Our son, Benjamin, has been asking for a McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade for days. John and I are not huge fans of McDonald’s, so we have mostly been ignoring him. Yesterday, his requests reached a fever pitch. He talked about McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade as he was leaving to go to school. As soon as we walked into the house after work, he started in again. It’s partly my own fault. A couple of day ago I told him that I had a coupon for a free McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade that he was welcome to use.
It was a hot day, and a frozen Strawberry Lemonade did sound good, but we were running late and had to get him to his Calculus tutor (his Uncle Jim). Plus, I found my coupon and it was not for a frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Instead it was for a Mango Smoothie. Anyway, we did not have time to stop for McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade. He complained all the way to his Uncle Jim’s house. As we dropped him off, he reminded us that he wanted a McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade after he was done studying.
Ben’s tutoring session went long, since he is preparing for his Calculus final. We returned to Jim’s house to pick Ben up, knowing that he was going to start right in about the frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Sure enough, before we even got in the car, he was jabbering about how much he wanted to go to McDonald’s. We had heard enough, and agreed to stop on the way home. (We are the kind of parents who can be worn down, apparently.) We drove into the village of Fairport (where John grew up) and right to where the McDonald’s used to be. The McDonald’s had been transformed into a different restaurant. Aaaaargh! We drove toward home, knowing that we would pass other McDonald’s restaurants on the way.
As we approached home, we stopped at McDonald’s. There was a long line for the drive-through, but we entered it and waited. And waited. And waited. The drive-through line was in slow motion. The woman in the car ahead of us actually got out of her car and rummaged through her trunk for something and then got back in while the line stood still. Finally, we arrived at the drive-up speaker to order. John ordered Ben a Big Mac, medium fries, and a medium frozen Strawberry Lemonade. The woman said, “I’m sorry, our machine is broken. We don’t have any Strawberry Lemonade.” We all actually groaned out loud. We didn’t know what to do. Ben didn’t really even want the food. He only wanted the drink. But, it was late and we were all tired and a little cranky. After a moment of thought, Ben switched to another beverage. So sad.
Our experience was not finished yet. We waited and waited to inch forward to the window to pay. Then we waited to inch forward to the second window to pick up our order. Finally, we arrived. The woman handed John a tiny bag, which he passed over to me. I looked inside. It was a teeny, tiny little box that could only have held about two chicken mcnuggets. I passed it right back. John told the woman that this was not what we had ordered. Without saying a word, she shut the window. She SHUT the WINDOW! It struck us as so funny. We all burst out laughing.
Finally, the woman opened the window. John showed her our receipt and she gave us the correct order. She never said a word. No apology. No “Have a nice day.” She just handed over Ben’s food and shut the window again. All in all, it was a very frustrating but funny experience. We drove home and Ben ate his food. He never did get his McDonald’s frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Maybe another day. I am sure that he will remind us.
Losing Vision Gaining Insight 