It doesn’t happen often, but I do get cravings for junk food from time to time. I rarely act on those cravings, and I seldom go fast food establishments. As a person with Celiac Disease, in fact, indulging in such food is a double whammy for me. Earlier this week, however, I gave in. I had smelled French fries the day before, so the ball was set in motion. Monday afternoon, then, I took a late lunch (mistake #1) and ventured off to the nearest McDonald’s (mistake #2). The experience proved to be troubling — for reasons other than the poor nutritional value of the food and the evident absence of training and efficiency of the restaurant staff.
Before I go further, Gentle Reader, I will apologize. I made a conscious decision not to use my blog as a rant forum. Inasmuch as that particular genre is a road well-traveled, I make a deliberate effort to take a different approach. That being said, I will confess that this post is a rant of sorts. Yeah, yeah; I will probably put my typical “Michael-esque spin” on it in the end, but it is a rant nevertheless. So on with it….It was about 2:30 in the afternoon and I had taken a break from work to run an errand. On my way back, I knew I would pass a McDonald’s restaurant. So I decided to stop — for the first time in ages. I had French fries on my mind, but why stop there, right? Before I arrived, my order was already clear in my mind: Quarter Pounder meal with fries and Dr. Pepper. The apple pies would be an afterthought. Then I promised myself that I would work out extra hard for the next week to atone for the sin I was about to commit. If you’re keeping score, that promise was mistake #3 (and a topic for another day).
This particular McDonald’s was a few blocks from a high school. At 2:30, school had dismissed, so some high school kids were there for an afternoon snack. Younger children were there as well — with parents, of course. I stood in line behind a group of five high school boys, four black and one white. I noticed immediately that they were speaking loudly, one talking over another. I could not identify a real topic of conversation — if, indeed, this might be classified as a “conversation.” What stood out was the language (or lack thereof, perhaps). I lost count of the number of times I heard, “motherf***ing” this or that. To my further dismay, the black boys continually referred to each other with that word that has become almost universally recognized as being patently offensive. This went on until they received their orders and went outside or into another part of the restaurant — I’m not sure which. Bear in mind that young children stood in the same line.
Was that group of boys representative of high school kids in general? Or did I happen upon a band of rogues that day? For the sake of our civilization, I pray that it was the latter. Could they have been somehow unaware of the presence other people, including children? Or did they simply not care? My fear is that their complete lack of respect for the people around them — not to mention their lack of respect for each other and themselves — bodes poorly for the state of civility in our society. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American philosopher and essayist, wrote that “life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.” At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly, I think that we as a people need to reassert those “old-fashioned” concepts of simple good manners, decency and respect. Perhaps those boys were merely behaving in a manner that has been modeled to them and which has become too readily accepted. If so, then shame on all of us! Tonight’s evening news likely will feature behavior no less deplorable and from people of distinction who surely know better.
I will conclude this post (rant, if you will) with a quote from former Vice President Al Gore. Without commenting on his politics one way or another, suffice it to say that I think he is quite correct on at least this particular point.
“In a time of socal fragmentation, vulgarity becomes a way of life. To be shocking becomes more important — and often more profitable — than to be civil or creative or truly original.” (Al Gore)
Filed under: Celiac, Civility, Courtesy, Emerson, Gore, McDonalds
I couldn’t agree more. My “sainted” mother, of whom I am sure you have heard about a lot, always said good manners consist of showing consideration for the rights and feelings of others. I regard our native tongue as being a great treasure and hate seeing it dragged through the mud of obscenity, bad grammer and poor usuage.
A “pet peeve”-is someone saying I could care less (which makes no sense) instead of I COULDN’T care less.
Amy’s Mon
I was somewhere on one of the major Hollywood blvds a few weeks ago and overheard two males referring to each other as the N word over and over and over. I finally turned around to see where they standing and it was two white boys in their early teens.
In response to Suzy:
I shared this experience with my daughter last night over dinner. She said, “Welcome to high school!” And, like Suzy, she hears white boys refer to each other with that word daily. I had no idea!
Thanks for the comments!
Sadly this reminds me of a Sponge Bob Square Pants episode where our beloved yellow friend (ok I have a 3 year old and wife who LOVE this show) finds a phrase where he cannot identify what a word means. He asks his best friend what it means. The answer….”it’s a sentence enhancer”. So off our hero goes using his new found vulgarity in every sentence trying to look important and knowledgeable. Fortunately his wise boss corrects the problem and points “13 words you should never say”. Since this is a cartoon the bad words are always the sound of a dolphin squeal an never have any idea what they really are.
Ok I do have a point here…and that is vulgarity has come to a point where it is cool to insert it EVERYWHERE. It seems much more dominate by younger people. I was listening to a similar conversation that Michael described and finally just looked one of the in the eyes and said “wow ya know you are REALLY COOL because you know how to cuss, I’m very impressed!” Of course what can they say to that. If they make any reply they just justify the statement. On another occasion I did the same thing and then got cussed at. I had to start laughing because the insult when right over his head.
Sadly it has to be learned somewhere. I have had two occasions recently where this same thing was going on in a restaurant (not fast food) with tables of all men. Finally I look over and said “excuse me do you mind not using the foul language, personally it is offensive and I really don’t want to be teaching those words to my 3 year old.” Being “adults” in both cases they apologize and did fix the issue. In fact both times at least one of the parties became red-faced over it. However there was a common denominator here as well…alcohol. That’s not a blame just a fact.
In the end its sad to use such hurtful abusive language reduced to common speech that should just be “accepted”.