Eventually, I had won over the management with my somewhat-jovial nature and my ability to remain in a good mood even through the busiest, greasiest times. I was promoted to Crew Trainer, which was a major step in my salary climb there (I stared at $3.25 per hour, and ended 13 months later at $3.85). I was forced to wear a maroon-ish vertically-striped buttondown shirt and an embarrassing clip-on tie, along with a professionally-embossed name tag (which I still have somewhere). I probably trained about three people, or maybe four, after that promotion, but it was fodder for much jeering, which is all that really matters.

I feel like taking a break and introducing more characters. Let's see, there was Thalia, another manager, whose daughter, Michelle, also worked there, along with Michelle's boyfriend, whose name escapes me. Thalia really wanted to have another child, but couldn't so she was quite happy to help Michelle out by taking over the rearing responsibilities when Michelle and her man forgot to use protection that one time (Oops!). Michelle's friend Misty was one of the true veterans, having worked there for years at that point (along with Shannon, and some others). There was a girl named Mocha (her nickname actually-- her real name escapes me) who had to undergo some form of chemical therapy that halted her hair growth, making for an interesting hair style (seriously, though, it was pretty cool). There was Jacko (pronounced Jock-O) who allegedly took advantage of Mocha at a party one time, and who was fond of playing a rather neanderthal, nameless game where when one burped, he or she was required to name seven beers while Jacko punched that person in the arm repeatedly. Good fun.

There was Stacy, who had a tremendous chest and an amazingly-small waist, proving that a woman with a great body could actually wear anything and still look amazing. There were several Shannons, including two of them who were men. One, who went by his middle name, James, was once kidnapped from one of those downtown stores and was taken for a ride, only to be returned unharmed (though decidedly more skiddish from that moment on), while the other, who chose Lee, was not nearly so interesting. The Shannon that trained me on my first day would eventually become one of my best and closest friends, and the last Shannon, who went by Christine, would end up being my first girlfriend for about 7 months.

There was David, who ate french fries with a fork, Sara, who hated everything about McDonald's but was still totally cool and worked there forever, Lloyd and John, who also went to my high school, Jim the pot-smoking, drug-dealing manager, Joyce, who was the Assistant to the Owner, her daughter Shelly, who looked and acted like a "dyke" (a term I use strictly for its conotation of physical appearance) despite her apparent interest in any one of many males, and Richard, who was openly gay and extremely cool. Shawn, who liked to do Books (continuous monitoring of cash flow and time cards, which was pretty amazing since he was only in high school), Brenda the crazy shot caller, Dino, her unlucky lover who was apparently doused with what he called "Chocolate Sprinkles" (no need for further explanation, I presume), and a host of others. Oh, there was Andrea (pronounced the usual way) and Andrea (pronounced An DRAY a) who once ran into that same cash-drawer short circuit... I mentioned my similar experience, and they assured me that it was a good thing that this sort of thing was happening. Go figure.

So eventually, I was on the Pull Team which had nothing to with removing food from the grill. This was a special time, each Sunday, when everything in the grill area was stripped down and washed, and the grills themselved were pulled out of their fixtures and shut down completely so that any and all grease deposits could be removed from everywhere. This was the peak of team spirit, and also the depths of crappiness, since a small group of people was responsible for the seemingly-disgusting job of degreasing the greasiest place that a normal human might ever come across. It was here that, by working with John and Adam, I got to know Jenny.

Getting to know Jenny turned out to be a little bit too weird, since it involved her potential breakup with her live-in boyfriend and a host of other things. But I was new to all of that, so it made for interesting times at work, especially since, as it was happening, I was actually managing to be completely discrete about everything. That all ended by September some time, when Jenny's best buddy and also-manager Lisa started trying to get me to hang out with a new hire named Christine.

I initially found Christine to be a little flaky and very strange, but not a bad person at all. She was always smiling at me, which was nice, and she always seemed to be in a good mood. Jenny picked up on something, and somehow managed to get Christine and I talking. One day, Christine had her friend ask me if I ever wanted to join them on an outting of some sort, and I discovered that there was something definitely cooking itself up. We officially began dating on October 19, 1987. I'm not sure now if I remember this date because it was the first day of having a real girlfriend, or because it was also "Black Monday" on Wall Street, which foreshadowed that relationship rather perfectly.