We needed a quick lunch today, and given our unfamiliarity with the local eating establishments, we opted for McDonald's. I almost never eat at McDonald's, and when I do, it is usually breakfast. One of McDonald's historic triumphs was creating a chain of restaurants with food of uniform quality. Today's lunch reinforced that value, as the food here was just as bad as the food in the U.S.

One thing I really hate about going to McDonald's abroad (and I have had this experience on multiple continents): buying ketchup. I view ketchup as my God-given right. And, of course, negotiating the purchase of enough ketchup in a McDonald's outside the U.S. is next to impossible, especially in a second language. People just cannot believe that you really want as much as you are asking for, and they assume it's a language mistake. They didn't provide any ketchup with my large order of pommes frites today, and I almost had to scale the counter to get three of those little squeeze packs.

Speaking of condiments, do a lot of people like McDonald's pickles and onions? When I am at a barbeque in the US, it seems like most people skip the pickles and onions. I am willing to concede that a substantial minority of people like that stuff on their burgers, but nowhere close to everyone. So why does McDonald's force the rest of us to scrape them off. Yuck!

As you can see by the graphic, the ad campaign -- "I'm lovin' it" -- has been translated literally into ich liebe es. The colloquial sound is gone, and it sounds awkward to me, so I changed it to ich hasse es. Childish, I know, but this feud with McDonald's goes back to early childhood.

Oh, well. I should quit complaining. They allowed my children to choose their own prizes with the Happy Meal, which was a bit hit. And in the end, I got what I wanted, which was a quick lunch.

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