With Cheese, Please

So, I’m pulling into the Burger King drive-thru and really wishing that I could have come a half an hour earlier for breakfast. I decide not to get too fancy, so I order a #10 (I think) whatever is a Whopper, Jr. combo meal, with cheese. And onion rings. And a Dr. Pepper.

I realized that the amount I was quoted ($6+) was more than the listed price plus tax, but I was in such a good mood (see previous blog) that I didn’t really care too much. I was also distracted by a family friend whose wife works at BK. He asked me what I was doing there in the drive-thru line. I told him I was hungry. He said I should go to McDonald’s. When I threatened to tattle on him to his wife, he said, “Oh, I bring McDonald’s here all the time.”

So at the window, the very cheerful but slightly confused worker asks me, “Did you order a double cheeseburger?” I hesitated, because I was actually considering the double cheeseburger before I finally decided on the Whopper, Jr. (with cheese). “No, a Whopper Jr.,” I said. “Oh!” she said. “Then it’s $5.55.” I handed her my gold card, and received a drink and a bag of food. And my card back with a receipt.

With a quick “Thank you!” I drove off and toward the infamous bridge under construction. I munched on my onion rings and sipped my Dr. Pepper. About halfway back to work, I pulled out my sandwich. It was a lot bigger and heavier than I expected. It was a Whopper! (With cheese). So I ate and I ate and I ate and I was starting to get full but I couldn’t stop because that would be a waste of food.

It then occurred to me that eating a humungo sandwich when you are full is still wasting food! After all, where’s that food going to go? Either out the end of the digestive system, or into globular fat cells that will settle around my middle. What’s the big deal about throwing away a half sandwich if your body doesn’t need it for fuel?

Needless to say, I finished the whole thing, except a piece of tomato and a bit of lettuce. The spirit is willing… but the body is way weak.