The Year of McDonald's

#1

Post by secondary » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 9:25 PM UTC

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#2

Post by tetris11 » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 9:47 PM UTC

One of my favourite places in the world is this one particular McDonalds in Camberwell that's open 24 hrs.

On a Friday night at 2am, its full of people from all walks of life - from delivery workers taking a 5 minute break, to wedding party socialites looking for a quick food fix since everything else is closed - and they're all there for the exact same reason and are sitting next to each other without any tension or fanfare.

There really is a certain community magic to it.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#3

Post by Lammy » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

I got “in” to McDonald's when I was studying the Freeway revolts and realized how skilled McDonalds Corporate were at real estate speculation way back in the 1950s. In San Francisco there was (key word: was) a McDonald's along every corridor that would have been more highly traveled had the freeways been built as planned: Haight & Stanyan, Turk & Golden Gate, Van Ness (this one was actually unironically beautiful, look it up). I would get breakfast at that former Haight location on my way to work every morning, Bacon Egg & Cheese biscuit and a large black coffee — my fav.

Also recommended: “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America” http://www.marciachatelain.com/ (2021 Pulitzer Prize winner)

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#4

Post by Waterluvian » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:02 PM UTC

When I was quite young (maybe 5-9) my family did a lot of trips to the U.S. for my dad’s IBM server training stuff. Something that made me anxious was the border crossing because my dad got all serious and told us to be quiet and it felt intimidating.

As a consequence of being so young I couldn’t distinguish between Customs and a toll booth so they made me anxious too. And one day we were driving up to what looked like a huge toll booth or Customs stop and I was terribly anxious until we got close enough and it was this super weird McDonald’s. A gas station below, restaurant on top. It had such an impact on me that I spent the years after being hopeful any time I saw customs or tool booths that it was this fantastical McDonald’s.

Also I once went to a McDonald’s with model trains running along the top of the walls. That was super cool.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#5

Post by munk-a » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

What a bizarre statement about a place of business that's tried to irrelevance themselves into non-existence this year. Fast food pricing is now equal or beyond the prices of quality food with non-chain fast food (i.e. doner/local pizza joints) becoming the new affordable option.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#6

Post by shreddit » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:05 PM UTC

I once worked for two hours out of a mc donalds, even had a 30 minute teams meeting (it was completely empty at 10 in the morning) and the wifi was quite fast

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#7

Post by paulpauper » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:06 PM UTC

Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson

Isn't it pretty obvious it's him? Is there any possibility he was framed or something.

McDonald's plays a big role because it also happens to be extremely popular and has many locations all over America. It's brand is an iconic and big as ever.

It also shows how America has a sort of love-hate relationship with fast-food. We know it's unhealthy and overpriced but we cannot stop eating it.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#8

Post by nickvec » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:07 PM UTC

paulpauper wrote: post #7

Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Isn't it pretty obvious it's him? Is there any possibility he was framed or something. McDonald's plays a big role because it also happens to be extremely popular and has many locations all over America. It's brand is an iconic and big as ever. It also shows how America has a sort of love-hate relation…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_innocence

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#9

Post by jajko » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:08 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #5

What a bizarre statement about a place of business that's tried to irrelevance themselves into non-existence this year. Fast food pricing is now equal or beyond the prices of quality food with non-chain fast food (i.e. doner/local pizza joints) becoming the new affordable option.

Yes but they are not everywhere. As much as hate the below mediocre junk McD mostly produces, sometimes they are the only place open for miles around.

Re: The Year of McDonald's

#10

Post by rdtsc » Mon, Dec 16, 2024, 10:09 PM UTC

> At the end of October, there was the viral, and controversial, Trump campaign stop, where he “worked” for 30 minutes at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Then, this week, there was the news that Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was caught in a McDonald’s—also, coincidentally, in Pennsylvania—because he was spotted by a group of morning regulars and employees

Didn't Kamala Harris also work at McDonalds https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/01/kamala-harris-on-working-at-...? Pretty sure Trump's stunt was because of that. But I guess it's fair to assume everyone who followed that story knows the context. Or perhaps the author is more sympathetic to one candidate and would rather not air unproven claims: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harris-mcdonalds-college/