Saturday, November 21, 2015

"McDonald's staff throw a surprise birthday party..."

"...for a lonely 93-year-old widower who has gone to McDonald's almost every day since 2013"



84 comments:

ndspinelli said...

Nice idea. But, they should have taken him out to a real restaurant. I saw a piece in USA Today ~8 years ago about a hardcore demographic of unmarried men who eat @ McDonald's EVERY day. Their life expectancy must be like men from 3rd world countries.

Trooper York said...

Yet somehow this guy is 93.

Could the people did this research are the guys who came up with global warming?

Trooper York said...

McDonald's is a real restaurant. Many fast food places are. Yes it is not the most healthy food but then neither is a pizzeria. But many poor and working class people can only eat out at McDonald's or Burger King or Subway or the neighborhood pizza joint. That's all they can afford for a treat. Or even to get a semblance of a meal. There are "healthy choices" on most fast food menus. The key word is choice. Elitists and progressive snobs like Moochelle and Nanny Bloomberg want to control what you eat and what you drink. How big your soda can be. They get to tell you what to eat.

Choice is only for killing babies.

Trooper York said...

This guys obviously likes McDonald's if he went there everyday for years. Why shouldn't he celebrate with the people he most likely made friends with over the years in a place that he enjoys and feels comfortable in and feels at home.

ricpic said...

If he keeps on eating that dreck he won't make it to 94!

Trooper York said...

McDonald's is like many things in America. Even though this story takes place in England. The point is McDonald's was always the place where you could go to a clean well lit place to get consistent food at a affordable price for the working poor and working class. It was never a five star restaurant. By offering breakfast all day and offering seven kinds of salad they are going away what made their restaurant a multi-million dollar franchise.

Of course the writing is on the wall for McDonald's. The progressives are pushing for a $15 minimum wage and listing of calorie counts on every item and regulations and mandates. They also going to hold the parent corporation responsible for the actions of the franchises which will drive them out of business. Which is what the tofu eating, white wine sipping arugla Democrats want. The working man won't be able to get a burger and drink and fries for less then $5 anymore.

Eat cake you peasants!

Trooper York said...

Ricpic one man's dreck is another mans gefitle fish. Talk about dreck. Oy!

ricpic said...

An alta kacker dilemma: McDonald's is gone, fallback to Dairy Queen!

ricpic said...

Actually I like the McD's breakfast and eat there when I'm on the road. The rest of the day? Fuhgeddaboudit.

chickelit said...

ndspinelli said...
Nice idea. But, they should have taken him out to a real restaurant.

My British husband who is totally brown says that Workington is in the grossie, non-fab part of England. At 94, that guy probably cannot get hard so no wonder he's alone. When we fly to England (first class natch) we only go to London and eat at 5 star restaurants (natch). I wouldn't give McDonalds even to my expensive rare clumber.

/tit_s

Trooper York said...

I haven't eaten there in a while and my health issuses preclude it nowadays. But that is my choice. If I didn't have a choice? If I was a poor or working class family and I wanted to take my family out for a treat I would not have a problem going to McDonald's.

bagoh20 said...

I'll have what he's having. He looks healthier than I do, and probably is. McDonald's is healthier than fancy French. It's fine Scottish dining.

ricpic said...

I can't handle gefilte fish. But on the other hand I can't handle the fatty pork beloved by the gentiles either. Lean pork tenderloin is one thing but I just bought (because it was so cheap) boneless pork ribs and it's too much. I'm gonna have to defat it. Then I'll be able to get it down, barely. Fascinatin', huh?

Trooper York said...

I remember the first time I went. In the 1960's my Mom was thinking about buying a house. We would jump in my Uncle's car and go to see various open houses all over the place. Queens. Other parts of Brooklyn. Long Island.

One day we went for a ride out to Long Island to look at a house in a new development that a friend of ours had an investment in. An off the books investment if you know what I mean. Anyhoo we didn't like it and my Uncle said he was taking to this new restaurant that just opened up. I think it was in Plainview or Syosset or something like that there. It was a brand spanking new McDonald's. They didn't have any tables. Just take out. I think it was on Sunrise Highway. So eight year old Trooper was a man of taste and refinement. I had four cheeseburgers, fries, an apple pie and a milkshake. We took it to the car and sat in the parking lot and ate it. Me, my mom, my grandmother and my Uncle. I enjoyed every bite. It was delicious. You see it was American food. Not the great food that grandma cooked. But it was great and fun and something different.

After we ate my uncle started the car and turned onto Sunrise to drive home to Brooklyn. I turned to the side and puked up everything all over the bench seats of the Chrysler Newport.

One of my fondest childhood memories.

