SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Jerry Newman recently found himself demoted from university professor teaching graduate students in management to short order cook flipping burgers at fast food restaurants ÂN by choice.
A project four years in the making reached completion days before Christmas when Newman's book, "My Secret Life on the McJob: Lessons from Behind the Counter Guaranteed to Supersize Any Management Style," hit select bookstores for the first time.
The book is a written record of his experiences working undercover as an employee at seven fast food restaurants, and is comprised of lessons about leadership and life.
"I know what it is to work fast food, I've done it all my life," Newman said, who worked fast food while attending the University of Michigan. "It's hard work."
Clocking in at Burger King, McDonald's, Arby's, Wendy's and Krystal in Michigan, Florida and locally in the Buffalo area, Newman worked at each job for about three weeks, totaling 45 hours at each. Following each three to four hour shift, usually during the lunch rush, he returned home to record his experiences in a diary.
A single McDonald's sandwich served as inspiration for the venture.
After spending a Saturday morning teaching his then 17-year-old daughter how to drive, they stopped at a local McDonald's for breakfast. When his daughter unwrapped her bacon and egg cheeseburger and found what looked like a condom, Newman went into teacher mode, demanding to speak to the management.
The foreign object turned out to be the tip of a sanitary glove, and Newman became curious to discover how a mistake like that could have been made.
Even now, he isn't sure. He guesses it might have been a result of tired teens and the games they play to relieve boredom. As a worker, he witnessed many games of "pickle Frisbee" and contests to see who could gulp the most from the milkshake machine before experiencing a brain freeze.
UB granted a sabbatical for the first semester of the unique experiment - drastically different from the traditional research of professors in his field -N allowing Newman to start his crazy scheme. Only, no one would hire him.
It wasn't until he changed his title from "university professor" to "college teacher" that he was granted an interview and hired at a local fast food restaurant.
His first day on the job, Newman recalls being more nervous than he has in his entire life.
"Pressure is when you have a line of 15 people and you're a new trainee, and they're starting to grumble," he said. "I had to use every bit of experience I've ever developed."
At six feet four inches tall, Newman herniated three discs in his back while undercover. He also continued the project even after undergoing a hip replacement operation for reasons unrelated to working fast food.
To keep from being fired at a job most would consider demeaning for a distinguished professor, Newman knew he needed to check his ego at the door.
"I mopped floors, cleaned dirty dishes, cut my finger once," he said. "For the most part I was able to do what I was told."
Some of the lessons he learned were simple: if you're not reliable, you get fired. He was also surprised to learn how hard working fast food workers are, especially under pressure. Many of them were young, intelligent individuals simply figuring out their next step in life, but seen by their employers as disposable labor units.
With the exception of one particularly difficult manager, females always made better managers than males. He says they were much better at being what he calls, "ego-architects." They were able to make each worker feel important. Male managers, on the other hand, were generally the least trusting of their employees.
Being an "ego-architect," as opposed to an "ego-undertaker," is an essential quality in a good manager, according to Newman.
"Figure out a way to make people feel good about themselves," he said.
Newman said liked working at the front counter the most, which allowed him to directly interact with the customers, as opposed to standing in an assembly line for hours. He describes himself as "a guy who can eat a good burger," and his favorite fast food item remains Burger King's Whopper.
Since its release a month ago the book is slowly gaining momentum, especially after receiving a rave review in The Wall Street Journal from former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. It is currently being translated into Korean and Chinese.
"I knew I had some good stuff," Newman said, who was two years into the project before McGraw-Hill publishing company purchased the book. He has continued his experiment even after completing the book and is considering doing something in another industry for a follow up book.
"The world's gone crazy," he said. "It's wonderful."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
