from Alameda

[continued from yesterday]

I remember that my favorite manager at Burger King got arrested for embezzlement. I read about it in the Alameda Journal.

I remember when my cross-country coach drove through and I gave him a bunch of extra free food even though I had no authority to do so.

I remember getting in trouble with one of my bosses because he had called my house to see if I could come in to cover for someone who had called in sick. The only problem was that I had already told my parents that I was going to work so I could go hang out with my girlfriend (I was indefinitely grounded in my high school years).

Pretty soon it was time to graduate from high school somehow. I had done as little as possible to get there, but I still got to go to Disneyland for “Grad Night.” I requested time off from work for that weekend. To be honest, I don’t know if they declined my request or if I took too long to come back, but when I went in to pick up my next paycheck they told me I had been “terminated” and needed to bring my uniform back before I could have my check. I’m pretty sure this was the maddest I had ever been in my life up to that point, but now I thank God they fired me because otherwise I’d probably still be working there all these 30 years later.

THE END

[continued from yesterday]

I remember my first day working at Burger King. I think it was a four hour shift. The grill for the burgers had a treadmill-like element to it. My sole task that first shift was to put frozen patties onto the grill as it turned. I think I could fit a row of three Whopper patties or four Whopper Jr. patties at a time as space slowly opened up on the grill. That night when I closed my eyes I could still see patties going on the grill!

What else? It really was a bad job. I remember we had to sign in on the time clock with our social security number, which I had to memorize. The only problem was they put mine in wrong in the system somehow. For some reason, they couldn’t fix it, so I had to switch one of the digits in my mind every time I signed in for work. I was making minimum wage, which was $4.25. They tried me out in a few spots, but eventually I found my place in the drive-through window. They would leave me there and forget about me. Between rushes I would watch the clock. The way I figured it, every 15 minutes was another dollar for me.

[to be continued tomorrow…]

CLOG (Cartoonist’s Log) 20260430

Did you notice the “point one” after the number this time? It’s there because there are other versions that will use this same comic art with different words that will appear here tomorrow and the next day. These are all about the current Burger King remodel. I had three unique takes on it. Usually, I just pick the “best” one and go with it, but this morning I realized that exactly 30 years ago I was actually working at that same Burger King. I decided to make all three comics as a tribute to that boy I used to be.

In the summer of 1995 I was desperately looking for a job. I babysat the kids across the street sporadically, but felt the need for more of a steady income. That feeling probably came from the fact that I had a girlfriend despite being consistently broke. Today I know that a steady income would have no effect on my broke-ness. I would describe myself at that time as almost feral. Lack of money was not the problem. If a million dollars had dropped out of the sky, I would have wasted it all as quickly as possible. Luckily, that never happened.

Never having had a job, I had no resume, you know? I filled out applications all over South Shore, Park Street and Webster. I specifically remember going to the Blockbuster off Webster to try to get hired for the new Blockbuster coming to South Shore at this time, and never hearing back. I remember this because eventually that would be my second job.

The only place I heard back from was Burger King. I remember being completely terrified at the interview, but the lady was nice and said that she would hire me because I was a student at Saint Joseph-Notre Dame High School. It must have been August by then, but I had my summer job.

[to be continued tomorrow]