Do You Want Fries With That?

Last night was our annual "Teachers Night" at the local Mcdonalds. The teachers work there, and for the 2 1/2 hour period, a certain percentage of sales goes back to the school. The teachers volunteer, and the kids come and bring their families. They are excited to see you, as if they haven't seen you before, as if you are rock stars.

I was stationed at the ice cream machine. That meant that I made milkshakes, ice cream cones, ice cream sundaes, and McFlurries. I made my first chocolate milkshake for an elderly gentleman and presented it to him with a flourish. "Here is the first milkshake I ever made," I told him. Later, after he had finished his meal, he came up to me to tell me that that had been the best milkshake he had ever had.

McDonalds has this whole thing down to a science. To make a milkshake, you insert the appropriate size of cup, and push the "chocolate," "strawberry," "vanilla," or "Artic Organge" button. The shake automatically comes out and fills the cup. When it's full, it stops. It's like putting gas in the car. Only yummier.

I also made extraordinary McFlurries. This is what you'd do: first, you'd fill the McFlurry cup with ice cream (I liked to fill it real full). Then you put a special lid on it. Then you'd do two twists of the topping dispenser (M&M or Oreo)-three twists for a large McFlurry. Then you'd get the special spoon that is also a mixer. Put the spoon in the ice cream mixture, attach the spoon to the mixing machine, and mix it all up for about 8 seconds. I made wonderful McFlurries. In fact, later that night I took my girls to a McDonalds to eat, and we all ordered small McFlurries. I was surprised at how puny they were! The people who got my McFlurries were lucky, indeed...

All too soon my time as a McDonalds worker had come to an end, and my family hadn't come in to see me working at a fast food establishment. I called home, and Emily said that Dad hadn't even come home yet! And it was already after 6 pm! I told her I wasn't going to wait around; that I was coming home. She was very sad to not be able to see me working at McDonalds. I came home and took them out to another, less crowded McDonalds. Later Eric came home. For some reason, he thought I was going to be working until 7 pm (now that would be volunteering, wouldn't it!). He too was disappointed he didn't get to see me. Oh, well. There is always next year!