9 Celebs Who Were Fired From Fast Food (And 6 Who Should've Been)
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Fast food restaurants are notorious for their high turnover. One thing is absolutely certain, and that is that you can always find a gig flipping burgers or saying “do you want fries with that?” There’s nothing at all wrong with these jobs and it is the people working in fast food that are the unsung heroes of a world full of people that either don’t cook or don’t want to cook! Because there are so many of these jobs, it may not surprise you to learn that many celebrities got their start proudly wearing the uniform of a fast food restaurant or two!
But while it is not overly difficult to secure a job working in the fast food industry, it must be even easier to keep such a job, right? Wrong! It turns out that these ten celebrities have to check “yes” on any job application that asks the question: “Have you ever been terminated from a place of employment?” Ok, so they may not be filling out any applications soon and are laughing about it by this point, but there’s no denying that in these cases, they were fired from a fast food job in their past. There’s also five that admit how terrible they were and definitely should have been let go as well.
15. Madonna - Fired From Dunkin Donuts
Before she became an international pop music and acting icon, Madonna had to pay the bills like the rest of us. She spent her early years working in Times Square at a Dunkin Donuts. Apparently, Madonna wasn’t the greatest of employees for the donut and coffee giant. Reports say that she was actually fired from the job after squirting jelly filling from the donuts on customers! It is kind of hard to imagine what she was doing that could have caused such an accident not once but multiple times. It all worked out for Madonna though, having rocked and shocked the world many times over the years and establishing herself as one of the foremost names in pop music. She’s no slouch on screen either, winning a Golden Globe for Best Actress in the movie Evita.
14. Kate Walsh - Fired From Burger King
Kate Walsh is perhaps best known for her work as Dr. Addison Montgomery on the ABC series Grey’s Anatomy. She was also Judge Rebecca Wright on the one season wonder Bad Judge on NBC. But while being a “bad judge” may seem completely out of character for Walsh, it turns out that years ago, she was a bad Burger King employee! Walsh claims today that she was fired from Burger King because the Assistant Manager didn’t like her, but that may not be the whole truth. Burger King is known by the slogan “have it your way” but in her case, I guess that doesn’t translate the same to the staff. She didn’t stay out of fast food long though, heading over to Dairy Queen where she apparently had a more prosperous career.
13. Russell Simmons - Fired From Orange Julius
Producer and entrepreneur Russell Simmons is worth over $300 million today! The Def Jam magnate has carved out his place in history and today is regarded as a force to be reckoned with among business professionals. But Simmons is very open and honest about his younger years, admitting to having worked for a brief time at an Orange Julius store. Orange Julius has been selling delicious fruit drinks for over 90 years, but in a month’s time Simmons proved that he didn’t have what it takes to make the cut as an employee. He took the job making $2.25 an hour, but was fired after only a month. Simmons doesn’t argue the fact, using it as proof that you have to find inspiration in work. I suppose the delicious flavors and happiness it brings to its customers wasn’t enough inspiration for Simmons.
12. Nicki Minaj - Fired From Red Lobster
Hip Hop diva Nicki Minaj has made a lasting impression upon the world. She has made her mark on both the music industry as well as Hollywood, playing roles in a number of films. She’s in commercials, all over the radio and has even performed a few sketches on Saturday Night Live! It’s really not all that difficult to imagine Nicki as a sharp-tongued, highly opinionated woman. So by that logic, it’s not hard to imagine her getting fired from a Red Lobster due to inappropriate behavior toward customers. When she was a teenager, Nicki was a waitress at Red Lobster. When a couple that had been dining took her pen, she followed them out into the parking lot and then flipped them off! You can imagine that she was promptly fired but don’t worry... things work out for her in the end.
11. Pharrell Williams - Fired From McDonald’s
It is bad enough to get fired from a job once. But in the case of musician Pharrell Williams, he was fired from McDonald’s a whopping three times! To set the record straight, it wasn’t the same restaurant three times, but three different locations. Some may say that Pharrell was asking for it when he kept applying to the restaurant over and over again. Today, he admits his shortcomings in the fast food industry claiming that he was a very lazy employee. Pharrell stated that he really wasn’t good at doing much at Mickey D’s except eating the McNuggets. While he wasn’t all that “happy” working the fast food life, Pharrell has gone on to have some great successes in the music industry and surely has learned to have a better work ethic.
10. Nick Cannon - Fired From Weinerschitzel
For those that don’t know, Weinerschitzel is a fast food restaurant whose corporate headquarters are in Newport Beach, California. This popular fast food chain is known for its chili cheese hot dogs. When Nick Cannon was a teenager, his mother apparently required that he get a job. So like other good teenagers looking for work, he looked to the world of fast food. Cannon found a job working the drive-thru at his local Weinerschitzel. The future actor, comedian, rapper and host of America’s Got Talent established himself as a “people person” right away, but may have been a little too much of a people person. Cannon was fired by his boss for telling too many jokes to his customers! He’s laughing now, but may not have been quite so happy about it at the time.
9. Seal - Fired From McDonald’s
Seal has established himself as a giant in the music business with the voice of an absolute angel. This Grammy Award winning artist has sold more than 30 million records all over the world! Making appearances on television shows and in films, he’s proven himself to be a real go-getter and a major hustler, but he’s also proven that you have to love your work. While it is not clear if Seal quit or got fired, it is very clear that he hated his time at McDonald’s! Stating that he only lasted two weeks, he didn’t hang around the restaurant long enough to develop a deep complex against fast food. Two weeks was more than enough for Seal to realize that fast food was not exactly his cup of tea.
