If the facts are 100 percent correct as alleged by this McDonald’s worker then it would be enough for me to say: “I’m not ever going to McDonald’s again.”
What the hell. I hardly ever go to McDonald’s anyway.
Basically this girl alleges she was fired from her job at McDonald’s after paying for some firefighters’ meal after they returned from a house fire. Then another group came in and she felt they should get a comp as well. She texted her boss to ask. That was the straw that broke Ronald’s back, allegedly. McDonald’s say there is more to the story of her firing than was stated. Oh, but they can’t say anything because of privacy laws. How freaking convenient.
I guess this rubs me the wrong way in more than one way. The biggest irritant is that the fast food joint doesn’t make cops pay but apparently not other public service types. This has been and, apparently still is, a practice at more than just the golden arches. A bit more than 30 years ago when I was a firefighter that was the widespread practice in the town in which I lived. Not that you work for the perks, but hell, sometimes people do appreciate the job you do. You are risking your life when you roll out of the station.
People seem to have more of an appreciation of public safety people now, more so than they did before 9/11. Still, I guess some of the restaurant people figure they can only give out free food only to so many. Okay, when that grease trap you didn’t ever clean catches fire and puts the place into an inferno, go call your hero coppers to put it out. Sorry.
I do remember some girls bringing cookies to our station one time. It was a couple of days after we helped get them back inside their house after they locked themselves out.
Once, I do recall eating at a McDonald’s after a fire. It was an early Sunday morning, must have been early January because the college still was out and there was zero traffic. I was riding in the open jump seat with someone. Can’t recall who. Mike was driving and Mason was lieutenant. I don’t remember who all was on the other pumper either. I guess I remember those two guys because they are gone after relatively early deaths. I remember it was sleeting or snowing that day. A car with a guy, his wife and kids, passed by and looked at me and my fellow firefighter riding the jump seat like, “These guys must be freezing.”
This was back when I was still young. Really pretty young. I guess I was about 23. Man, I had fun back in those days.
We ate breakfast, a Mickey D’s Big Breakfast as I recall. And I remember Mason paid for it. I don’t recollect if Mason paid for those of us on both trucks but he did pick up Engine 309’s tab. That’s more than I can say for Mickey D.
It has been a week since the government shutdown and many of us who work for the feds have been furloughed. Time off is good and I planned on taking annual leave next week, but it looks like that won’t be happening. I may be wrong, and I hope that I am, but I don’t see the federal government totally opening shop until at least Oct. 17. That is, of course, when the debt ceiling must be raised or the nation will default on its debts. At least, that is the best I can make out of it.
I have always enjoyed time off from work until lately. I can’t remember the last time I took off just to go somewhere and enjoy myself. It was maybe one or two years ago.
If I had the money, I would go somewhere for a week or a few days. Maybe I would visit a friend in El Paso, or another in Mississippi. But I have very little money and that little money I have I am trying to determine what I will have to use it for.
Never in my life have I seen a group of people – and I am speaking to Congress and my President – who seem to have a total disregard for the employees whose welfare they are charged to oversee. I still support the President, but I truly hope he gets something done and soon. I am headed toward a place I never wanted to be again, that is homeless. Wouldn’t that be a nice “visual” for Congress or President Obama?
I have a “Donation” button on my blog page that goes to my PayPal account. Please feel free to use it. Your help for this furloughed government employee is much appreciated.
Note: I work part-time for a government agency. In the last couple of years health problems have forced me to rely more on that part-time job than on my dream of freelancing. I ask those whom I know who read this to please give me a hand so both that I and this blog can continue. — Thanks, Dick
My friend Marcie sent me a text message earlier that unfortunately is more enthusiasm than accuracy at the moment.
“Looks like no govt shutdown. Good news for you! We’ll see … ”
That’s okay, Marcie, it’s the thought that counts. For the moment at least.
The latest in the war between the Democrats vs. the GOP vs. Tea Party is a Senate spending bill that restored funding for Obamacare as well as to keep the government running. It’s been sent to the House where it either be accepted or sent where old bills go to die.
Our only words of encouragement are in the form of our regular teleconference agenda that came by email this afternoon, which says nothing shutdown-related. Of course, us part-timers were already given a short phone call from our supervisors late yesterday afternoon telling us we would be told something Monday as to any possible furloughs. The procedure is roughly the same as we had during the last time the Republicans threatened to shut us down. As far as I know, unless there has been any last minute change, we still will be considered non-essential personnel.
I suppose I look at the possibility of going unpaid for however long. If it is a day or maybe two, then I might be okay. Anymore than that and I might have to try a Web-driven telethon.
But I shall not dwell on these things. I just hope the media will have the good sense to stop making a hero out of Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who now is the most toxic Texan in the Senate. Yes, he’s different. Different in the a**hole way.
Have a great weekend and, in the words of the late, great Bob Marley: “Don’t worry. About a thing. Cause every little thing going to be all right … ”
The fields hosting some of the best teams in college football were a slaughterhouse last weekend. See for yourself:
No. 4 Ohio State 76, Florida A & M 0.
No. 7 Louisville 72, Florida International 0.
No. 8 Florida State 54, Bethune-Cookman, 6, By golly at least the small, historically black Wildcats scored a TD.
No. 20 Baylor 70, Louisiana-Monroe 7.
Stephen F. Austin 52, Montana State 38. This sounds more like Texas 6-man football but my alma mater the Lumberjacks of SFA were pretty even unlike some of these match-ups.
Even here in Beaumont, Texas, the rebuilt-from-the-grave Lamar Cardinals, a FCS, or what was once Division 1-A, throttled the smaller Bacone Warriors of Muskogee, Okla., 53-0. I saw the Bacone bus at the MCM Elegante Hotel while coming home from work late. I said: “Bacone?”
Bridge City HS, UT wishbone T fullback Steve Worster. Those were the days.
Here is my alma mater playing Texas Tech on Sept. 7. Tech 61 SFA 13. Attendance, more than 54, 000. On RedRaiderSports.com, old buddy, former co-worker and fellow SFA journalism alum Kevin Gore hit the nail on the head:
“Texas Tech is the toughest opponent on SFA’s schedule, how do you think they’re gearing up mentally for their trip to Lubbock? KG: “Well, you know, it’s a money game for Stephen F. They’re getting $387,500. They try to play a money game every year.”
To paraphrase an old chem professor, you don’t get 20,000 students to show up for a chemistry lecture.
I have been searching for what SFA brought home in cash in the beating they took a year or two ago playing the Texas A & M Aggies at Kyle Field, but can’t find the amount.
Other reasons exist for these mismatched contests but money reigns supreme, at least for the “beat-ee.”
The question raised is whether these games contain “sportsmanship.” WTF? I remember in high school, a football player and a pretty girl would be the “Sportsmanship Couple.” This couple would take a bouquet to another such couple from the other team. I never got to be a sportsmanship, uh half-a-couple. I was just the equipment manager. And I remember a game in high school in which I watched from the sidelines as our team racked up 60 to 0, the best I can remember. We put a 300-pounder lineman in at halfback and he bulled his way through a couple of yards a la Refrigerator Perry style. That was before The Fridge though.
This score-up-running scene I described was a district football game. It was a school we played year in and out, except every so often and when the University of Texas body that runs interscholastic events — my best friend and I were 2-for-2 in the Nederland Foresnic Tournament. We raced to see who could first dig up dead bodies and find crucial evidence. Oh bullshit, it was a debate tournament!
Where this all comes out is sometimes the score gets run up. It seems a bit unseemly when this is all for money. But you have to make that dancing monkey dance. That is not a racist statement. You ever see a dancing monkey?
