Two Men in a McDonald’s in Small Town America
Being a regular at a fast food chain is a world apart from being a regular at the diner or local bar. The McDonald’s is staffed by a kid, who will only work there for a year or two, and is designed to provide the least possible amount of interaction. Hell, you’re now directed to the damned kiosk just to order these days—then called not by your name, but by a literal number. There’s no friendly chitchat, and no one notices when you don’t show up next week, certainly not enough to call and check on your unexplained absence. Not here.
But at the same time, I’m glad that it’s still happening. Social community is really important, and there seem to be fewer and fewer ways that we get it these days. Even those fleeting moments when the waitress asks you if you want more coffee, or the small talk you have with the grocery store cashier as she rings up and bags your produce.
So many of our formerly routine social interactions have moved online or been automated away. You don’t go to the bank anymore, you do your banking in a browser, at home, alone. You don’t ask for a refill like you might at the diner, you walk over to the soda dispenser at the McDonald’s and silently do it yourself. You use the self checkout at the grocery store because there’s only one checkout line open now and your feet hurt too much to stand in its long line…