I guess I am a bulimic at heart.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

McDonalds has a really good chicken sandwich. A chicken breast lettuce tomato on a nice bun. Scrape off the mayo if they put too much on. Ice water instead of coke. No fries.

Trooper is right. It is all about the choices you make. No one is forcing you to eat french fried potatoes or a big greasy hamburger with cheese.

On the other hand, if people want to eat the grease burger and fries, that is their choice. Free country....so far.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

When you're 93, alone and at near the end of your life, you get to do what you want. Finally!

I think it's cool that he found some happiness in an unexpected place.

bagoh20 said...

McDonnald's is where I go when I want to really treat myself, and I'm not kidding. I need to first earn it through some illusory placebolmatic facsimile of exercise or self-control like walking the dog without a cocktail.

Trooper York said...

That's the thing DBQ. The elitists want to take the simple pleasures away from the heartland of America. The things that made America great.

Good cheap food for poor people. Value. A car to drive to work. A hot shower at the end of the day. A smoke. Beating up minorities and anybody that was different than you who came into your neighborhood.

I miss the 1950's and 1960's.

ricpic said...

Heck, even white guys who didn't pass the Sicilian test in looks moved quickly in Carroll Gardens. Calabrese were tolerated.

Trooper York said...

Well the Irish had their own crew that was based on Smith St. Along with a Puerto Rican enclave from Douglass to Atlantic. Where there were A-rabs along Atlantic.

But the micks stepped lightly in the heart of Carroll Gardens.

Of course you only saw moolies on the TV.

chickelit said...

I remember the first McDonalds I ate at too. It was on University Ave in Madison and was probably the first franchise on the west side. I'm trying to remember exactly where as it's not there any more. Is there anyone reading here besides Meade who knows Madison? I think it was somewhere between Party Port Liquor and Franklin Ave (on the south side of the street), and was real close to the old WHA-TV studios. All of that is long gone now and my memory is fading.

Anyways, I hated hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza as a kid. So my thing at McDonald was always the fishwich. But I hated the tarter sauce and would not eat the fishwich if they had simply scraped it off. It always drove my family crazy that I insisted on a plain fish cooked fresh with no tarter sauce because it always took longer to fill the order because the fish patty had to be deep fried de novo. God what a pain I was, thinking back. Almost as bad as some grown up rejecting pizza because it wasn't cooked in the right oven with the right wood at the right distance from the coals. So maybe I was as fussing as Spinelli as a kid.

I outgrew all that weirdness though I do prefer In-N-Out burger to McDonalds.

bagoh20 said...

Troop: "I miss the 1950's and 1960's"

and the Mills Brothers, especially when he's feeling frisky.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Chick has titus down pat.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The bast part of this story, for me, is the idea that people still notice one another.

The smart phones have not completely taken over.

chickelit said...

Well, it's a feel good post and thanks for putting it up, Lem.

William said...

I don't think that I would want to celebrate my birthday with the crew at McDonald's. The jollity would feel a little forced. I intend to invite a few worms over for dinner on my 93rd birthday. A good time will be had by all.......I have reached such a level of cynicism that I wonder if the fix was in. This is good publicity for McDonald's on a number of levels. You can live to 93 by eating their fare, and the staff really cares about you. I'm skeptical about both claims. They're all actors hired for the occasion......During my working life I would sometimes eat at McDonald's on my lunch hour. They slopped you down fairly quickly, and the food, especially the fires, was ok. My only complaint was that the staff kept congratulating some of the customers on their anniversaries and singing happy birthday to others. It held the line up.

Titus said...

OMG Chick-when I was young I hated hamburgers too and ordered the Filet of Fish without tartar!

I haven't been to a Mcdonalds in over 20 years.

I do like Culvers though.

Hugs and you are sounding more fab girlfriend!

chickelit said...

Lem said...
Chick has titus down pat.

Did I tell you about my fab loft in Cambridge MA, the center of the Universe? It's on the top floor and has three bedrooms. I have the masturbedroom (natch) but my clumber has his own roomy woomy with a doggie bed. Sometimes I sleep with him but I always feel guilty when I wake up with my 7 inch circumcised hog with a mushroom head pushing against my jammies and the clumber. That's when I get up and go log onto grindr and have a little jerky jerky.

/tit_s

Titus said...

I used to like Long John Silvers-there was one on east washington

tits.

When I was little my mom would take me to Rennebohms.

And Barnaby's pizza which is still in the Chicago area.

cock

Trooper York said...

Be careful buddy. If you keep talking in that voice we might have to call an exorcist.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

masturbedroom lol

Titus said...

It is 8 inches chick.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chickelit - the only thing I remember about that big long street that takes you into downtown Madison is the restaurant (ice cream shop?) that's like a merry-go-round.

Titus said...

I am on grindr now though.

