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Fast Food
Here's a lengthy comment I wrote over on Askville in response to a question about fast food:
I gave up eating fast food eight years ago, afte read Fast Food Nation. My father used to work as a research chemist, and he told me that the stuff in that book is true: the fast food chains really do chemically leach the natural flavors out of their food and replace them with addictive chemical flavors made in large factories in New Jersey.
That said, I worked in a Burger King one summer when I was in college. Hamburgers were regularly dropped on the floor - which was thickly coated with dirty grease, and was absolutely disgusting - picked up, and served to customers. Sometimes there were given a quick hose-down in the utility sink first, if there were visible debris on them.
Once the chain-link griller malfunctioned, delivering burgers that were half-raw. We were told to fry those burgers on top of the protective metal heat shield that covered the flame-broiling conveyor belt. This heat shield was, of course, absolutely filthy and greasy.
Our milkshake machine had the highest bacteria count in the state. Still, we were never shut down.
Our shift manager used to bring in prostitutes in vans for his lunch hour, and for his favored employees. Those of us who didn't use his whores used to have a pool on how long he'd spend in the van in the parking lot during "lunch". When summer ended and I gave notice (I was going back to school), he told me that he'd have a special surprise for me - and moments later casually asked me what sort of "@ss" I liked, racially ("White, black, Puerto Rican, what?"). I managed to convince him that I didn't want the "surprise".
Back when I did eat fast food, though, my favorite place was Roy Rogers. When their food was fresh, it was outstanding; I'd drive an hour out of my way to get there. There aren't any of them left in this area, unfortunately. They were never a major presence in this area.
I still remember their commercials, and how I used to joke that their burgers were made out of Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger. But they were actually really good.
These days the closest I get to fast food is a place called Uburger in Kenmore Square in Boston. They're supposed to be a lot like the famous In-n-Out Burgers" in California, which I've never had a chance to try. But they're not really fast food; they grind all their meat right there, and everything is fresh.
That said, I worked in a Burger King one summer when I was in college. Hamburgers were regularly dropped on the floor - which was thickly coated with dirty grease, and was absolutely disgusting - picked up, and served to customers. Sometimes there were given a quick hose-down in the utility sink first, if there were visible debris on them.
Once the chain-link griller malfunctioned, delivering burgers that were half-raw. We were told to fry those burgers on top of the protective metal heat shield that covered the flame-broiling conveyor belt. This heat shield was, of course, absolutely filthy and greasy.
Our milkshake machine had the highest bacteria count in the state. Still, we were never shut down.
Our shift manager used to bring in prostitutes in vans for his lunch hour, and for his favored employees. Those of us who didn't use his whores used to have a pool on how long he'd spend in the van in the parking lot during "lunch". When summer ended and I gave notice (I was going back to school), he told me that he'd have a special surprise for me - and moments later casually asked me what sort of "@ss" I liked, racially ("White, black, Puerto Rican, what?"). I managed to convince him that I didn't want the "surprise".
Back when I did eat fast food, though, my favorite place was Roy Rogers. When their food was fresh, it was outstanding; I'd drive an hour out of my way to get there. There aren't any of them left in this area, unfortunately. They were never a major presence in this area.
I still remember their commercials, and how I used to joke that their burgers were made out of Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger. But they were actually really good.
These days the closest I get to fast food is a place called Uburger in Kenmore Square in Boston. They're supposed to be a lot like the famous In-n-Out Burgers" in California, which I've never had a chance to try. But they're not really fast food; they grind all their meat right there, and everything is fresh.