During my afternoon spent downtown I decided to spend my last $4.29 on McDonald's. McDonald's was an easy choice because 1. there was a restaurant everywhere I went and 2. it was the one thing that I knew I could afford with tax. I ended up buying a $1 McChicken with a side of large fries, totaling $3.84 after tax, leaving me with a grand total of $0.45 remaining in my food budget. I officially only have to eat whatever is left from my SNAP groceries, which is diminishing rapidly.
Ordering food today reminded me of my high school days working at Burger King. I used to get frustrated when patrons would come in frequently with their whole family and order for everyone off of the value menu. It was more work for me as a Burger King employee to fill lots of little side orders than a few meal orders. I remember later mentioning my frustration about this to a friend of the family, a business man who had been through both plentiful and difficult times with his family. He said to me "Maybe that's all they can afford." He was right, and today I was one of those many patrons.
Do we really want to live in a country where some families can only afford the dollar menu at McDonald's? I certainly don't.
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