I should have given up on Mickey D’s ages ago…
But growing up in Egypt, those Golden Arches & American pop culture cast a kind of magic spell.
You’d think I’d out grow McDonalds after having given up most junk food and trying to eat healthier.
But, the fantasy lingered…
So, when my wife announced that today was National Cheeseburger Day 🍔 (only in America) I was willing to set aside the dinner I was going to prepare — chicken breast in the air fryer, over Thai rice with green curry sauce.
I gave up real food in pursuit of An Illusion. On the road, I asked my wife if she’d prefer we went to McDonalds or Burger King, both of which were offering promotions, today.
I was leaning towards Burger King, since they had bigger burgers & a review in Business Insider confirmed that it was the better of the two.
But my wife was raving about the fries at McDonalds. I could grab us burgers from one place & fries from another, I offered. Nope, her heart was set on Ronald McDonald :)
Turns out the offer was a mere 50 cents (half a dollar!) for a double cheeseburger. After wrestling with downloading their app to get the offer, we placed our order, which came out to nearly $15!
We found out the darned promotion only extends to one sandwich & my medium milk shake costs around $4. What’s worse was their service. Slow, unhygienic & not terribly friendly — they didn’t give us a single ketchup packet or any other sauce, with our 2 burgers and fries. When I noted that, they seemed surprised and asked ‘do I need some?’ Yeah!
Getting back home and unwrapping my meal, the last of my childhood dreams were crushed. The meat was disappointing & the double cheeseburger less satisfying than a regular single. Their fabled fries, limp, and hardly warm.
I supplemented my insubstantial meal with some left over pesto tuna I had and some salad 🥗
To round it off, I would drown my sorrows in the decadent vanilla milkshake (McFlurry?). Never mind that the server at the the fast food joint had placed his hand directly on top of the exposed whipped cream. I was determined to enjoy it.
But the shake was awful! Absurdly sweet and nowhere near as flavorful as Chick-fil-A delicious vanilla milkshake. (Their spicy chicken fillets are consistently juicy and overall they remain the tastiest fast food I still eat, from time to time).
That’s it, I’m, finally, done with McDonalds — and not a decade too soon!
