Oh man, I worked in a Kentucky Fried Chicken for most of my teen years and even though it wasn't a restaurant per se, it had exactly the same kind of culture. It changed over the years depending on the manager, but some employees were vicious and cruel, and got away with it. And others were great.

My first week there, all I did was scrub the holding racks that held the fried chicken. They were encrusted with fat etc and took forever to clean and that first week, I worked long hours. For the following month, my sleep was plagued by nightmares of me in a boiling hot kitchen, standing over the greasiest, most disgusting water.