Why I Love McHappy Day

I absolutely love McHappy Day.

I have spent time working at McDonald’s (in different capacities) at pretty much every semi-adult point in my life. After my first dust-up practicing driving and smashing my mother’s new mini-van I worked at McDonald’s to pay off my debts. When I started university I was underage and bored, so I worked at McDonald’s to pass the time. That ended the weekend I turned 19 and is not a coincidence. While prepping for Radio School and while interning during radio school I worked in Promotions for McDonald’s in Calgary and helped roll-out McCafe products.

What I am trying to say here is I have a history with McDonald’s. It was not until I started working in Radio that I actually got to experience a McHappy Day. One of my first days interning with 90.3 AMP Radio in Calgary was spent at McHappy Day with pretty much everyone from the station. It was so much fun seeing everyone working together behind the counter to deliver the best quality food in the quick food service industry.

Seriously, I felt like we were these kids just making all the McMagic happen behind the counter that day.

Side note, I desperately wanted one of these play sets when I was a kid but it was one of those items on the Bruce family restricted play lists. That is not a real thing, but for some reason we were not allowed to have one of these sets. We had the Fisher Price laundry and kitchen sets but not a McDonald’s Drive-Thru. It’s not like my parents were trying to teach us to aim higher than McD’s, we totally had a gas station set too.  I digress.

Anyways, I love McHappy Day. Working at it is an absolute treat. $1 from the sales of hot McCafe beverages, Big Macs and Happy Meals go to Ronald McDonald House and children’s charities locally. Last year over $8,000,000 was raised and 2014 marks the 21^st McHappy Day.

One of the awesome things I got to do as a Brand Ambassador for McDonald’s was visit Ronald McDonald Houses in Calgary and in Red Deer. These houses go above and beyond for the families who unfortunately have to spend time in them. Families stay at Ronald McDonald House usually if there is an ill child in the family; the time they spend at Ronald McDonald House gives them a home away from home during a very tough time in their lives. Both houses I have visited have a “magic room” with local flare that the ill child gets to visit before they leave to go back home (or if they have had an especially tough day) for a magical treat picked out just for them.

So I am urging you, go to McDonald’s buy a participating product or donate generously today. On top of the financial contributions from events like this donating time is key too. Organizations visit the house and prepare suppers and help out in ways that do not involve money too. Time donations are always something that is appreciated and needed with Ronald McDonald Houses as well.

For more information about getting involved with a Ronald McDonald House near you click here.

I strongly encourage you to get out and support this worthy cause. I was a little heartbroken because I did not think I would get to participate this year. I planned on stopping in for lunch and having a little cheat day with a Happy Meal, but this morning I got a call from the Morning Angel herself Jenny Fines asking me to join in the fun at Castlegar McDonald’s. I was not there long but I was so happy to be included for my first McHappy Day on-air!

Time to get that Happy Meal! 

I will try to find some of my pictures from inside Ronald McDonald House a little later and add them in. 

Daily Dose of Weird - April 08, 2014 - Crazy Lady Helps Herself At McDonald's

I love weird news. So now I am going to bring you your daily dose of crazy and weird on Mountain Middays.

Today’s story was an easy one. Crazy and fast-food combined into one incredibly weird package.

As a person who has worked in the quick food service industry a lot, I can totally picture how this happened. I can envision it in my head as clear as day. Why? Well I have dealt with a lot of crazy moments behind the counter. It is kind of like a team building exercise sometimes to deal with out of the ordinary situations like this one where a topless woman found herself behind the counter of a Florida McDonald’s and self-served herself some soft-serve (among other things). All while being captured on security cameras.

Now this out-crazies anything I have ever dealt with by a mile… at least. But, just think of the staff of teenagers who will remember this for the rest of their lives. Every time they see each other they will be like, “Remember that Monday night a lady in a thong decided to take over and trash McDonalds? I was there!”

Yes, this lady did a number on the McDonald’s trashing camp as she helped herself to ice cream and fries. 

Who hasn't wanted to go behind the counter and fill their own order out of frustration, this lady was just taking it to the next level. Reminding me of one of my all-time favorite characters and this great moment…

Need more details? Click here.

Throwback: Disney & McDonald’s Hercules Plates

Back in 1997, little Kate was a HUGE Disney nut. Yes, I was obsessed. I thought any other animated films

were inferior to any Disney movie (rightly so), there were few that could compare (Swan Princess, Thumbelina). Hercules was one of the big ones I can remember being released to crazy fanfare, I loved it. I saw it multiple times in theatres and was SO excited for its release date.

My family had at least one fast-food meal a week. Usually Saturday afternoons, I remember how excited we would be to go to McDonald’s (most weeks) when the toys were good. To us, the Hercules toys were the BOMB. I know it sounds so lame now, but as a kid in the 90s the Zeus football was hot stuff. The plates were extra and super cool, because they were extra on top of the happy meal and a SUPER treat. My sister and I totally fought over the Megara plate… screw The Muses, right?

Well our plates are long gone after long time use in the microwaves for snack and not so serious meals. In case you are wondering, each plate will run you about $5 on EBay (on the cheap) but more likely $9. Or, you can pick up the whole set of six plates in mint condition for about $50. There are some more pricey sellers looking for hundreds of dollars, clearly these people live in a bubble of lunacy. I forget how much they cost back in 1997, but I have a feeling they ran about $2.99 with a meal purchase. Let me know if you can remember how much they were, I was just a wee filly back then.

