America the Fat

Today's rant has been brought to you by Cheeburger Cheeburger (explanation after said rant):

There are many reasons why I would rather live in a different country than the good 'ol US of A, and I find myself more and more rolling my eyes and saying "only in America". Our government is atrocious, our health care system is very sad indeed, we have poverty beyond belief (most of us though don't see the worst of it), gun toting maniacs run around shouting how the second amendment gives them "the right" to be *^%holes, I mean, to bear arms, materialism has taken over to where I want to vomit whenever I see another bitchy and spoiled teenager ruling their parents (I mean, seriously, children have zero respect for their parents these days and the parents share the blame with today's society), and it still amazes me that Americans still don't "get it" when it comes to obesity and what you eat directly impacts your life. I'm sorry, I know that it's almost the 4th of July, and I should be a proud individual, but I have to tell you, I'm not feeling the love. I'm not so proud to be an American. I know all countries have their fare share of problems, and that I'm lucky to have so many freedoms and live in a democratic society...but where has the society led us?

(If you are upset by my comments above I apologize, that's how I feel. you should hear me around Christmas...you would think that I want to strangle Santa himself - down with commercialism!).

The explanation:

Last weekend Morgan and I went to a restaurant for lunch called Cheeburger Cheeburger (which has very yummy burgers which are not good for you, but not bad in moderation). But, this establishment has a contest that if an adult finishes a 1 pound burger, their waitress will stop EVERYONE from eating and makes an announcement that this person has achieved a great accomplishment and we should all be very proud that they stuffed their faces...then everyone applauds and they get their picture taken with a over sized stuffed burger. I get so irritated when this happens because we should not be applauding people for stuffing as much food in their faces as possible. Food is for nourishment, not a game.

Well, the worst came last weekend when I discovered that they also have the same game for children. They have to finish a 1/2 pound burger and their picture is put up on the "wall of fame". We were sitting next to a table with a husband, wife, and three children. The oldest was a boy of about 11 years. The waitress kept coming over and giving him words of encouragement like "you can do it", and, "if you eat slower and take more time you'll be able to eat more". The boy is full! Let him be! Then I heard his dad say that he'll give him as much time as he needs in order to finish his burger. At the end, the boy said that he had to throw up and he left the table and walked outside to get air. When he came back in and said he couldn't finish the burger, everyone was disheartened. Then, his dad pulled out a five dollar bill, gave it to him and said, "this is for trying so hard".

So what have we learned here? We learned that not only was the waitress trying to help the boy along to eat more, but his dad was actually bribing him to "make him proud" by eating more. I was so disgusted.

Morgan tried to play devil's advocate and said that maybe the family didn't have a lot of money so the dad wanted him to finish all of his food. I quickly pointed out that if they were so hard for cash, I'm sure the dad wouldn't have dished out five bucks as a "good try" reward.

Only in America...