Simple skills...

I had a decent weekend, but how the weekend wrapped up reminded me of why I'm worried about the future... and, of all places, at McDonald's.

In the past year or so, I've had two eye-opening moments at two of Ronald McDonald's Harrisburg-area dining places.

Experience #1: My drive-thru order was $6.36... I gave the cashier $6.51, so I could 15 cents change back. He had no idea what I gave him, and gave me back the wrong change. This was already after I had waited 3 minutes for my dollar-menu order. After explaining and still getting the wrong change back, I just took the 10-cent loss and moved on, so that the line of cars behind me wouldn't get angry.

Experience #2: Last night, I went inside. I usually do when I notice nobody at the line inside... it usually means quick service. Quick, yes. Accurate, maybe. The first thing I told the guy was that the order was 'to go.' I admit, I'm very finicky when it comes to food. I ordered a chesseburger, no pickles, and two chicken sandwiches, plain. After my order, the gentleman asks, "For here or to go?" I kindly repeated my "to go" opening statement, then wondered how this order was gonna get screwed up. My fears heightened when the order was completed in under 45 seconds. I get out to my car, pickles on the cheeseburger. I know, it's probably easier just to pick them off myself.

The point is that some of our young people aren't grasping the simple concepts... listening, counting, etc. This wasn't a case of muffled drive-up speaker, this was face to face. I doubt they tried to pull a fast one on me thinking, "This guy won't care... it's not like he's gonna call our boss and get us fired." I almost did with experience #1.

It should be law that children who don't get a perfect score on their standardized math tests in 8th grade can't get working papers until they do. Honestly, they'll have a hard time getting anywhere without simple skills like that.

Just my 2 cents... counted correctly.

Website of the day, #1... of course, t102radio.com

Talk with you tonight at 6:00. Buckle up.

TS