So, I had to take a little detour on the way back from an event today, but it was a helpfully educational one. There’s a newly remodeled McDonald’s across the street from the library and while I don’t eat fast food on a regular basis (perhaps three or four times a year and that’s pushing it), I don’t mind a cup of inexpensive coffee for a buck if I happen to require one and don’t want to deal with the scent of Starbucks all over my clothes and body. Seriously, spend twenty minutes sitting in one and you’ll smell like Juan Valdez’ serape and saddle after a hard day in the fields gathering beans. Anyway, I had to use the bathroom there really quickly and fortunately, the redone McD’s restrooms have been redone to a more modern style. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell corporate that ONE stall and One urinal (and one sink) in the otherwise spacious men’s room means you’ll still have a restroom that at most only two can use at a time. Three if someone actually decides to wash their hands before eating.

Which is kind of very stupid, considering the place seats a heck of a lot MORE than that…

Well, at least they have a ladies room which probably has two stalls, I bet. Why? Because ladies are SPECIAL in that special way ladies are, right ladies? Now, I didn’t pop my head in the ladies room at all (hey, I’m curious, but not “Hey kids, let’s get arrested on a rainy Saturday evening!” curious), but I did see two ladies walk out of their restroom when I was walking into the lad’s non-lounge and put two and two to get her. No wait, that’s one and one TOGETHER. Anyway, over the pounding radio tunes, I noticed a few things inside that otherwise large guy’s space of interest. “Such aaaaaas?” Well, Such as no mirror (clearly, McDonald’s does NOT discriminate against vampires, but if you have Special Sauce on your shirt, you won’t know it) and NO fold-out plastic changing station for kids (unless it’s in the ladies room, which would be kind of sexist). Additionally, while that roomy stall can fit a nicely sized wheelchair just fine, you’d better NOT wear a long coat at all. That low-hanging hook on the door will get anything over three feet long dragging on the floor.

I ended up having to wait a tiny bit inside the restroom as there were three other guys in there either waiting, whipping out or washing up while I wondered why corporate didn’t just have a multi-stall restroom that would get people in and out even quicker and back to buying more of that “yummy” fat/salt/sugar blend they call food. Of course, the answer (well, one of them) is probably something along the lines of employee efficiency over consumer comfort, but I’ve been in other establishments of the fired up or fried food variety where they have some impressive facilities with enough stalls and urinals that would make this otherwise nice room blush. Granted, most of the places I’m thinking of are off highways and other well-traveled locations, but this remodeled McD is also off a big, busy highway in the Bronx and for all the newness, the lack of a bigger bathroom irks me somewhat. Not enough to file any sort of silly complaint to the company, mind you (hell, they’d probably just send me a coupon for some “free” fries with the purchase of more fries or something like that).

Eh, it’s the little things people do that mean more than the bigger ones anyway. So perhaps this post is my way of gently telling a place I rarely go that they kind of screwed up a little. Then again, what’s a big mega-corp without a little bit of screwing up, right? It seems built into their DNA at this point…