Would you like fries with that?

For one reason or another, Yahoo!News amuses me on a near-daily basis. Todays #1 time-wasting news report comes in the form of some cranky folks over at the National Restaurant Association claiming that a new commercial featuring Kevin Federline is disrespectful to all those who flip our burgers and ask if we would like trans-fats with them. I haven’t seen the commercial myself, but apparently it shows “K-Fed” dreaming of rap-star fame, only to wake up and realize he’s a short order cook, and the commercial (put out by Nationwide Insurance) is entitled “Life Comes At You Fast.” Why are people wasting time trying to get such a superbowl commercial dumped? The NRA’s (no, not this one, the other one) Chief Exectutive Steven Anderson has this to say

An ad such as this would be a strong and a direct insult to the 12.8 million Americans who work in the restaurant industry

and

Developing creative concepts that accomplish the marketing strategies for a product should not require denigrating another industry.

As someone who has worked as part of the “restaurant industry” for several franchises, let me just say that those were the jobs I hated the most. Sure, tips were ok, but I hated being told to push margarita specials on pregnant women during “Margarite Madness” (I didn’t, although my boss didn’t care for my moral standpoint), deal with cranky customers who’s steamed-carrot wrap was “too spicy for them,” or serve endless plates of fries to 13-year olds over the course of 5 hours without receiving a tip. From just about every standpoint, it sucked, and I don’t know many people who become short-order cooks, waiters, or busboys and think “I’ve hit the pinnacle of my career.” This isn’t to say that anyone who works in such a job is stupid or has no marketable skill (do you know how many college students work in restaurants, or researchers that can’t get grant money together?) but I can’t think of anyone I’ve met who particularly enjoy being a “food slave” of one description or another, making minumum wage (or less) while being shouted at and covered in grease for 8 hours a day.