McDonald's

Disgust. Grease. Putrid. Vile.

These are just some of the many words than went through my head as I passed through the mighty golden arches of my local McDonald's location. There is little that hasn't been said about this infamous, yet iconic fast food chain, but I feel that McDonald's has achieved something that very little restaurants have been able to. It has become not only one of the most awful restaurants on the face of the planet, but has also become one of the most popular, iconic, beloved, and necessary of all time. I entered the prison cell threshold that help the entrance to the McDonald's, and as the stench of grease entered my nose, I paused and asked myself:

Why? Why am I here? How do people like this? How could such a thing occur?

Does it come from masochism? Insanity?

What could possibly be redeeming about McDonald's of all places?

It's an understatement to say that walking into a McDonald’s is a visceral wave of emotions. This isn't helped by the exact similarity between every location. It has created a certain familiarity to the mediocrity, and makes any entering of any McDonald's establishment just as traumatizing as any other location. As you enter, there is a tinge of regret as you feel your intestines knot at the thought of the contents of the food your about to consume. There is a dread that overcomes you as you see the muddied tile floors that are reminiscent to the dewy wasteland behind your toilet. There is the face-contouring cringe as you see the pimple-cratered, bucktoothed teenage employee; slouched in a depressive slant that they call good posture, with a off-white, stained name tag that says “brAd” in illegible handwriting. After taking in the utter marvel and majesty in front of me, I walked up to the boy, fully knowing the struggle I was about to endure.

What struggle you say?

Ordering.

See, with the main and sole work force of McDonald's being either sixteen-year-old do-nothings or fifty-something mid-life-crisis sufferers, the customer service seldom goes past getting a free ketchup packet for finding hair in your food. I asked for the ten-piece chicken nugget meal with a coke, and to my surprise, after only waiting ten minutes for the boy to figure out the machine, my order was placed! Hyperbole aside, the only true frustration was not the wait, which was short as a matter of fact, but the lack of quality work. He obviously didn't know how the cash register worked, nor what the words coming out of my mouth meant. The mentality behind hiring for McDonald's, while helping minors find jobs, definitely hurts them in customer service. But hey, at least my food was ordered promptly, and my food was being made.

With every step I took within that building, I kept running out of reasons to come there. I felt dirty just breathing in the stagnant and somehow greasy air, and it felt as if the food wasn't even going to be worth it. But, after a suspiciously short wait for my food, I picked up my warm, white paper bag with my ten-or-so-piece chicken-substance chunks and lukewarm potato shoelaces, and it all made sense.

The nostalgic aroma of the golden fries filled my nose, and the savory steam coming off the perfectly fried nuggets sent me to flavor town. My depression was gone. My skin was clear. My body was cured. My mind was enlightened. The glow-in-the-dark sticker stars on the roof aligned and the true reason that McDonald's is necessary became clear in my mind.

In reality, after pondering, I realized that all the horrible things I had to deal with on the way to my meal were the last things anyone cared about when going to McDonald's. Does anyone want to go to McDonald's for cleanliness? For good customer service? For good decor? For good food even?

No! In hindsight, I scoff at the thought that anyone would expect that from McDonald’s. For a matter of fact, McDonald's prides itself on its low prices and its cutting corners because it has perfected the one thing they set out to do: Get you your food as soon as physically possible.

After looking at McDonald's with this perspective, it is easy to see why it has become so iconic. The brevity of the time waiting for your food, and impressively average quality of food has been drawing in people for years, and I am one of those people. McDonald's represents the ideal for fast-food, which entails cheap food, served to you in a timely manner,. Barely any restaurant has deals on meals like McDonald's does, and if they do, the service isn't as fast.

All this in mind, do I really recommend you drop everything and go to McDonald’s?

Hell No! I don't recommend McDonald's in the slightest! The awful nutrition of their food, on top of the experience of going there being awful, makes the meal more of a chore, or a necessity, than a pleasurable experience.

Now, do I think it is necessary?

Absolutely. No one goes to Mcdonald’s because they want to, they go there because they have to, and that's not a bad thing. That's just what makes McDonald's unique, and what makes it such a hot spot in the food industry for so long. This review was made not entirely recommend or not recommend McDonald's, but to show that, while inherently lacking in quality in all fronts, McDonald's has and will continue to be a necessary and iconic figment in the food industry.

McDonald’s

43250 Defender Dr.

South Riding, VA, 20152