Would You Like Fries With That?

“Nick!”

Nick’s eyes narrowed as he pushed the bill of his visor hat sporting the McDonalds logo on it. He wondered what he’d done wrong now, for he’d been getting yelled at all day long by his manager, Kate. He ignored her angry voice, continuing to do his job as a line cook.

He dug out a scoop full of fries, stuffing it in the medium sized carton that was next up to order. He looked on both sides of him, then behind to make sure the coast was clear before sticking his hand into the large fry bin and taking a few, stuffing them into his mouth, savoring the warm, salty taste.

“NICK!!!”

Nick froze, swallowing the fries in one large gulp, choking as they slowly slid down. His eyes bugged out as he started to choke, swallowing hard. They went the rest of the way down, slightly painfully, but he was home free…this time. He turned around to see his medium height, slightly stalky manager standing before him, arms crossed across her. She did not look pleased with him in the least.

“Where is your hair net, Nickolas?” Kate asked

Nick rolled his eyes, knowing he should have suspected the Nazi Queen would spot his blonde hair poking out from under and atop the visor. She had eagle eyes, and never let things go. Everything had to be perfect. This was the treatment he got for being twenty-five and working in fast food.

“In the trash.” Nick replied simply with a slight drip of sarcasm in his tone, as if this were the most obvious thing ever.

“And why, may I ask, is it in the trash?” Kate asked superiorly

“Cuz it was making my head itch.” Nick responded.

Kate scowled at him, and Nick got back to work without saying another word. He could feel her eyes burning in to the back of him like laser beams. He could feel it coming. She was going to yell at him some more.

“Get another one on right away,” she started, then thrust what was obviously an unwrapped then rewrapped sandwich next to him, “And remake this…without mayonnaise.”

Nick looked up at the order board, seeing he was swamped as it was. Lunch rush sucked. He reached his hand in to the box of hair-nets, taking his cap off and placing it over his full head of hair then replacing the cap on.

“And don’t forget to wash your hands after touching your hair.”

He forced a smile, washing his hand with soap and water before tossed the burger out, remaking it quickly the way the picky customer wanted it. He wondered to himself why people ordered things if it came with something they didn’t like. Why not just order something that they were happy with the way it came? He wrapped it in a clean wrapper, tossing it in to the window, getting back to the screen full waiting.

“NICK!”

“WHAT NOW!?!?” Nick snapped back evenly without realizing it. He was getting very perturbed.

“Where are your gloves? You know you have to wear them at all times.”

“They were getting in the way and making my hands sweat, so I threw them out.” Nick stated. He looked next to him and saw Kate was back. It was like she had a double, either that she was constantly watching for him to make mistakes.

“Get more on now”

Kate watched as Nick pulled out a large pair of gloves from a box on the counter beside him, putting them on, snapping the latex against his wrists as he did so to annoy her. She nodded, watching him for a moment as he returned to his work. The other guys were chuckling at him, and he scowled, wishing he could push their face into the deep fryer, which was kept at a whopping three-hundred and fifty degrees.

Wiping sweat from his forehead with his wrist, Nick took in a deep sigh. He was burning up and would do anything for a break to step into the cool, breezy outdoors for just a minute. He looked up at the clock. It was only twelve-thirty. Lunch rush wouldn’t be over until two.

“NICK! HURRY UP WITH THAT!”

Nick squeezed his eyes shut, finishing the special order salad that was on the board, tossing, taking it up to the front and placing it on the customers tray before giving Kate, who was once again glaring at him, an annoyed look. He wanted to go home. He didn’t know how much longer he could take of this. He needed a night to relax and calm his nerves, which were about shot.

“They wanted a large fries, not small.”

Nick turned and walked back to the back of the kitchen again, getting the guests what they’d wanted, personally delivering it to them as he’d been trained to do when a mistake was made. It seemed there were always mistakes being made because they were too careless to know what they were really ordering.

“I need a new job.” He muttered on his way back to the back again.

“I NEED YOU TO REMAKE ORDER TWO-SEVENTY-THREE.” Kate hollered back, “THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT CAME WITH PICKLES AND WANT A NEW ONE.”

‘Tell their lazy ass to pick them off.” Nick stated, “Or to learn how to read a menu…unless their dumb ass is illiterate.”

Kate gave him a warning look. Nick sighed, doing as told. He’d had enough of this. His point had just been proven. Anger boiled in Nick’s veins as he thought of everything he had to put up with. Guests were pissed at him, his manager was, cashiers were, other cooks were. He had to please the world and for what? No thanks from anybody. He was a slave to them, abused and beaten to exhaustion by the end of his shift.

With this in mind, Nick could see where the spitting in food rumor came, for he’d had enough of these people. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching before hacking up a big wad of saliva, shooting it out of his mouth right on to the burger without pickle. It landed straight in the center, perfectly on top of the burger. Nick hurridly put cheese on top of it and placed the bun on top to finish it off. He’d gotten away with it. His first real crime, and it felt good.

“NICK!”

Nick froze. Or not. He felt a hand on his shoulder and before he knew it, he was being whipped around rougly. He stared down at Kate, who had fire in her eyes. She was not happy, obviously seeing

‘Did I just see you do what I think I saw you do?” she asked him.

“Probably.”

“I’ve had it with you, young man.” She yelled, “You are not cut out for this, and then to spit in peoples food?” she didn’t give Nick a change to reply, “You’re FIRED.”

Nick smiled at the sound of these words. He wiped his hands on his shirt, adding to the grease collection on it, taking his cap off and throwing it at her.


“Tell them to shove the burger, spit wad and all, up their ass.” Nick stated, seeing Kate’s jaw drop. Nobody had ever talked back to her, then again, he was no longer an employee of McDonalds. He didn’t care what he said, for it no longer mattered.

“Get out of my restaurant before I call the police.” Kate growled.

Without a protest, he walked out of the back door, into the fresh air he’d been longing for. He breathed it in as if he’d been encaged his whole life in the hot, stuffy kitchen. He was free.