I Said Okay

Sat, April 26, 2003

I Said Okay

Having received more praise than I expected or ever thought necessary for inflicting upon you, dear readers, the Shoe Horn Story, I am now prepared to share another story of similar pointlessness, but equivalent also in charm and style. After all, if it can't be a good story well told, it can at least be a story well told.

It was the summer of 1998. We were at a McDonald's restaurant, late at night. With our sister and her boyfriend of the time. Because it was the summer of 1998 and there was Mulan to be promoted, McDonald's was offering Szechuan sauce with their McNuggets. Never one to balk at a new experience, I requested the limited-time Szechuan sauce. I was told that this particular franchise was out of the Szechuan sauce.

I said, "Okay."

I opted for the barbecue which had historically proved more to my liking. However, it being late at night and the general mood being adventuresome, I decided to see if I could get something for nothing. I asked the window attendant if I could please have a Happy Meal toy. Just for fun. He declined, citing inventory concerns. (If he was a toy short of the register's Happy Meal count, he could get busted.) I was sensitive to the argument, but we were waiting (for something) anyway, and again the mood was adventurous. The boyfriend (whose McNuggets they may have been anyway) chimed in that he was liable to get antsy since he didn't get his Szechuan sauce, and couldn't he get the toy as a consolation prize. A settlement, of sorts?

Finally, realizing he was bested (and wanting to be rid of us), the young cashier grabbed a Happy Meal bag and thrust it at us. There was a clear precision to his rapid timing, as though he had to be fast enough that some hidden security camera wouldn't detect his defection. What I found interesting about the whole exchange was that the toy was already in the bag, just waiting for the Happy Meal to be added. That quick-serve industry! They sure think of everything!

Incidentally, the boyfriend claimed possession of the Mulan toy since it was his Szechuan sauce and his threat of tantrum that had yielded the bauble in the first place. Naturally, I declined. As driver, the toy was mine. Besides, I had it in hand and it would be more fun to have it and not want it, but let him steam over the unjust treatment, than to simply hand it over.

Another pointless story perhaps, but we were victorious over the McDonald's/Disney establishment, and I tortured someone needlessly over a meaningless plastic trinket (albeit one with realistic wing-flapping action) that neither of us really wanted. I still have it to this day.

And, I said, "Okay."