The fast food service industry is not a glamorous one. My brief stint from the inside looking out was as a line cook at Steak & Shake back in Aught One. I learned a few valuable lessons that summer, most notably:
• Fish patties take 4:15 to fry.
• Shakes are made with milk, while freezes are made with water.
• It hurts when you rest your hand on the grill.
Other than that, there wasn't a lot of practical information. Having that $5.50/hour gig is certainly impetus enough to get one to graduate from college, high school, or — failing either — live near a reliable temp agency.
If someone has a career as a fast-food fry cook, well, there's probably a reason for that. Can we agree on this? Let's see a show of hands. Thank you, now that the obvious has spoken, we can move onto more important... wait, hold on, there's someone in the back whose hand isn't raised. Excuse me, sir, where are you from? The NRA? Oh shit. EVERYBODY DUCK! Oh, pardon me, it's not that NRA. Ah, the National Restaurant Association. That makes more sense.
After all, the National Restaurant Association isn't looking down too kindly on an upcoming Super Bowl commercial featuring rap music legend Kevin Federline. Nationwide Mutual Insurance is rolling out another "Life Comes At You Fast" ad (remember last year's one with Fabio on the gondola turning into Grandpa). In this year's edition, Federline performs in a music video, only to pan out and see he's just daydreaming while working at a fictional fast food joint. And you can tell it's fictional because apparently they serve fresh zucchini.
The National Restaurant Association wrote a letter to Nationwide (PDF file) claiming the ad is demeaning to everyone — EVERYONE! — that works in some kind of restaurant. "We hope that these reports are inaccurate and that Nationwide will not be airing such an ad that would give the impression that working in a restaurant is demeaning and unpleasant," National Restaurant Association president Steven Anderson wrote, implying by "reports" that he hasn't seen the actual commercial.
Article comments
1 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"I learned a few valuable lessons that summer, most notably:
• Fish patties take 4:15 to fry."
Apparently, Burger King and Steak and Shake (did they hand out cards of the nearest cardiologists there?) use the same fish patties...
Fast food is not a place many people will admit to working in. Foodies, the closers with the perennial cigarettes hanging out of their mouths as they blast the music, probably don't care.
Guys who were/are managers like me, professional "I'm sorry" guys who have to mollify a public that is tired of the incompetent service half awake teens give them, and who are also spoiled by the infantile desires aroused in them by the incessant advertising (BK: have it your way, right away!) will also admit to working in the fast food business.
But when I still had to where a uniform to work at BK (remember the older brother in Back to the Future - that uniform), I always stuffed that puppy in a briefcase or bag and changed in the store's bathroom. I never wanted anybody to see I had sunk so low...
Truth be told, fast food is shit. It may taste good, but I earned my heart attack there.
Hey, gimme another bacon-egg-cheese croissant, heavy on the cheese, dude...