OAK BROOK, Ill. – McDonald’s has shut down its internal employee resource website, McResource Line, after yet more embarrassing internal information was made public. In this case, it was a series of pages advising McDonald’s employees to forage in the wild to obtain food they otherwise cannot afford on their McDonald’s salary.
“We know that, as a McDonald’s employee, you may have trouble feeding your family,” read the welcome page of the Foraging FunZone section of the McResource Line website. “Just follow these simple foraging tips and strategies, however, and you, too, can fill the bellies of those you love!” The Foraging FunZone included tips in such food-gathering categories as dumpster diving, rat trapping, edible insects, and the nutritional value of different molds and fungi found in the wild.
The Foraging FunZone is just the latest feature of the McResource Line to gain infamy. In July, the site posted a budget-planning guide that didn’t account for food and gasoline and implied that employees had a second job in order to make ends meet. Earlier in December, NBC News reported that the McResource Line provided tips on how much a McDonald’s employee should tip a housekeeper, pool cleaner, or au pair. Most recently it was revealed that the site included the suggestion that employees avoid eating McDonald’s food, going so far as to label a typical McDonald’s meal with the caption ‘Unhealthy choice.’
“Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooking,” read the site. “While convenient and economical for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt and may put people at risk for becoming overweight.”
“We care about our employees,” said J. Ben Stringfellow, Vice President of Communications for McDonald’s USA. “Teaching them how to fend for themselves and not be so reliant on us for the basic necessities of life just seemed like the right thing to do. We’ve already warned them to stay away from our food, how else do people expect them to eat on minimum wage?”
