The Fast Food Restaurant Rachel McAdams Worked At Before Becoming Famous
She's been a Time Traveler's Wife, a Mean Girl, and a Wedding Crasher. She spent Midnight in Paris, entered the Eurovision Song Contest, and was an avid Notebook keeper. Rachel McAdams has worn a lot of hats over the years, but one particular red-and-yellow accessory still stands out. "I worked at the local McDonald's for three years," McAdams told The New York Times in 2008. "I'm not sure why they kept me: I am something of a daydreamer and a dawdler, so they would only let me be the 'friendly voice' that greeted you when you entered the restaurant."
McAdams explained to Glamour that working at McDonald's, which she did for three years from the age of 16, was a family affair — her sister and brother worked there as well, and at one point, her sister was her manager. "It was a great place to work, but I had a little bit of an OCD thing with hand washing and just didn't have the time. They were like, 'Hey, the drive-thru's backing up! Stop washing your hands!'"
McAdams admits that, one day on the job, she broke an orange juice machine. And she confessed to The New York Times that she would get so caught up in organizing sweet-and-sour packets in a customer's to-go bag that the line for orders would stretch out the door. Perhaps it was McDonald's that gently encouraged McAdams to explore another profession — and we have the chain to thank for giving her to us on the big screen.
McAdams put the "Mc" in McNuggets
McAdams is not alone. According to Business Insider, there are plenty of other celebrities that have spent some time under the golden arches, and it doesn't sound like many of them ever made the employee-of-the-month wall. Musician and record producer Pharrell Williams was fired three times from the fast-food chain (explaining that his only strength was his ability to consume chicken nuggets), and singer Seal quit as soon as he got his first paycheck — citing an ugly brown uniform that was two sizes too small as a grievance.
Would McAdams ever consider reprising her early role as a fry cook and sweet-and-sour sauce sorter? There is no way to know for sure. McAdams is notoriously social media-shy (via People), and there's every possibility that her success in Hollywood means she may not care to return to flipping burgers and breaking orange juice machines. One of McAdams' early hits, "Wedding Crashers," is rumored to be getting a sequel soon, according to Parade. And Deadline tells us production has wrapped on an adaptation of the book "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret," which also stars the actress, so chances are she's too busy to consider a career change anyway.
But when Glamour asked McAdams what she'd be doing, if not acting, she did tell the magazine that she'd enjoy running a restaurant. So, perhaps the Big Mac(Adams) will be back.