70s-child: Burger Chef

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Burger Chef

In our town, before McDonald's, and after the A&W Root Beer stand, there was Burger Chef. I don't know how many people remember it, but I loved Burger Chef. They had an early version of McDonald's Happy Meal. The Chef's was called the "FUN Meal" - which came with a hamburger, fries, drink, desert, and a toy. I always ordered a Fun Meal. Once McDonald's came into town, followed by Burger King, the Chef didn't make it long. Nothing could compete with McDonald's back then. I'm not sure when the last Burger Chef closed up shop, but it just goes to show than no one is on top forever (and do note the cigarette machine in the background. Imagine walking into a fast food restaurant today and seeing a cigarette machine? No wonder Burger Chef folded. Imagine saying: "I'd like a fun meal with a Pepsi, and a pack of Marlboro's, please.").

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Don't expect much out of me for a quarter:

As a kid, I never got an allowance. That's something my folks weren't into. They were very generous with me, I never lacked anything, and usually when I asked for something they'd get it for me, but an allowance just wasn't going to happen. In '76, just before my folks split up, dad decided to give me a "job". It was sometime in January and the weather was pretty brutal, so he told me he'd pay me a quarter if I'd open the garage door for him when he got home so he wouldn't have to get out of the car and open it himself. We lived in a split level house (a raised-ranch), and the garage was in the lower level. The very first night, I was watching TV and I heard him pull in and stop at the garage door. I didn't want to leave my show, and it was pretty cold down there in the garage, and I was rather warm and cozy and comfortable sitting in front of the tv, so I basically ignored him. He honked. He honked again. And again. And again. Finally I heard him open the car door, open the garage himself, pull into the garage and slam the door shut. The way he slammed the door, I could tell he was angry and that I was in trouble. He came upstairs and just looked at me. Let's just say I lost my job that night, which didn't really bother me. A QUARTER??? I didn't get out of BED for that kind of money...