What I shove down my gullet never ceases to amaze me. No matter what lovely, nutritious, clementine oranges, homemade soup, whole-grain muffins, or greek yogurt I have in my fridge, I’d rather buy my lunch. I once had a coworker who’d look over my shoulder every day to see what I was eating–leftovers, or soup usually. Meanwhile, I was gazing in envy at their sub. She thought I was a domestic goddess, but actually I was too poor to buy lunch.
I don’t understand.
And why is plain coffee from the drive through better than a vanilla latte I made myself? And it takes about the same amount of time, maybe less, to make the latte. And why would I rather have a McDouble than barbecue my own burger? I mean, McDouble? Ick. I’ve seen Super Size Me.
I’ve heard this trend pinned on my generation–we youngbloods who have to have our Starbucks and are too cool to brown bag it. Well, I do love Starbucks, but I don’t believe that. If you’ve ever been to the McDonalds in my town at 10:00 in the morning, you will see wall-to-wall construction workers and retirees (and your humble, shift-working blogger). From where I sit right now–yes, I’m in McDonalds–I see mainly families and older folk. So is it just my generation? Heck no.
Everyone else is doing it too, but that doesn’t help me.
My wallet is what saves me. I just don’t have the budget to buy lunch every day. And even if I did, I’d be too cheap. When I was a kid I ate in a restaurant about six times a year, and those times were a huge treat. I think that’s still ingrained in me, even if I buy coffee twice a week, and lunch every second week. I want it to stay that way–special–so I guess I’ll have to pack my meals.
But, as long as I don’t have WiFi at home, I’ll be coming to McDonalds. Sneaky. Very sneaky.
How about you?
Geralyn Wichers 
A wonderfully astute look at the ways we can feel conflicted between what we know we should do and what our mind tells us it wants us to do. Going out to eat is an experience so packed with cultural/social/emotional baggage. It can mean everything from being cool to having financial status. Bottom line – we are complex creatures, we humans. Hail the free Wi-Fi and the Mickey-D coffee – you can’t lose with that combo.
🙂 you make me smile. Yeah, there’s wifi, no strings attached at the library but they don’t serve coffee, so…
Me too. Coffee outside of my house always tastes better than how I try to make it. Even if I had a fancy machine, I bet it would still be the same. Bought coffee tastes better. But FREE coffee’s the best! (I always try to go into my sister’s bank to change quarters, dollar bills, etc, just to walk out of there with a cup of free Keurig coffee. Teehee.)
That’s fantastic 🙂