People At McDonald's

I was at McDonald's yesterday morning for breakfast. And the thought came to me, while up passing by people, getting napkins next to them, etc., that people when you're at McDonald's seem a lot more harmless than when you're other places.

You might be standing next to a guy with the greatest anxiety, someone about to kill himself in his apartment, assuming people still ever do that, but as long as he's carrying a McDonald's bag and getting a napkin, he's safe.

I barely know anyone in this town so everyone's a stranger. For all that, it was remarkable that there was a guy I had a bare acquaintance with back in April. I didn't recognize him but my wife did, so we said hello and some other things. I knew he lost his job in April or May so it was nice to know he got a new job. That's the kind of happy news you get when you see him at McDonald's. If we'd've been anywhere else, he'd've been dangling from a beam.

At McDonald's, you feel like you could kindly get a napkin for someone else who needed one, or a glass of water if they needed to daub some hashbrown grease off their face. Then they pull off the property, roll up their window, lock their door, and turn their nose up.