Titus said...

ella's deli april

edutcher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Well, good for them.

A little personal touch will go a lot farther than all the PC in the world.

Trooper York said...

Beating up minorities and anybody that was different than you who came into your neighborhood.

I miss the 1950's and 1960's.


Where we were, the Micks and the Sicilians (no mob affiliation) got along just fine.

When my mom finally had to go to a nursing home (Alzheimer's), one of our Sicilian neighbors would always ask, "How'sa Mom?" anytime she saw me.

She was much older and Mom never failed to offer her a ride when she walked home from the store.

I miss the 50's and 60's, too.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Ella's Deli - thanks tits.

Titus said...

Do you know there are over 1,000 guys on grindr right now within 10 blocks of me? When I walk the runway on Mass Ave they are like 50 feet from me. You need to be alert and ready to find a quiet alley-which can be tough!

The demographics are interesting-you have all the Harvard and MIT bitches, the high paid high tech and biotech profs, and then you have all the local thugs who are on the dl.

Guess which I pick?

Titus said...

There are lots of muzzies from MIT and Harvard-they are all definitely dl. I wonder what they do when they go back to their countries?

Is there grindr in Saudia Arabia or Pakistan?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

50's & 60's you say?

chickelit said...

Chickelit - the only thing I remember about that big long street that takes you into downtown Madison is the restaurant (ice cream shop?) that's like a merry-go-round.

That is Ella's Deli but it is on East Warshington Ave which is the main drag into Madison from the east. I grew up near the west side (natch) and that is where the McDonalds was. There was probably one on the east side too.

Haz would know all this as he used to manage pizza parlors of both sides of town.

chickelit said...

When I was little my mom would take me to Rennebohms.

I used to work at Rennebohms. I had a girlfriend from Waunakee whom I met working there there.

Trooper York said...

I remember when I was kid working a job as an apprentice accountant. It was in Flushing Queens at the last stop on the 7 train. I was 14 and made $3 an hour. Doing bank reconciliations and small tax returns. So I didn't have a lot of dough. I would go to the McDonald's on Roosevelt Avenue and get three burgers and fries and an apple pie and a milkshake. I would pick up a Sporting News and check the box scores so I could line up my bets for the weekend.

McDonald's was perfect for a young kid. A cast iron stomach and a youthful constitution made it a great lunch. For about three bucks or so.

Trooper York said...

Maybe five bucks. I forget. A piece of pizza at the time was a quarter.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I grew up in Coloradie. When visiting WI, from the airport we drive towards Sun Prairie and Columbus on the way to the small town where I was born. So many of those cool old original fast food joints are gone now anyway.

My grandmother and I used to drive to Fox Lake and enjoy delicious hamburgers and root-beer at the drive-in A&W Root Beer Stand. --with the hook-tray on the window. mmmm tasty. That place is long gone.

Rabel said...

Second photo, guy on right. It looks like his transition is coming along nicely. I'm happy for him/her.

I like Micky D's.

Trooper York said...

I always preferred McDonald's to Burger King. Except for the onion rings.

We used to go out drinking in the city and then come home for a pub crawl down Court St. When we got to the neighborhood we would all pile into my buddies Toyota and drive to Third Avenue and 39th to the Burger King Drive through that was 24/7. It was across the street from the police station. We always were shit faced and would always run into cops. They would just smile and wave us through.

White privilege doncha know.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

All the hormones in the cheap beef give young girls early periods and older dudes - moobs.

Trooper York said...

You say that like it is a bad thing?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

My cousin's wife in Fort Collins (she's a family favorite - everybody loves her) anyway - she won't let her kids eat at McDonald or any fast food meat. Instead she buys grass fed hormone-free beef (and other game) and she keeps it in the freezer.

edutcher said...

AprilApple said...

50's & 60's you say?

Well, until 1966.

Trooper York said...

McDonald's is a place you can get consistent food when you are on the road. The coffee is great and like ricpic says the breakfast is tasty.

I remember we went to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame ceremony one year. We went into this diner on the main street. They had a menu which had a strip of tape over the prices. When you peeled it away the real everyday prices were listed which were half of what they were charging on Hall of Fame Weekend. Plus the food sucked balls. So it was Micky D's for breakfast and the Ponderosa buffet for dinner.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Troop - she-he needs a bro. or a manssiere

chickelit said...

So many of those cool old original fast food joints are gone now anyway.

There was a "Dog 'n' Suds" drive-in on the west side, approximately where the Perkins with the huge flag used to be.

Trooper York said...

April there are a bunch of guys who will be happy to help her hold those puppies up. Just sayn'

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Her... what about the guy in the photo with the moobs? Are you gonna help him?

sexist.

Trooper York said...

