On a lighter note...

I think McDonald's has undertaken a rather misguided approach to cost cutting. Not that I frequent the restaurant that often, but in the past several months there have been several occasions that lack of time, relative proximity to the 'restaurant', and intense hunger pains have dictated I stop there for a hot (usually) meal.

In those instances, I have, without fail, been given a meal without any of the following:

• Napkins. Not a one. Ever.
• Straws. Apparently, I should just turn the cup up and suck my drink through the cross-hatched lid. That should be easy enough in a moving vehicle.
• Condiments. This especially irks me when they take the time to ask me while I'm at the menu board if I'd like sauce, and I don't discover the lack thereof until I have pulled away from the window.

Rather than saving money, they are in my opinion, ostracising customers and ensuring they will return only under duress or extreme circumstances. Of course, since my daughter is still young enough to not recognize and demand the golden arches, perhaps I'm underestimating the will of a 3 year old with a McNugget craving. Perhaps this is how McDonald's knows that I will return, despite the miserable service, terrible food, and lack of proper eating utensils. Only time will tell.

I'll tell you one thing, though. They don't skimp on the toys. As I found out recently, you MUST take a toy with a Happy Meal. Even though I asked politely that I get a Happy Meal without one, as my baby can't yet play with them, and I'd rather them save the wretched piece of Chinese Molded Crap for the next eager youngster instead of being forced to find a place to dispose of it, they refused. You must take this meal - which we will give without utensils, napkins or sauces - and the stupid toy, because, as the 'young gentleman' at the window so keenly pointed out, "everyone needs a little joy. Don't you want some joy?" I am not sure how Chris and I both managed to keep our act together enough through this taunting of our joy-less lives to keep us from telling the multi-pierced, dangling-earlobed, misspelled-tattooed kid where he could stick our joy, because while he was so insistent about the damn toy, he managed to get the entirety of the FOOD portion of our order wrong, cold and without napkins.

Somewhere along the way, that place lost the magic. Or maybe I just lost my joy...