Last night, after confirmation was over, I took our babysitter home. My son was with me of course, as I did not think I should leave him home...I mean he is a responsible three year old, but come on. BTW, the going rate today for the average teenage babysitter... Holy crap! I am not cheap, but it is ridiculous what the average is around here (Average is $7/hr.) Anyone else know what your average is? Anyway, I took us both to McDonald's for some dinner. I ordered my 10 piece nugget meal and got my son a happy meal. The teller was of course forgetful with everything in my order, so I reminded her about the three things she forgot. This amused her I think, that I would have the nerve to actually ask her to give me the things that she herself forgot to pack into our meals. What an ass am I! So, my boy from his car seat asks for his toy. I grab this bag and I try to identify what the hell is in it. McD's is running their Shrek 3 DVD release promotion, and so it's no surprise that what I opened up was the gingerbread man from the movie. He is dressed in holiday garb. My question is this: when did McDonald's toys turn into the cheapest, worthless excuse for pieces of crap? This stuff is now inexcusably horrible.
We got home and my son looked at me with this plastic piece of shit as if to say, "what the hell do I do with this now Dad?" The head of this gingerbread man comes off, and reveals these paper cards, nine of them in all. There are three cards that if laid from top to bottom in the right order, will actually reveal who the character is. The cards are kept in the bottom half of the man, but that's not the weird part. Apparently, this gingerbread man is a game in and of itself. In the back of him is this plastic flip up button. With the head off, you are to hit the button real hard, it flips the cards out in a big mass. The goal is to match the cards based on how they hit...or some lame explanation that I read. Even I am confused about the stupidity of this toy.
I remember back in the day when these fast food chains would have really cool toys, especially McD's and Hardees. At McD's, there was always some really cool matchbox car or Lego toy, or Star Wars figure. Hardees had their own version of a racing team...they put out a white pick-up, a white race car, and the orange trailer you could hitch to the pick-up to pull the race car. That was the coolest! My parents went to Hardees for three weeks in a row so I could collect those things. Long gone. But, I scored a well used set on Ebay last year. I remember collecting all sorts of cool toys from these assorted kids meals. But, now the stuff they try and give our kids is crap! Plastic, cheap, confusing, worthless junk my son loses interest in by the next morning. I say McD's needs to undergo a major renovation with their Happy Meal marketing dammit! NOW!!! I am now boycotting McD's on sheer principle. Bring back toys that matter, that are innocent, that are built well, and make kids drool with anticipation for the next one. Until McD's does this, I am not taking my kid to that emporium of bad food (nuggets excluded of course), bad service, and bad toys! Anyone else with me dangit? Grab your torches and let's go burn 'em down!!! Or at least, write nasty letters exclaiming disgust and offense that our kids are taken in by their shotty knock-offs we now look at in disbelief! Call me dramatic here... That clown doesn't scare me! More later...
We got home and my son looked at me with this plastic piece of shit as if to say, "what the hell do I do with this now Dad?" The head of this gingerbread man comes off, and reveals these paper cards, nine of them in all. There are three cards that if laid from top to bottom in the right order, will actually reveal who the character is. The cards are kept in the bottom half of the man, but that's not the weird part. Apparently, this gingerbread man is a game in and of itself. In the back of him is this plastic flip up button. With the head off, you are to hit the button real hard, it flips the cards out in a big mass. The goal is to match the cards based on how they hit...or some lame explanation that I read. Even I am confused about the stupidity of this toy.
I remember back in the day when these fast food chains would have really cool toys, especially McD's and Hardees. At McD's, there was always some really cool matchbox car or Lego toy, or Star Wars figure. Hardees had their own version of a racing team...they put out a white pick-up, a white race car, and the orange trailer you could hitch to the pick-up to pull the race car. That was the coolest! My parents went to Hardees for three weeks in a row so I could collect those things. Long gone. But, I scored a well used set on Ebay last year. I remember collecting all sorts of cool toys from these assorted kids meals. But, now the stuff they try and give our kids is crap! Plastic, cheap, confusing, worthless junk my son loses interest in by the next morning. I say McD's needs to undergo a major renovation with their Happy Meal marketing dammit! NOW!!! I am now boycotting McD's on sheer principle. Bring back toys that matter, that are innocent, that are built well, and make kids drool with anticipation for the next one. Until McD's does this, I am not taking my kid to that emporium of bad food (nuggets excluded of course), bad service, and bad toys! Anyone else with me dangit? Grab your torches and let's go burn 'em down!!! Or at least, write nasty letters exclaiming disgust and offense that our kids are taken in by their shotty knock-offs we now look at in disbelief! Call me dramatic here... That clown doesn't scare me! More later...
6 comments:
UM... excuse me... I believe BK had exclusive rights to the Star Wars stuff. Get your facts straight mister! :)
Oh yeah, and my son got the crappy Pinnochio toy that also shoots the aformentioned cards out when you push or pull on something. The cards "mysteriously" disappeared, but "hokey-pokey-o" is still hanging around.
the going rate for babysitting? well i've simply waited to have a child until my oldest has gone through babysitting certification.... however, she has offered me a "family discount" of fifty-percent off, so she'll charge me two bucks per hour for the new kiddo...
I always loved McD's when they gave out glasses. My whole life I never drank a glass of milk in my home that didn't come from a McDonald's glass with some sort of cartoon or movie being hawked on it.
Smurfs, muppets - you name it. Those were the days.
Thats what I pay our sitter, b/c then she changes her "real" job schedule at the drop of a hat for me if I need her! Yeah, we have the Fiona-head-pops-off-stuffed-with-cards- piece of crap..... its a sad state of affairs....
I remember when buying a Happy Meal didn't mean that you necessarily got a toy ... how crazy is that? It was a special deal to actually get a toy with your food and yes, usually worth it.
My family had quite the collection of Star Wars and Muppets glasses ... they all broke over time ... sad.
As for babysitting charges, I'm sure I'll change my tune when I'm the one shelling out the money, but I've often asked the question ... how much is your child worth to you ... isn't he worth $7/hr to make sure he's safe? I mean, think about what you would do for $7/hr, I'm pretty sure changing a diaper is not high on the list!
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