At the McDonald’s drive-thru you hear Giselle Joksch before you see her. She calls most customers “honey” and says “tickety-boo” a lot. This isn’t what you expect from a fast food server; most seem rather underwhelmed beneath their tight smiles and assertions to “Have a great day.”
The Chief chatted with Joksch, one of the managers at Squamish’s McDonald’s, for a chat about her positivity, time in the district and the funniest thing that has happened at the drive-thru. Though a corporate representative from the restaurant sat in on the phone call, Joksch’s true cheery personality shone through.
The following is an edited version of that conversation.
Q: So, we are talking to you because you are always so happy and positive with customers. Everyone in our office knows who you are because of that. Why are you always so happy?
A: I love Squamish and I love my job. A lot of people wake up and don’t want to go to their job – I don’t feel that way. I know I can pay my bills and I am comfortable. I don’t need to worry about not having a job.
Q: I get that, but sometimes those of us you encounter at your job can be grumpy. Are you just a naturally positive person?
A: Am I always that way? I guess, pretty much. I guess my philosophy is you never know what is going to happen in life so why waste it being angry. Obviously, I get upset, I mean who doesn’t, but I don’t know who you are and I will never know what happened to you so I am going to enjoy myself by hopefully making you smile.
Q: That is a great attitude. What is your history in Squamish? How did you end up here?
A: I grew up in Ontario – like many people here. I moved here in 2003. My father was here and he passed away. He had a heart attack on his windsurf board. He was windsurfing at Nitinat Lake on Vancouver Island. When I came to Squamish to do his funeral and everything, I thought I had to bring my boys here. I mean, dad’s death was pretty devastating for me. But Squamish moved me. You hear the saying over and over again, “God’s country,” and that is how I felt about Squamish – I am going to get emotional talking about it because I felt healed when I came here.
I felt close to my dad. We have had floods here and everything, but I was there to help people then. Squamish had just said, “Hey, you have got to be here.”
Q: What brought your dad here originally, from Ontario?
A: The mountains, skiing, windsurfing. He had a business, Universal Machines– he was a tool and die maker. He came over from Germany and just loved skiing and windsurfing. He was one of the first wave of windsurfers. When they started fixing up The Spit, he was on the committee. That is where his ashes are. That is where we did his memorial, the celebration of his life.
Q: How long have you been with McDonald’s?
A: Almost five years.
Q: Squamish has gone through so much in that time. Have you noticed a difference in the customers you see?
A: I still see a lot who go through on their way to Whistler. The out-of-towners from Vancouver, they stop here on their way up to Whistler.
Quite a few people from back east stop in too. It is almost like they take a deep breath when they come here to Squamish. We get a lot of traffic and it has gotten busier. There doesn’t seem to be a downtime as much. We have a lot of regulars who come through too. We get our mountain climbers, who love their smoothies, and we get a lot of builders because there’s so much building going on now.
Q: I don’t want you to say anything to get yourself in trouble, but do you have any funny things to tell us that have happened at the drive-thru?
A: A customer came through the drive-thru and I said my, “Hi, welcome to McDonald’s,” and they said, “We are here for a free smile.” I said, “Sure, come on through to the first window.” They came through and they were actually doing a web cast. I just thought that was so funny – of course come on through for a smile.
Oh, and a bear walked through the drive thru, but I couldn’t serve him because he didn’t have a vehicle. That wasn’t going to happen.
Q: You have sons. Can you tell me a bit more about your family?
A: I have three boys: My oldest son is Christopher, my middle son is Levi and my youngest is Taylor – they’re all in their 20s. They went to Garibaldi Highlands and then to Howe Sound Secondary.
Q: What do you do for fun when you aren’t working?
A: The Sea to Sky Gondola is my saviour. I just love it up there, it is so beautiful. And we have quite the family for me here at McDonald’s. A lot of the women and I will go out for hikes. I live up in the Highlands so I do the walk up by Quest University too. When I first came here, the kids and I went to Brennan Park Recreation Centre a lot. What they had for us to do was amazing. The boys did bike riding, soccer, baseball, swimming, skating and fishing. There’s just so much to do here.