I loved these plates, they were colorful and durable… until you put them in the microwave. I do maintain they are the best nacho plates ever. 

Why I Love All The Underated Bits of Being Adult

I could try to feed you a load of bull right now and tell you I love going out, that I am a social butterfly and that I love meeting new people.  But, I am coming to the realization that I am an old kermudgin (spell check is telling me that’s not a word, screw you spell check) and that I would rather over work and malnourish my body than miss any sleep and drink.  Yes, I still get the urge to tear up the town but those hopes can be dashed by the slightest little thing.

No longer am I thinking about the craziness that happened over the past weekend and hoping for wildness that is at least on par with the previous weekend. I am too busy feeling shame for being so dedicated to this job that instead of eating a real sandwich for lunch I ate an ice-cream sandwich from the convenience store across the street because it was WAY quicker than anything else… at 5:30pm. I don’t normally eat carbs so I now feel all 53g in that ‘sandwich’; I have similar sentiments to the side order of penny candy I am munching on as I write this mandatory daily blog.

I also have an embarrassingly high stack of McDonald’s Monopoly pieces on my desk and every single spot (except for the rare winner pieces) on our (Jenny Fines & I) two Monopoly boards has been filled. I try to keep all my winning tokens in my car so I can remember to order them and not throw them out with the duds.

This blog is inspired by this article on BuzzFeed that is totally on my level right now, even though I am still in the young half of 20s (24 suckkkas).

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/29-underrated-things-about-being-in-your-late-twenties

This weekend we went out and it was exhausting. Seriously, I felt like the VIP in the club was a cattle pen. 

This never would have been my feeling three or four years ago, after deep consideration (and rib cage bruises from a grad dress that fits me better now than it ever has in the past) I have come to appreciate that I am getting old.  I related WAY TOO much with this buzz feed article.

No longer do all my stories shame my parents, I have surrendered to being a true cardigan wearing adult.

My Minor Addiction to McDonald's Monopoly Explained

Monopoly is back at McDonald's and I have found myself there pretty much everyday since it launched. 

We have our team boards posted up here at the office, everyone's contributing to the team effort (some more than others). When I worked on the front line in high school we would secretly save all the extra tokens and collect them... just in case. Not that we could win legally as a group of employees. 

What can I say, I am a little obsessed with McDonald's Monopoly. Have you ever won? Does McD's Monopoly give you the same thrill I get when it starts up? Also, I love the double thrill of it being coupon season at McDonald's and Monopoly... I am so lame. 

Let me know if you have any trades you'd like to make ;)

#GETINMYBelly: McDonald's Is Launching Mighty Wings

McDonald’s (American McDonalds) will be releasing a new menu item in four days. If you are going to the States pick me up at least a dozen of McDonald’s new chicken wings. I am pretty excited about this, my first marketing/promotions job was at McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada and my first real-world growing up job was at Greenwood McDonald’s (in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley) back when I was 16.

I never thought I would be one of those kids hauling-butt working for the man, I fully intended on living summers of privilege relaxing by the pool driving my friends around, working casually at my parent’s businesses. That was the plan until I smashed up my moms mini-van learning to park (I’m not the world’s best driver by the way). I was forced to spend my entire summer leading into Grade 12 working at our local McDonald’s, please note I am from a very small town so working at McDonald’s still meant a 30 minute drive each way to work.

Anyways, this has resulted in a lifelong fascination and fierce loyalty to McDonald’s. My boyfriend’s parents make fun of me because whenever we travel I have to test the waters at the local McDonald’s on our vacation. By test the waters I totally mean eat a bunch of greasy food and call my former bosses and tell them about the wonderful things America has that we will someday inherit.

Some of these things are:

-20 chicken nuggets for $5 (more than enough to share as a snack, perfect if you are dining late at night and need something to tide you over until a fancy-smancy supper)

-Chicken McBites (we had these bad boys in Canada for a short time, America had them much longer than we did and they even had spicy McBites)

-Frozen Lemonades (need I say more?)

-Coke FreeStyle Drink Machines (These guys are truly magical, hundreds of soft-drinks at your finger tips. I’m not even sure some of these pop flavours exist in the real world. My entire trip to New York was spent marveling and talking about how fascinating these next-generation machines are, I think I spent more time looking at the Coke FreeStyle fountain pop dispenser than any exhibit at the Museum of Natural History).

And now chicken wings will be added to America’s favourite menu, I am thrilled. I think that is one area McDonald’s is lacking, an appetizer menu. Sides are super trendy these days, developing options was one thing McDonald’s excelled at during the advent of the fast-food side-salad. With other fast-food restaurants taking the lead on this I think we will have to wait and see McDonald’s come up with a true game changer because they are innovators in the field and offering up the same sweet potato fries every other chain has would be kind of boring (I would totally still be ordering them, they are delicious).

Chicken wings will do for now, with the release of these new menu options I may just have to take a trip south of the boarder a little sooner than originally planned. McDonald’s Chicken Wings will hit stores next week on September 9^th.

Mc#MightyWings, they are going to be epic.