One Prof's Ponderings, Predictions, and Proclimations

So this morning I arrived to work pretty early by my standards (about 7:15am).  This is because we are currently down one car due to the massive hail storm up in Vermillion the other day.  So my husband dropped my off and went on his way up to school at USD.

Though I’m not a fan of such an early morning I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally catch up on my grading and perhaps even to have a nearly grading-free weekend (but probably not).  Anyway….I began grading semi-diligently and found myself not wanting to be in my office.  I began thinking of ways that I could change my atmosphere and realized that I was a bit hungry.  Now I have good healthy yogurt in my little office fridge, but that is not what I was craving on this cold, windy early fall day.  I wanted a sausage and egg McMuffin and hash browns.

So I sit and debate on whether or not I should give in to this craving and eat the gut bomb that I know this fine cuisine to be, or to just go ahead and take the 5 min walk over the McD’s.  I went.

Something that I noticed as I enjoyed one of the 2 or 3 McMuffins that I would eat this entire year was that I was by far the youngest person in the place, by a few decades.  What I saw actually cheered me…older adults sitting around tables sipping their coffee.  They moved from table to table chatting with nearly everyone in the restaurant.  When a new person came in, they often received a welcoming “hello’ from one of the tables.

People were chatting about mundane things, what their chores were for the day, how their kids and grandkids were doing, what was going on with their other friends.  It made me wonder, why is this wonderful socialization happening in, of all places, my dreaded McDonalds?

I chalk it up to the cheap coffee (no none had the fancy McCafe’s in their hands) and the fact that in this little neighborhood, there are no other coffee shops or small local restaurants.

I liked what I saw, I just did not like the fact that it was a McDonald’s that it was happening within.  I do love the fact that Sioux City still has many small neighborhood diners and cafes, but when people cannot find these, they go to McDonalds.