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28 june 2000 -
previous
gingerly, that's
how i do everything. i walk down the stairs
gingerly. i slide out of a booth after eating
gingerly. i get out of bed gingerly and often
regrettably and sometimes even
against-my-willingly.
before gingerly
sliding out of a booth at mcdonald's the other day,
i decided to do a little eavesdropping. and why
not? the man was talking so god damned loud that it
would have taken a concerted effort not to
overhear.
he was apparently
the manager of the store. he was talking to some
punk kid who'd just gotten back into town from
camp, obviously an employee.
"so i hear you've
been off to camp?" asked the surly
manager.
"that's right,
fishing camp," said the too-skinny punk kid.
"that's
extraordinarily cool!" exclaimed the overzealous
manager. he went on to say, "my master's thesis in
graduate school was about the living habits of bass
and walleyes in wisconsin."
"oh," said the
kid, without a change in expression or tone.
that's about the
time i forced myself to stop listening.
meg
suspected that he was making up the story about
graduate school. i disagreed. i suspected that he
went to graduate school, figured out that he
couldn't make a decent enough living to support his
androgynous, overweight wife and spoiled,
overweight children working in the conservation
field. then he discovered that, luckily, mcdonald's
pays a manager a livable wage and probably allows
his family to stuff their faces reasonably
efficiently...and probably at a significant
discount.
i can't figure
out how to gingerly end this piece without
mentioning depression and the american way.
so
anyway...
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