Monday, January 07, 2008

McDonalds from 5 Points of View

DJ
The sign on the outside said McDonald’s but it wasn’t the same as the McDonald’s in Tarrytown. This one didn’t have a play place with a ball crawl and slide. A picture on the window showed Ronald McDonald and Grimace. They were coming to this McDonald’s on Sunday. DJ wouldn’t be here though. He would be New Castle on Sunday. DJ wasn’t in New Castle yet nor was he in Tarrytown anymore, he was in between. The food took too long and Debbie mommy forgot to take the pickles off his cheeseburger. Hank daddy did get him a strawberry shake though. DJ never had strawberry before, it was good. Did they have McDonald’s in New Castle? Would that one have a play place with a ball crawl and a slide?

Katrina
Oh, the nails on the five-dollar-an-hour cashier were utterly hideous! You could just tell that were fake and probably done at that place by Walmart off the interstate. The wandering eyes of the pimply faced sandwich maker casually looked Katrina over as she turned in the application. As if! This place would be a wonderful subject for her cultural diversity report in social studies. How many minorities does it take to mop up a grease spill after the lunch rush? ‘Affirmative Action at its Worst’ could be the title. What were they using to clean the bathrooms, orange soda? That’s what it smelled like.


Bennie
McDonald’s coffee was usually the best. Something was slightly off today though. Maybe they got the mixture wrong. That sometimes happens on the soda machines. You just get carbonated, tasteless bubble water or it is entirely too sweet. The coffee was too strong today, maybe too many beans ground too fine. That must be it.
Cheryl isn’t here today. She would have gotten it right. Instead, Michelle is working the front. Cheryl would have made sure the table was clean before he got to his seat, which was hard and cold. The seat opposite him was empty, just a yellow empty space reflecting the harsh glare of sunlight. Yellow is such a bright color for a seat, it was so wide open like an empty billboard. Bennie sipped his coffee and stared blankly at the poorly used advertising space across from him.

Milt
Was that French music they were playing over the loud speaker? Milt couldn’t remember whether it was the French or the Swiss that favored the accordion. Maybe he would just have to take a leisurely trip over to Europe and find out first hand. The closest Milt was getting to France today, though, would be the special sauce on his Big Mac. It must be French dressing or is it Thousand Island? It must be French, why else would it be called ‘special?’ Milt found this last conclusion amusing and he giggled to himself with his mouth full of “two-all-beef-patties-special sauce (let’s not forget that)-lettuce cheese-pickles-onions –on a sesame seed bun.” What a catchy tune!
Wow! The place was hoppin’! This particular McDonald’s was one efficiently running machine. Everything thing seemed to run so smoothly here. There had been a grease spill in the back and five employees swarmed on it to wipe the mess up before someone had an accident. The lovely cashier at the register with the sparkly nails was right on top of things delegating tasks to her fellow McDonaldland comrades. Like a well oiled machine, from the timing of the fry machine beepers to the spic-n-span smelling bathrooms, this store was run like it should just like Milt’s life.

Tracy
An untouched Mega-Mac lay smack dab in the middle of the papered brown tray. Equally un-munched upon French fries were stationed to the left and on the right side of her mini-hamburger-building was her un-sipped shamrock shake. Oblivious to the world around her and her food as well, Tracy feverishly punched buttons on her cell phone.
Who else needed to know? Who didn’t know yet? Half the staff here at McDonald’s already knew. Michelle at the register reminded Tracy to super-size her meal because now she was eating for two. Two? What if it, they, were twins? It didn’t matter though, boy, girl, whatever! Maybe one day she could bring him here and he would pull the pickles off his cheeseburger like the blonde-haired boy sitting in the next booth over.