wala man lang bumaba para kausapin kami ng maayos. At pinatawag ako nitong dalawang batang managers!
It occurred to me that there were far more basic issues that plague McDonald’s than styrofoam. Like common courtesy. So I explained to these rich young rulers that the courteous thing to do was to go down, greet the delegation and ask how they may be of help. I even asked them where they were schooled, because in the public school in an obscure town where I came from, they manage to teach such things in Grade One. Their bloated bright brains must have taken up the space that was meant for their ears. It felt like talking to an electric fan.
Meanwhile I insisted that somebody from Greenpeace, the Ecowaste Coalition, Franciscan Movement for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, and the JPICC of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (our partners in the activity) be present as well. They said they can only accommodate three people at most. Fine. So I said I and our staff will go down and we will send three people up. But at the lobby, the three representatives we sent were barred by security people from proceeding, again upon McDonald’s instructions they said.
It looked hopeless.
We decided to wrap up the program when out of nowhere a condescending woman materialized and introduced herself as the media relations officer of McDonald's. She said, ‘Why don’t you go to Jollibee instead, they’re number One.’ To which Father Ben Moraleda replied, ‘We did, and at least they are doing something.’
On the side, irked by her audacity, Fr. Ben quipped, ‘And please take that hand of yours off my shoulder, I don’t like you.’
And all that commotion for a very simple and very reasonable plan: that McDonald’s reduce the use of styrofoam by 50% within one year. McDonald’s has once again demonstrated its arrogance and incapacity to appreciate the sincere and constructive efforts of common folks to protect our environment. Unlike them, we do not make money doing what little we can to help make things a little better for everybody.
5 seconds, that’s all I ask of you to help reduce the use of styrofoam. Sa mundo ng mga mayayabang, papansinin lang nila tayo kung tayo ay maninindigan. Take 5 seconds to think twice before choosing where to dine or order food.
WHEN YOU HAVE A CHOICE, DON’T CHOOSE MCDONALD’S
I feel sad for that woman and those two young managers. So young, so successful, so ahead of their game, so privileged; so rude, so arrogant, so lacking in character, so bland. And I have since stopped wondering why their burgers taste the way they do.
------------<>------------ It will take a bit longer than 5 seconds, but it will go a long way if you can email this page to friends. Thank you for your time~
Gary Granada
7 October, 2006
------------<>------------We have some people asking if the story about my ordeal with McDonald's is just one malicious smudge campaign. So I feel compelled to post this letter which is actually a reply to one email I got regarding the issue. Two things: One, it is quite understandable that people are skeptical about such things (I myself hate spams and cons) and that is fine, we should by all means verify sources before forwarding messages. Two, I am not entirely an obscure person in the advertising industry, I make jingles and did the music for two Ad Congresses including the last one. It is against my personal interest to be at odds with people who regularly employ advertising to sell their goods and wares. But one needs to draw the line somewhere, as they say.
Hi Niva,
In 2002, we had separate dialogues with both McDonald's and Jollibee. We specifically suggested for them to create an Ecolane, where people who bring their own plates may be accommodated. We even held a small activity with Jollibee in SM where kids brought their own plates, spoons and forks.
Sometime after that, Jollibee replaced their styrofoam plates with washable reusable plastic baskets which are better we thought (This was of course not as a result of our dialogue alone, many groups have been working on the issue of plastics and styrofoam)
Both Jollibee and McDonald's were less than accommodating, both did not bother to look into the possibility of the Ecolane. So we shifted our campaign to schools, explaining to students and school administrators the ill effects of using disposable non-biodegradable materials. (We have a simple module and a makeshift exhibit for aids)
After four years, we thought we needed to go back to institutional advocacy and press for a zero-use of styrofoam in three years. The usage extent does not matter at the moment, as we were using a percentage tracking platform : reduce to 50 on the first year, then 20 on the second year, then 0 within three years.
To kick off the campaign, we decided to start where we started: McDonald's.
And that's what happened. It would have been nice if McDonald's accommodated us and explained to us what they were doing to precisely address the issue. But they completely ignored us.
As such, this has gone beyond styrofoam. We need to persuade big business to be mindful of public sentiment, hopefully in a cooperative way, but sadly, in this case, through a more tedious way since McDonald's is too arrogant to listen.
My suggestion is to organize a real effective consumer movement to force big corporations to behave accordingly and remind them that their single-minded profit-driven imaginations may be tolerated up to a point, but always subservient to public welfare.
McDonald's is a giant, it will not be hurt by people like me, but if get organized, we can at least bring manners and humility to these people, and who knows that might bring some real change in policy and praxis.
-Gary
10 October 2006
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