How Flipping Burgers and Making Sandwiches Improved My English (No, Really!)

During my college years, I worked at Euronics, then moved on to Subway and McDonald's during my master’s. I’ll be honest—I had my own prejudices about working in these places. I thought, "Am I really going to learn anything useful here?" But, plot twist—I did! And not just about sales, sandwiches, or flipping burgers, but about language, communication, and human interaction in ways that textbooks never could teach me. 🚀

Level 1: Euronics – Tech Talk in a New Language 🎮📱

At Euronics, I worked in the phones, PC, and video games department. This was my first real immersion into Italian, and let me tell you—it was terrifying. 😅 Imagine moving to a new country, excited to learn the language, only to be thrown into a sales job where you have to speak fast, clearly, and convincingly to customers who expect you to know your stuff.

At first, my inner thoughts were in full panic mode:

• Am I saying this right? 🤯

• Do they understand me?

• Wait… how do I say “warranty” in Italian again?!

But I soon realized that making mistakes is part of learning. Customers didn’t bite my head off if I mispronounced a word—they simply asked me to repeat it. "Come? Puoi ripetere?" became my new best friend. The experience taught me that immersion is the fastest way to learn a language—errors and all. It also made me more empathetic toward language learners, something that would come in handy when I started teaching English.

(Also, side note: I leveled up my IT skills and became a tech guru in the process… but that’s a story for another article. 😉)

Level 2: Subway – Where Sandwiches Meet Shakespeare 🥪🎭

When I started working at Subway during my master’s, I thought, "Okay, this will be just a basic job, no big deal." Oh, how wrong I was.

Subway was a linguistic playground. Located near the city center, it attracted an international crowd, which meant I was constantly switching between English, Italian, and sometimes other languages. And before you say, "But it’s just making sandwiches!"—let me stop you right there.

• Vocabulary Bootcamp: I learned more about ingredients, food preparation, and customer interactions than I ever expected. Bread types, sauces, meats—this was a whole new field of language learning.

• Human Interaction 101: Unlike some fast-food places where the interaction is just “Hi, sandwich, money, bye,” at Subway, you have to guide people through the entire ordering process. Some were confused ("Wait, I pick my own toppings?!"), others indecisive ("Uh… what’s the best sauce?"), and some just delighted to chat.

• Unexpected Shakespearean Conversations: Because Subway was near Verona’s historic center, tourists frequently mistook it for an actual subway station. 🚇😂 They’d come in, confused, asking for directions to Juliet’s house. This was my time to shine! I’d explain directions while also dropping some Shakespeare trivia (like how “fair Verona” is not where Romeo and Juliet actually lived).

Oh, and then COVID hit. 😞 Like a tragic Shakespearean twist, business slowed, the store eventually shut down, and just like that—this Subway sank. ⚓ (Hey hey, Captain!)

Level 3: McDonald's – The Fast-Food Linguistic Olympics 🍔🏃

After Subway, I reunited with an old friend—McDonald's. Now, you might be scratching your head, thinking, “What linguistic skills can you possibly get from working at McDonald’s?” Well, more than you’d think.

Fast food kitchens are a multilingual jungle. 🌍🍔 Much like English has overtaken many other languages through colonization (I mean, globalization 😏), workers in fast food and retail are often overlooked, their identities overshadowed by the uniform they wear. Behind those crispy McBacons and perfectly assembled Big Macs are people from all over the world—some fluent in Italian, some just learning. Working with them, I picked up bits of different languages, including a few very creative curse words. 🤭 (Because let’s be honest, those are always the first words we learn in a new language.)

💡 Fun geography fact: The Philippines has over 170 languages spoken across its islands! One of my coworkers taught me this while we were flipping burgers. See? Even McDonald’s is educational.

And let’s not forget the speed training. I became so fast at assembling burgers that I’m pretty sure I hold a personal record—something like 12 Big Macs in under a minute. Someone call Guinness. 🏆

Final Boss: Why This All Matters 🎓🌍

You might be wondering, “If you were so good at these jobs, why not aim to be a store manager?” Well, that’s exactly the problem. People underestimate these jobs. They see them as entry-level, low-skill positions, but the truth is—they teach you more than a classroom ever could.

From my experience, language learning is not just about books and grammar rules. It’s about real-life interaction, adaptation, and immersion. You can read all the English textbooks you want, but if you never practice in actual fluid conversations, you’ll never master it. Language is alive, just like people—it evolves, it changes, and it adapts.

And beyond that, these jobs taught me respect. The people I worked with weren’t just fast-food employees—they were hardworking individuals, some supporting families, some studying for a better future. The same way English has influenced so many languages, people working in these industries often get overlooked, yet each of them has a name, an identity, and a nametag with a story.

So yeah, working as a sales assistant, sandwich artist, and fast-food crew member didn’t just put money in my pocket—it skilled up my English, deepened my cultural awareness, and taught me lessons that no degree ever could.

And to anyone out there working these jobs while learning a language—keep going! Every order, every conversation, and every “Come again?” is one step closer to fluency. 💪

P.S. Since you made it this far, congratulations! 🎉 As a reward, here’s a free large fries coupon at McDonald’s:

🧀 FREE-FRIES-24X-🍔-VIP

(Disclaimer: This coupon is 100% imaginary, non-redeemable, and only valid in the parallel universe where I’m the store manager. 😆)