Life in the Fast-Food Lane - -
When we go to McDonald's, I am always amused at the look on the employee's face when my husband places his order.
He'll say,"I want a Big Mac, extra-extra pickles, extra-extra onions and extra-extra mustard. And run it through the broiler two times. Burn it."
When my husband leaves off the part about the extra-extra pickles, onions, and mustard and just says "heavy all," the counter-person looks at him as if he'd placed his order in Swahili. Even though McDonald's slogan says, "You deserve a break today at McDonald's," it's obvious that they are not giving out any breaks.
An employee at McDonald's is trained to sell the same kinds of burgers with the same secret sauce on them no matter which franchise he works for. There is none of this heavy-all, burn-it stuff at the drive-through window anymore. After all, we're not talking Denny's!
But are we people, who want something a little different, so few and far between that we are not worth worrying about?
Probably.
You Do Your Own Work Today at McDonalds:
We are becoming more and more indoctrinated to do the work that fast-food restaurants used to do for us. We stand in line to get our food, carry it to our table, eat it, and then gather up our trash, throw it away in the dumpster, and stack our food tray. And dare not leave your trash on your table for someone else to pick up. Otherwise you will be reminded on your way out by the giant trash can strategically placed next to the exit.
It is true that we don't go to McDonald's for an unmatched culinary experience. We go there to refuel and get on with the rest of our day. But this fast-food mentality has infiltrated so many areas of our modern-day existence that it feels like the whole world is in the fast-food lane.
Rage Against the Machine:
Have you ever called an auto insurance company to file a claim and become lost in their vast abyss of voicemail? Press 1, press 2, press 3, but never, never, never ask to speak to someone with a pulse. Banks, insurance companies, and large corporations are getting better and better at deflecting callers away from talking to human beings. That's because, with humans, there are just too many variables. And for whose convenience is that?
Yesterday at the supermarket, I checked the total ounces on the box of my usual oatmeal because it looked smaller than normal. Low and behold, the contents had shrunk from 16 ounces to 12. I was interested in finding out why. So, just for kicks, I called the cereal company. I was told that this particular company wanted to give its customers "the quality they demanded." It made no sense. (The customer wanted them to raise the price and lower the product?) But they kept assuring me that this was what the customer wanted.
It wouldn't bother me if they had raised the price and lowered the product amount because of cost considerations, but to give me that song and dance about "the customer wanting it" was a bit too much. They stick it to us under the guise of optimism.
This morning I took my husband to the doctor. His doctor barely looked up from the keyboard as she charted her notes on the computer. I think she checked his ears and throat, but that was it. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, though. The doctor was able to access lab and treadmill results as she was diagnosing my husband's cold. These innovations are invaluable because doctors have much more information available to them at just the clicking of a key on their computer. But it does strike me as a little bit strange.
Are we becoming such a rationalized society that we are losing the human touch?
We are converting into an automated, fast-food lane society, and there's not a whole lot that we can do about it. I just hope that we will not be required to surrender our humanity in the process.