Monday, June 2, 2008

A Little Fast-Food Etiquette Lesson


So last week, we ate lunch at McDonald's. The horror! No seriously - just because we try to eat healthy most of the time doesn't preclude fast-food every once in awhile. It's cheap, it's fast, the kids eat it without being threatened...you know, a quality family meal.

So we're downtown in Cumberland, at lunch hour on a Friday, and the place was mobbed. Everything from businessmen to elderly couples, to moms with kids...and a few of Cumberland's finest - use your imagination, this McDonald's is in the low-rent district.

ANYWAY. Two hungry kids, a husband who had to get back to work shortly, a crowded restaurant....we were lucky to even get a table. Then I grabbed the cups they gave us for our drinks and headed to the drink bar/condiment area. And there is where this lesson begins.

1. If you're getting a drink, know what you're getting before approaching the drink bar. C'mon, we're all creatures of habit here, you've got a favorite, go for it.

2. Once your cup is full of ice and the beverage of your choice, now this is important...STEP ASIDE. When there are 5 people lined up behind you to get the drinks that they have already decided on, you do not block the entire drink bar while you

- find a lid the right size

- place said lid on cup

- find a straw

- unwrap straw and put it into your lid

- get some napkins

- hitch up your pants

- answer your cell phone

- and then decide you want some ketchup.

Do you not hear the screaming children from 15 feet away saying "Where'd Mommy go? What's taking so long? Can I go help Mommy?"

3. If you are getting unsweetened iced tea, and you wish to put some sort of sweetener in it, please take the sweetener and the stir, and go back to your table to stir it in. Please? Don't stand there dumping, stirring and tasting until it's a picture of iced-tea perfection. We don't need to see that!

Okay, there's more, but I think I'll leave it at that for now. If everyone just did these three little things, life in the fast-food lane would be oh so much easier! After all, people aren't eating there for the culinary experience, they're there because unless they've got youngsters, they're probably in a hurry. So help them out, huh? Don't be so dorky.

3 comments:

Ohighway said...

Rebecca, you just need to stop and not push this line of thinking. I mean.... keep that up and you'll force the IAAM (It's All About Me) crowd into a breakdown, or therapy, or even (shudder) awareness of others! "Know what you want", and " mix your drink elsewhere". Geeezz. Where do you come up with this goofy stuff. I suppose next you'll be pushing nonsense like "signal before turning" while driving...... the nerve...

Rebecca said...

HA! You made me laugh. But it never fails to amaze me how self-absorbed some people can be. I'm just happy now that I don't have to stand there with steam coming out of my ears....I can just go home and blog about it....ALMOST as good as therapy!

FishFam said...

Amen! I also love the ones who get to the register to order and THEN look at the menu and take 10 minutes trying to decide what they want. Another - the ones who make upteen changes to the food in their order..get said food..it is not quite exactly how they wanted it..and spend the next 1/2 hr berating the poor sap behind the counter making minimum wage. C'mon people..it is fast food!