As a man with moobs I want to tell you we are not ashamed. We earned those moobs by a life of excess and carnality. We are not ashamed. We will not live in the shadows. We earned our excess breast tissue from french fries and donuts and cheese cake and pasta and beer. If you prick us do we not bleed saturated fat. We are America. Fat white guys built this country. Did you ever see George Washington's gut. He looked like Chris Christie with better teeth.

chickelit said...

My grandmother and I used to drive to Fox Lake and enjoy delicious hamburgers and root-beer at the drive-in A&W Root Beer Stand. --with the hook-tray on the window. mmmm tasty. That place is long gone.

A&W window trays with the red rubber mats (nets) and that red plastic tray.

I've been looking for one of those old A&W mugs to make a root beer plastic reality. I don't want to spend a fortune though.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Long live men with moobs. You DID build that!

chickelit said...

Scroll down for the photo of the tray.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

@ chickelit - "Dog 'N' Suds" - wow. I've never heard of that.
I remember the old wienerschnitzel on Colfax. A-frame roof.

A big heavy A&W mug. Did you check e-bay?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

McDonald's is a place you can get consistent food when you are on the road

That was the great selling point of Howard Johnson's (for those of you old enough).

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Yes-- that was the tray. Makes me miss my grandmother. she was the best.

chickelit said...

I remember the old wienerschnitzel on Colfax. A-frame roof.

An A-frame with a light blue roof.

I believe there is still one on PCH here in Oceanside.

chickelit said...

@April: "Dog 'n Suds had a very distinctive roof: link

Trooper York said...

I remember Howard Johnson's very well. It was the place you would go when you were on the road. Plus they had all the ice cream. It was the best.

Trooper York said...

That's why the episode on Mad Men was so funny when Don Draper had to plug Howard Johnson. Another chain that offered decent food at reasonable prices as an American Institution.

Of course you know why they failed?

The Mets had a third baseman with the same name. That turned off America. Just sayn'

chickelit said...

A big heavy A&W mug. Did you check e-bay?

Yes, they have them but shipping is a deal breaker. I get lots of interesting glass at thrift stores for a buck or two. But it's random and sometimes inspiring.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The roof is cool - but that hot dog looks great. Chicago style?

chickelit said...

I don't know! I never ate hot dogs as a kid. I rode or drive past that place a million times though.

chickelit said...

There is a HoJo's Inn right next to Disneyland. We used to stay there when the kids were little and we did overnighters there. Nice place. We kept going back.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I love fast food. When I eat too much of it, I gain weight. So I do my best to leave it alone. It's difficult on busy days when hunger catches up and the convenience of it is so tempting. My favs are Wendy's spicy chicken sammy, regular MickyD's hamburgers, and taco bell regular soft tacos.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

what! get out and get yourself a Chicago style hotdog right now!

Trooper York said...

That's because you are a red blooded American April. It almost makes up for your commmie tendencies about bike riding and such.

Almost.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Hey everybody, look who popped up?

Rabel... nice to see ya, don't be a stranger.

Trooper York said...

McDonald's can bring everybody together.

That never happens at freaking Star Bucks.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

LOL- Troop. I almost spit out my arugula and tofu. Luckily the compost bin is close by.

Rabel said...

Lot goin on, Lem. Hard to focus on the topics of the day well enough to produce quality commenting. I have my standards. And to top it off I got jury duty Monday week.

OK. All that's a lie. The truth is I've been watching this 24/7. I just can't stop.

Titus said...

I can't do a man with moobs-to close to being a woman...sorry.

Manboobs should be illegal.

I need tight hard pecs....sorry troop.

Rabel said...

See what I mean. I post the video and all the guys disappear except Titus.

ndspinelli said...

Mrs. Althouse loves McDonald's. She stops there all the time when she overcomes her agoraphobia and gets out of Madison. She has praised the quarter pounder w/ cheese[Le Royal in France] many times and loves the free internet. Just sayn'.

Trooper and his Sancho Panza are trying to make this a class war. Fast Food and processed food are killing us. And, it is the lower classes they are killing. I am a libertarian. I believe in choice. One of the most healthy quick breakfasts you can buy is an Egg McMuffin. A good, low calorie dessert is a SMALL cone[I won't call it ice cream] for 170 calories. But, lets not buy the propaganda from our Howard Beale, 90% of the menu in McDonald's is unhealthy.

Trooper York said...

Everything is killing us. Nobody gets out alive. Fast food is a reasonable and affordable alternative for many people who don't have the money to go to Whole Foods.

But it is déclassé. You might catch Bill Clinton there. That was his genius. You would never see Hillary or Obama or John Kerry or John Boehner or Mitch McConnell there. It is quintessentially American.

That is why they mock it.