November 16th,2011
Food of the Day: Fast Food
Day: 134
It’s true I enjoy fast food; Happy Meals, chicken, or sandwiches can all be a satisfying quick fix when you are DYING OF HUNGER. I remember back in the days when Cole was around four and I took care of another little girl while her parents traveled. One afternoon, the kids were starving and lunch was long overdue, so I turned in to McDonald’s for Happy Meals. Problem solved. I later learned that the little girl that I was taking care of had been shielded from McDonald’s for the first six years of her life and I had introduced to her first fast food burger. She liked it. Fortunately, her parents had a sense of humor. If you are wondering why this did not come up in the care and feeding instructions for this little girl…that is another blog post entirely.
Celebrating Fast Food Day, Emily decided to take the high fast food road and head to Chipotle—and the low road by making a stop at Taco Bell for her youngest who HATES Chipotle.
I don’t think this move was designed to make parents who glare over the back seat and scream “YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING ON THE MENU AND LIKE IT!” feel guilty. With five children, she just had the time to make sure they all felt loved and had their individual food needs met. (Emily, that is our story and we are sticking to it!)
I have survived 13 years with the veggie, vegan, fermented, sugarless Kombucha Choir (Waldorf School), so I know we will never come to any agreement about food, much less fast food. The best we can do is to all just agree that I say French fry and you say sweet potato chip and we all try to get along.
When I posted El Morno on Facebook though Teresa, took a different approach to discussing the value of fast food. Let me share her musing.
Little-known fact that ties into Fast Food Day: My first job was at Burger King. I lied and told them I was 16 when I was only 15 so I could get a job there. Started on fries and drinks, but quickly moved up to cashier.
I longed to make the Whoppers. I was jealous of the Whopper crew. They wrapped those burgers up so fast…it was an art! My downfall was I was able to count back change and “push” (BK term for handing out orders) like no other. They even had me bookkeeping on Saturday mornings at 17. This led me to my job at Southland Corporation. I was hired as an accounting clerk with no relevant experience (only BK). My lucky break was when I walked in to fill out an application, my old BK assistant manager was sitting at the accounts payable desk. She hired me on the spot.
Moral of my fast food story: No job is insignificant when it comes to your future. Your past and those you meet along the way often have an opportune bearing on your journey. The end. 🙂
Let me just add that Teresa gave up her dream of making Whoppers and bookkeeping and went to nursing school to learn how to count sperm and make babies as a fertility nurse. I’m told special orders still don’t upset her…
When you are starving and out and about, where do you satisfy the growl in your tummy? Please share! Odd Loves Company!
Great story. Funny how one thing can lead to another. I like McDonalds breakfast on the go and their coffee is really good.
Thanks! Love the food posts and EL Morno.
Oh fast food lures me in all the time. I’m trying to quit. I’m not proud of it…but I do love it. Which is probably why I have to get up and go to Weight Watchers every Saturday. But sometimes I think it’s so worth it, when I’m driving home at night and am soooo hungry! LOL
Great story. I worked at McDonalds when i was a kid and it taught me a lot: how to work with others, how to handle difficult people and it taught me that I didn’t want to always work at McDonalds.
Hey! How did it become Nov 16 again?
Usually I am a lurker but had to comment on this story because fast food opened the door for me too. I did make whoppers..then slunk over to the competition and worked at McDonalds eventually I ended up working for McDonalds corp. I retired a couple of years ago. I could say volumes but it was a great company to work for, nice people, good benefits, and plenty of perks. Without launching into a fast food commercial the company really does care about all it’s employees including the kid flipping burgers and tries to listen to it’s customers.
Great story Teresa even if it was about the competition. I still eat a whopper from time to time.