McDonalds actually has a nice career progression program for those who express interest/drive in doing that - especially considering there's virtually no skill/education entry point for the job. The issue is a massive number of the people working there just do it because of the low skill entry point and flexibility - not that they have career ambitions or any idea of that sort. Friend of mine had a passion, worked PT in high school, they assisted in college education bills thanks to employee scholarship programs, moved her way up to ast mgr, mgr, area manager, regional, etc and makes a 6 figure salary still working for McDonalds 20+ years later.