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I am a fast foodist. I am ashamed to admit this elitist bent of mine. However, it is a fact. I am bigoted against fast food workers. This isn't to say that I avoid fast food establishments because of my fast foodism. However, I go in with a chip on my shoulder ready for a battle.

And whom might I battle? A semi-illiterate low income uninsured worker whose only skill is to ask, Do you want fries with that? Or, a well-educated previously well-employed victim of the new economy? Or maybe a careless and distracted youth more interested in texting than providing me with service?

Do I still drive through, hopes in hand, looking for the elusive correct, prompt and happily given meal?

Yes! You bet! And each time, it only reinforces my fast-foodist attitude.

I anticipate the messed up order and the discourteous behavior. I am not surprised and frankly it isn't the type of thing that bothers me. I even can accept having to pull over while they make my order, even when it seems to contradict the notion of "fast food."

Here's the thing: I am bothered when fast food workers argue with me and refuse to see my logic. I don't like it when the fast food worker tries to rise above his class station. The fact is, I am hungry and willing to pay, but not at the expense of my perceived dignity as an American consumer. After all, it is the American way-I am the customer and I am right!

In the stereotypical notion of fast workers described by Eric Schlosser (in his book which criticizes that fast food industry and its effect on our culture), he claims that fast food workers can't use creativity because all the food products that are prepared or prepared to specific guidelines don't allow any individual decision making. Fundamentally, a fast food worker is interchangeable and has not been hired for his autonomy. According to Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation, the "trait most valued in fast food workers is obedience.'

Thus, it seems unfathomable, perhaps un-American, that a fast food worker can't subscribe to this corporate aim to please and are more than willing to insist that I, the customer, am wrong and, in their eyes, probably an idiot. In contradiction to Schlosser, the fast food workers whom I have argued with are not just obeying a prescribed set of rules. They have an interpretation of a rule that I disagree with, and in response, they don't say, as predicted by Schlosser, I need to go speak to my manager. To them, their internal judgment, internal authority, and ultimately their

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