Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's youngest daughter, Paethongtan, will be bagging french fries and flipping burgers to earn some extra money before starting university next year. She will be paid about 25 baht (US$ 0.62 cents) per hour to work part-time at a McDonald fastfood outlet in Bangkok.
The Thai multi billionaire Premier is sending his 17-year-old daughter, Paethongtan, to the Mac Donald fast food outlet as part of his campaign to encourage greater responsibility under the young Thai population.
Paethongtan, who has just completed her university entrance exams, will work at McDonald on a part-time basis.
Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, who himself worked at KFC fastfood outlet while studying in the US, was one of the first customers at Mac Donald today. "I come to buy burgers and fries as lunch for the ministers I am meeting today," said Premier Thaksin.
"Phraethongthan Thaksin chose to work at a international multinational company because traditional Thai restaurants don't offer fast food and don't usually hire seasonal part-time workers, Thaksin said.
Paethongtan, the youngest of the prime minister's three children, spent her first day learning to operate the cash register, but she will soon graduate to flipping burgers and frying french fries.
Mr. Thaksin, a former policeman who earned a huge fortune in the telecommunications industry in Thailand, said that taking a part-time job is giving Thai teenagers a proper appreciation of the value of money.
Dej Bulsuk, president of McThai who operates the McDonalds fastfood outlets in Thailand, said: "The prime minister came to me to personally to ask if I could give his daughter a part-time job during the school holidays, the Premier asked me specifically to treat his daughter just like any other employee" Thaksin even said to me: "And let her sweep the floor like the others."
"McThai operates 104 McDonald's restaurants in Thailand. The company stopped expanding earlier this year in line with Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's global policy to focus on boosting sales", Dej said