8. Jon Gosselin - Fired From Black Dog Cafe
In this case, the restaurant closed, forcing former reality star Jon Gosselin out of the door. Gosselin, who is famous from his and ex-wife Kate Gosselin’s series Jon and Kate Plus Eight, has fallen hard out of the spotlight. He was caught cheating on his wife and from that point, fell out of the good graces of the public. Jon is pretty cool with being a reality has-been and isn’t trying to rest on his celebrity. He left the IT field and got hired as the maitre d for the Black Dog Cafe in Stouchsburg, Pennsylvania. While this isn’t fast food, it is a far cry from the celebrity life with which he had become accustomed. Not too long after, the restaurant closed down due to a lack of financial resources. Word is that Gosselin is working at a TGI Friday’s in addition to working as a DJ.
7. Pink - Fired From Wendy’s
Alicia Beth Moore, better known by her stage name “Pink” has been on the music scene for a few decades now and shows no signs of slowing down. While she is on top of the world today, her upbringing was like most other folks. As a youngster, Pink worked a variety of fast food jobs including McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Amazingly, she wasn’t fired from McDonald’s despite her absolutely horrible work ethic. She explains that she would smoke at the drive-thru window and give freebies to her friends. Pink actually admitted to tripping on acid when opening the store! Despite this, it was Wendy’s where she only lasted an hour and a half, when she was given the task of making the french fries. It’s unclear if she quit or was fired, but 90 minutes has to be some kind of a record!
6. Jennifer Aniston - Bad Jackson Hole Employee
The first instance of a star who probably should have been fired, but wasn’t is none other than the delightful Jennifer Aniston. When she was getting started, before she was Rachel Green from Friends, Aniston worked a few different jobs to pay the bills. One job she recalls was waiting tables at a Jackson Hole restaurant in New York City. As she tells it, she was not a particularly good waitress, spilling food on customers more than once! She says that she owed a lot to the management of the restaurant, who would always give her a job again when she came back after a few months working an acting job. It’s a good thing acting finally paid off for her, or even more people may have ended up with food in their laps.
5. James Franco - Bad McDonald’s Employee
James Franco has written extensively about his experience as a McDonald’s employee. Franco, who has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, has established himself as a master actor and even teacher! He has taught acting classes at multiple prestigious film schools, as well as Palo Alto High School. But it was McDonald’s that gave James Franco his start. He claims that he wasn’t the best employee, sneaking the cheeseburgers that were under the warming lamp too long as well as the apple pies. Apparently, James would use the working experience to practice different accents for his acting classes. He’d use those accents on customers as they placed their order. He wrote about his McDonald’s experience extensively, admitting that he was not exactly employee of the month material.
4. Eva Mendes - Bad Hot Dog On A Stick Employee
Eva Mendes is known as one of Hollywood’s greatest beauties. While her beauty is absolutely heart stopping, you would think that she may have gotten work early as a model. It may come as a surprise though to discover that she was extremely excited to get a job working in fast food as early as age 15! She was excited about working and quickly got a job working at a pizza place in the mall, a job that she liked very much. Then she made the move to a place called Hot Dog on a Stick that was also in the mall. She recalls not having been the best employee there, not enjoying it as much as the pizza place. Either way, she still loved working, which is fantastic all by itself!
3. Mariah Carey - Bad The Boathouse Cafe Employee
Mariah Carey is one of the great divas of the music world. She has won countless awards, including five Grammy Awards. Mariah is known for her amazing vocal range that is virtually unmatched by anyone else in the industry. She is also known to have a bit of an attitude, giving her a clear claim to the diva title. With this information, it is not shocking to discover that when she waited tables years ago at The Boathouse Cafe, she was known to have the same diva attitude with customers and other employees. A good attitude is incredibly important when dealing with the public and perhaps Mariah needed a lesson or two at the time. Surely she has learned at least a little about positive social interaction over the years.
2. Paul Ryan - Bad McDonald’s Employee
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Congressman Paul Ryan has done so much in his life. He has run for President of the United States, been the Vice Presidential nominee in 2012 and is currently just two heartbeats away from the White House, as Speaker of the House. Ryan frequently speaks about his upbringing when on the campaign trail and making speeches. In these speeches, Ryan recounts his time working at McDonald’s in his youth. While he wasn’t necessarily a bad employee, the way he puts it, his manager didn’t feel that he was able to handle working the register because he was quiet and introverted. He must have found a good way around that, because now communicating with people is the central part of his job. His manager sorely misjudged that one.
1. Rachel McAdams - Bad McDonald’s Employee
Hollywood A-lister Rachel McAdams is incredibly talented and wildly attractive. Starring in a variety of blockbuster films, she has made a name for herself as Hollywood royalty. But when talking about her youth, she is quick to discuss the three years she spent working at McDonald’s. She doesn’t have anything bad to say about the restaurant, but the Canadian actress recalled that she is very surprised she wasn’t fired. McAdams claims honestly that she wasn’t exactly their best employee. She says she broke the orange juice machine, was slow and was really only good at being the voice welcoming people when they walked into the restaurant. She also admits that she was a bit obsessive about washing her hands, which didn’t help her slowness either. But despite all this, she worked at Mickey D’s for three long years!
Sources: US Weekly, People
