The Flawed Hierarchy of Fast Food in "Gold Digger"

I was driving back to my apartment today listening to Kanye West's classic single "Gold Digger" when I realized how misleadingly it portrays the inner workings of a fast food restaurant.


Let me explain.  As a three year veteran of Arby's, I am intimately acquainted with the industry.  And, having recently had to start over to a degree by working in a new Arby's location here in Wilmington, I was reminded of what the most and least respectable positions in the store are.


But first, the relevant lines.  From verse 2:


"He got that ambition, baby.  Look at his eyes;
This week it's mopping floors, next week it's the fries."


This implies, metonymically of course, that mopping floors is the lowest position on the fast food totem pole, whereas working with fries is the highest.  And, to the layman, this may seem reasonably accurate.


But OH NO it is not and luckily you have me here to illumine the situation for you.  As a beginner at Arby's, an employee will be, as one can imagine, given the least complicated and hardest to screw up position: namely, working the fry station.  The fry station requires minimum understanding of product (since the times for how long each item should stay in the fryer are typically noted on the station), little interaction with customers, and only exists as a position for about 2-5 hours a day during lunch rush.  This means that a beginning employee can do little damage, will have little responsibility, and can be sent home fairly quickly with little reprecussions (since the fryer position is to a large degree a luxury the rest of the employees can function without).


In contrast, the positions which require the most experience and knowledge of the story are the closing positions, as each closing employee must man his/her position alone and be responsible for their own success.  Despite what Kanye apparently believes, it is these closing employees who traditionally do the mopping, as mopping is generally only required when the store has been closed.  As I worked my way up the ladder at this new Arby's, my goal was to become the drive-thru closer, a position which includes a great deal of mopping (and also a lot of fry activity).


Therefore, the actual role of the positions Kanye mentions are reversed; someone who only works on the fryer is someone who barely exists as an employee at all, whereas someone who does a lot of mopping is someone who has been trusted to close the store down.  As an added note, managers traditionally don't work fryer OR mop because they are usually charged with bagging the food during lunch rush (which is the only time when the fryer position exists) and with doing nebulous manager stuff during the closing hours when mopping takes place.

So there, Kanye.

Edit: Apparently, the line is a reference to Coming to America, which I've never seen.  While the representation of fast food is still flawed, it's no longer Kanye's fault.  Sorry, Ye.