Happy McBirthday!

OK, so Friday, April 15, was the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first McDonald's restaurant in Illinois. Man, do I have some McMemories -- I worked for the Golden Arches for seven years.

I have a love-hate relationship with the fast food restaurant. Put simply, I love french fries. I love cheeseburgers, I love an icy cold Coke, and I love a Shamrock Shake (only available in March). Better yet, I used to love customizing the sandwiches and truly making them "my way." My favorite was the McChicken (back when it was not a cheapo version) with barbecue sauce. I also still order the Filet-O-Fish with lettuce and tomato. The bun used to be steamed, so it was super soft but not moist; I doubt that it still is. I would make an omelette with the salad ingredients (bell peppers, ham, shreddd cheese) or use a folded egg on a muffin sandwich. Plenty of choices to avoid monotony.

I recall learning to make a Big Mac (cheese on the bottom, pickles on the club -- you can remember because the club has a ring on the bun from the toaster, and a pickle is round like the ring. And of course, plenty of lettuce: "We want our customers to taste lettuce in every bite." Truly, half of it falls of by the time the customer bites in to the sandwich, so you have to compensate.

McDonald's taught me a lot about work ethic, about serving customers, about treating people right and about being humble. Sure, there were times when I slacked off just like everyone else, but I realized that I was assigned the farthest register from the food because I moved the fastest. I hated working in the lobby cleaning up, but I loved stocking things (I am such a neat freak sometimes). I did this as a 15-year-old high school sophomore who spent most of the $3.31 per hour he earned on comic books.

I loved the drive-thru most of all. Mainly it was a power thing. In the McHierarchy, drive-thru is tops, and the runner is the one in charge of the drive thru. It was a thrill -- really -- to see if we could beat the average wait times from the day before or from the dinner shift (I worked morning through lunch). Better yet, I wanted to have a "dangler" -- that is, the bag hanging out the window before the car drove up. That was before the days when the cooks wore a headset to start making the food while it was being ordered.

I admit, I was pretty good, and I kind of liked it. I could take an order, fill drinks and take money all at the same time. I could run the kitchen and keep food stocked in the warming bin (again before the current style of cook-to-order) as needed. I was friendly with the regular customers, and I learned to stay relatively stress-free.

As I stayed with the company, I earned special jobs such as assembling the shake and sundae machines and counting the daily deposit. My last couple years I did accounts payable, too. When I left in 1996, I earned $7.25 per hour; minimum wage was just $5.15.

I could have accepted real promotions to crew chief if I had been willing to work full time. I never wanted to work that much in high school and didn't have time in college. McDonald's was good to me with scheduling, and my special jobs allwed even more flexibility. Starting my junior year of high school, I came in before school to assemble one of the machines and later to do the deposit from 5 to 7 a.m. I can't imagine any of my students doing that today, and I don't think I would want them to.

I have a lot of sour memories from working there -- irate customers, mopping an overflowed toilet, employee dramas -- but generally it was fun and kept me with money. I even earned a $500 scholarship, the Ray A. Kroc Achievement Award. It's also a medallion I received at graduation that looks kind of like Speaicl Olympics.

So, on the occasion of the Golden Arches' Golden Anniversary, let me raise a cup of orange drink in celebration. I tip my paper hat to you.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.