**Topeka, Kansas** – A 19-year-old McDonald’s crew member was fast-tracked to management last Tuesday after accomplishing what corporate engineers, maintenance technicians, and three different repair companies had failed to do over the past three years: fixing the restaurant’s perpetually broken ice cream machine.
Tyler Hendricks, who started working at the East 29th Street location six months ago, discovered the solution while cleaning behind the machine during his closing shift. “I was just wiping down back there and noticed this crusty old ketchup packet was somehow wedged into the cooling vent,” Hendricks explained. “I pulled it out, and suddenly the thing started humming like it was brand new. Turns out Ronald McDonald really doesn’t like Heinz.” The machine, a temperamental Taylor C602 model, had become so notorious that the location’s drive-thru workers had developed an elaborate system of hand signals to warn each other when customers ordered McFlurries, allowing them to brace for the inevitable disappointment.
Store manager Patricia Wilkins, 47, immediately called the district office after witnessing Hendricks successfully serve three consecutive Oreo McFlurries without incident. “I’ve been in this business for 23 years, and I’ve seen crew members do some impressive things – like memorizing the entire menu in Spanish or handling a bus full of soccer moms without crying – but this was supernatural,” Wilkins said. “Corporate told me they’d been budgeting $50,000 annually just for repair visits to our location alone.” District supervisor Mark Rodriguez confirmed that Hendricks would be managing the store’s new “Frozen Dessert Excellence Division,” a position created specifically to ensure the ice cream machine remains operational.
The promotion comes with a $3 hourly raise and the responsibility of training other McDonald’s employees across the region in proper ice cream machine maintenance. Corporate has already scheduled Hendricks for a speaking engagement at next month’s regional managers’ conference, where he’ll present his revolutionary “Check Behind the Machine for Random Food Items” methodology.