So... Do You Like Your Work?

Last night, after a lovely day with my favorite Dubliner, I decided to have a healthy dinner of McDonald's. For those of you who haven't gone through a McDonald's drive-thru in a while, it has become a three-step process: order at the first location, pay at the second and eventually get your food at the third. After giving my order to a woman who was probably in Denver, I pulled up to the first window to pay. Now, it for for just these kind of moments that I keep the cupholders in my truck full of change. I want to be able to just give the person working the window exact amount that is due, pull forward to the next window and keep the line moving. (Personally, I think everyone behind me should thank me for this.) This time was no exception as I was paid in full within twenty seconds. The problem was two cars ahead of me at the second window, where a car was stopped. I don't know if there was an issue with the order or the person had some kind of complaint, but they had their parking brake on and weren't in a hurry to move. They sat and they sat, which left me sitting next to the pay window, also not moving. This left me in the awkward position of having nothing to do and no where to go while being watched by the 16 year-old girl working the window.

While it was annoying at first, it got downright uncomfortable after a minute or so. I would assume working at McDonald's doesn't usually lend itself to long customer interactions, so it appeared that the girl wasn't prepared for anyone to be at her window for this long. She wasn't sure if she should try to talk to me or take this chance to tidy up her workspace, so she went with option C, which was to simply stare at me. Not that I was any better. At first I tried to act nonchalant and check the radio stations, but going through the pre-set stations doesn't take nearly as long as you think. After that it was just sitting up in my chair to try to see what the problem was and shrugging my shoulders every time we made eye contact. Mercifully this only lasted another minute or so before the car causing the hold-up was satisfied enough to leave. I will say this in defense of McDonald's: the next two cars barely had to slow down before their food was out the pick-up window. This is why, if you have a difficult order, you should always go into the fast food restaurant.

-Fortunately, the car causing the hold-up did not have a business logo on the side, because that company would have heard about it. I don't think small businesses realise that any worker who drives a company car home for the day is basically a walking billboard for that company, which can be good or bad. For example, yesterday I was at a stoplight behind a truck with a landscaping logo on the back. The light turned green and the truck didn't move. I gave the guy the customary '5 Mississippi' count, but he still hadn't moved. Since I hate using my horn I then flashed my highbeams to let him know the light had changed. Still nothing. I was preparing to honk (again, I do it do rarely that I have to locate where my horn is located on my steering wheel before I actually honk) when the guy finally noticed the light had changed, at this point to yellow (it was a quick light). To me, this lack of attention says a lot about the company and the kind of people they hire. Luckily for him I'm not the type of person who thinks yellow means red and I still made it through the intersection, otherwise I would tell you their name. I'm just saying, a smart business owner finds out what kind of drivers his workers are before he lets them put a company logo on their car.