Top 10 Things Singaporeans Do At McDonald’s

The concept of fast food, despite its many modern connotations, is not a recent invention at all. The very concept of it is very much tied to urban development; thus it is not too far-fetched to make the assumption that fast food probably arose during antiquity and in areas where the first cities were developing

But what is fast food? Merriam-Webster defines fast food as:

“1 : of, relating to, or specializing in food that can be prepared and served quickly”

In today’s society, fast food has nearly permeated every corners of the globe. Among several big players responsible for this phenomenon, McDonald's is the biggest. In fact many view the influx of McDonald’s as a form of American hegemony.

In Singapore alone, there are more than 100 operating McDonald’s outlets, making it the largest fast food chain locally. However not everyone goes into McDonald’s to dine. There are plenty of other “things” to do.

Sceptical? Then read on …

Less QQ More Pew Pew

Yours Truly must confess that the craze with magic cards by the younger generation is rather baffling. After all it lacks the awesome graphics and spectacular music of electronic games, and it most certainly lacks the stupendous powers of imagination of tabletop RPGs.

As far as Yours Truly is concerned, card players’ primary aim is to go through their decks at astonishing speed hoping to alienate their opponent’s deck.

So why are people crazed with it, and most importantly, why are they hogging the table with such a fast game?

Kissy Kissy

Many people seem to think that they need to let the whole world know that they are in love. It is quite distasteful among adults and absolutely appalling when teens do it… in their school uniforms!

Yours Truly has had the misfortune of chancing upon such a sorry sight on a recent sojourn into McDonalds, where teens in pristine school uniforms were snogging away. While Yours Truly understands the drive and crave of the hormones coursing through each teen’s system, perhaps a little respect for your own school would be nice?

Freebie Felicia

That’s right kids!

There are people out in this world who go around collecting all sorts of freebies. Whether it is free chilli sauce or free serviettes, you can be sure these ‘economically savvy’ tarts will be there ambushing the said utility.

Remember back in the good old days when the McDonald’s portion of coffee and tea came in relatively small cups? The two beverages were also refillable from piping hot flasks located in the restaurant.

Unfortunately being Singaporeans, everyone refilled so much and so often that the poor employees were exhausted trying to keep up with the refilling. So much that McDonald’s reviewed their policy and finally changed it to a rather large cup of paid beverage, ensuring the limitation of one’s refill.

It’s Christmas Time!

At times McDonald resembles Toys “R” Us with their dazzling and constantly changing display and sale of toys. From the humble little toy gadgets to the crazy Hello Kitty phenomenal, McDonald’s toys have succeeded in fascinating both the young and the old.

Admit it, how many of you have in your possessions, both past and present, a McDonald’s toy? Yours Truly still has a couple of very old Muppet Babies toys tucked somewhere in the dusky recesses of the closet.

Scream Baby!

Many young couples in Singapore, being the realistic cheapskates that they are, enlist the help of their parents to care for their noisy and often impudent brats.

Having nothing to do, and hoping to impress their grandchildren, lots of grandparents bring their nasty little devils to McDonald’s where they can wreck havoc and damage.

Moral of the story: They don’t have to clean up after their brats.

I Scored An A!

Many students have found it beneficial to do their homework and revision outside of home where they are free of temptations like Television 101, Facebook 203, Playstation 540 and so on and so forth.

This condition has since spread like some contagious disease, infecting students from lofty universities to the lowly primary schools. Yes these days little kids are under immense pressure from society and Mummy & Daddy Dearest.

You can easily recognise this breed by scores of papers that they fervently study, oblivious to your death-stare as you scan anxiously for an available table.

You Are Now Covered

Sitting down in an air conditioned environment, with music and cheap food, McDonald’s is indeed a boon to a self respecting insurance agent, or rather the more politically correct term these days, “investment consultants”.

Over an inexpensive fat and sugar saturated meal, the “investment consultant” is free to wax as much “investment” poetry to the poor victim, who now feels obliged to listen after partaking the food, much like Persephone and the pomegranate seeds.

You Surf I Surf

Internet junkies can now rest assured that even out of the comforts of their homes, they can still connect to the rest of the world at McDonald’s.

In fact sometimes, upon entering the premises, you might do a double take and wondered if you have entered into a cyber cafe by mistake, with the dazzling array of laptops on each table.

Given the propensity of McDonald’s self-marketing policy, Yours Truly has wondered why on earth their WiFi was not renamed as McFi or McNet.

Tempus Fugit

You are outside, and because of bad time management, you have more than an hour to your movie or next appointment. So what do you do?

Wait it out at McDonald’s of course!!! Free music… free air conditioning, cheap food and even cheaper drinks, with nobody to chase you out even if you sit there for hours… it’s no wonder why McDonald’s rank high among the list of places to go if you have nothing better to do!

Answering Nature’s Call

Finally we come to the piece de resistance… their restrooms!!!!!!

One of the biggest reasons why McDonald’s enjoyed such a high traffic at all times is because of their clean and relatively sanitary restrooms!

Seriously it is usually clean and dry, in contrast to most restrooms at malls, and it certainly beats those at kopi diams. Yours Truly for instance, absolutely refuses to use the facilities in hawker centres which are absolutely filthy and odoriferous.

Many a times you will find Yours Truly making a beeline into McDonald’s, because Mother Nature insisted on whispering persistently to me.

.
.
.

So as you can see, McDonald’s is not just a place where you can eat and drink. It is a study hall, cyber café, conference room, nursery, toy store, lounge, hyper-restroom and much more! It is a place where the young and old can come together as one, and you can be sure that they are lovin’ it!

The next time you pass by McDonalds, open your eyes a little wider and you might just see the various stereotypes, as listed above, within!

Until then, this is Yours Truly signing off!

Top 10 Things Singaporeans Do At McDonald's6.7107