I admit I’m a McDonald’s junkie. For some reason, I equate the experience with going to a library and being filled with a sense of solitude and comfort. Strange, you’ll probably say, given that McD’s is usually filled with thousands of screaming munckins begging mommy or grandpa for chesseburgers, french fries, and cookies.
But a McDonaldophile I am, at least until the cholesterol accumulations catch up with and incapacitate me.
Yet one thing I’m not loving about my familiar home away from home is the “Arch Card.” That’s the gizmo, a gift card device, one uses to pay for food instead of cash.
It’s a great idea. Not new, of course, as merchants for years have been pushing and promoting their own form of gift cards. But the idea of an alternative, simple payment option is good. This is the 21st century after all, so it’s high time to get with the program of customer ease and convenience.
Are you confused yet? I like the card. I hate the card. What in the world am I trying to say?
Reload. I’m even a bit fearful uttering the word. As a frequent McDonaldite, keeping and “adding value” to, i.e., reloading, my Arch Card, is the way to go. But, most of the time, the process is so painful that I marvel that the corporation can’t better train its personnel to handle these operations.
In defense of the workers, the card is still relatively new, and many folks probably don’t choose the “reload” option as I, a heavy user, do. Therefore, the staff seems stumped whenever asked to reload. There I go again, using that dreaded word.
Almost always, the worker calls for a manager, who completes the transaction. Other times, the task proves so burdensome that the best the employee can do is give me a “new” card. Result: two cards, more clutter. Once, the process was so time-consuming that I merely asked that the clerk stop, put us both out of our misery, and resolved to tackle the task another day.
Such daily challenges probably don’t strike you as earth-shattering. True, the rigors of reloading gift cards don’t register on the Richter scale of life. But remember, I’m doing this frequently. Probably too often. Perhaps this is a message from God saying that I should spend more time in my daily Bible reading at McDonald’s and less time fooling with moneychangers.
How will this all work out? It’s too soon say. I’m sure, however, that over time, as more use this card, and choose to reload as I do, all my problems will disappear.
My concern, though, is that this may require a decade or two to accomplish.
By then, I’ll probably fall victim to the cholesterol curse.
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Fred W. Apelquist, III, M. Ed.
Approximately 445 words.
© May, 2006