In our country, accidents caused by the obsession with being fast have been a continuously troubling problem. One of the biggest issues in 2011 was caused by the 30-minute delivery guarantee rule of Dominos. A teenage pizza delivery rider died on the spot after being hit by a bus. The pizza company’s ‘delivery time guarantee’ aims to serve pizza warm by bringing it to the customers in 30 minutes. However, regardless of the company’s best intentions, the guarantee was part of an obsession with speed, which caused the tragedy.
  Five years later in 2016, a similar issue has been gaining attention. A labor union has taken action on the infamous fast-paced delivery corporation McDonald’s. The union demanded the abolition of the ‘45-second rule on making burgers’, which could easily lead to on-the-job accidents. The time limitation pressures part-time workers both mentally and physically. The union, known as the Part-Time Workers Union, is demanding the right to work in a safe workplace through collective bargaining. We have reached a former part-time worker at McDonald’s. Seok Ji-eun (Cheong-ju University) said, “Burns are inevitable. The timer alert beeps when the fries are done, and the pressuring atmosphere provokes us to make mistakes and get hurt.”
  Then, why were the ‘45-second rule on making burgers’ and ‘30-minute delivery guarantee’ made? The Part-time Workers Union suggests that McDonald’s has adapted a local custom of Korea, the speed-obsessed culture, otherwise known as ‘Bbali bbali’. Lee Ka-hyun(Head of the planning department in the Part-Time Workers Union) said, “Of course, the customer’s demand for a faster delivery is a righteous claim by delivery restaurants. Above all, granting that wish is inevitable. However, it seems that the corporation is encouraging to do so as well because fast-paced delivery leads to higher profits. In fact, a McDonalds’ event gave out free french fries if an order wasn’t ready in 10 minutes. These examples make us think that the corporations want customers to be obsessed with speed.” Trying to do everything quickly has become a habit for Koreans and it has changed our culture into a speed competition.
  Meanwhile, 30 other countries besides Korea are fighting with McDonald’s, too. Lee said “The U.S. also has part-time workers unions, and they occasionally go on strike. In Israel, those who participated in a workers’ campaign have been fired. Also, in Italy, the members of the union have been dismissed from their jobs, but they got their jobs back recently. On the upcoming April 13th, there will be an ‘International Collective Action’, in which each country must fight their own battles on the same day.”
  Then, what might be needed to solve this problem? First of all, a company’s pragmatic solution is needed.  After that, we the customers must look back on ourselves. It is the company’s fault that they used fast delivery for marketing purposes, but it is the customers who allowed it to happen. Therefore, when these two combine, the ‘fast-oriented’ custom should fade away.

By Choi Ji-su
js36@cbnu.ac.kr