Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek.
It's the burger everyone's been talking about.
Well, everyone at McDonald's.
After all, the mere idea of fresh beef in a McDonald's burger -- albeit only a Quarter Pounder for now -- is enough to make fast-food aficionados sing arias of anticipation.
Or, according to the burger chain, make them ascend into a stunned silence, once they've tried it.
So, not 24 hours after getting off a transatlantic flight -- and the experience of another allegedly fresh McDonald's burger of a totally different kind -- I made the pilgrimage to my local McDonald's emporium.
It's a somewhat dowdy place, full of slightly miserable employees who look as if they wish they worked at Starbucks.
Still, the signs for the fresh beef Quarter Pounder abounded, so I cheerily ordered one.
No, I didn't hear squeals of joy from the man who took my order.
I also didn't hear cowbell sounds from the kitchen.
Some employees have been complaining that this sound -- created to tell them an order for a fresh burger is in -- annoys them to pained levels.
The burger, though, came within 60 seconds of my ordering.
This, I confess, made me suspicious.
The promise is that the burger won't be fired up until you order it. Could it be that it takes less than a minute to cook a fresh burger?
Or might this one have been, well, warmed up a little earlier?
In the early versions of this burger, customers were complaining how long it took for it to arrive. What was going on now, then?
I cast these dark thoughts aside and rejoiced that I'd accompanied this new creation with some fries and a Fanta orange.
The total was $8.49, which didn't seem entirely cheap.
How, though, was the freshness? Well, the patty definitely didn't have the slightly gray look that I associate with many McDonald's burgers.
The first bite suggested that it did, indeed, (look and) taste a little juicier and fresher. Even though it wasn't entirely as hot as something that was supposedly cooked just after I ordered it should have been.
It did still have a very distinctive McDonald's taste, all pickle and ketchup with a tinge of meat.
Personally, I'm not loving it. But I respect the millions that may do.
There's an In-N-Out within yards of this McDonald's. Would I suddenly switch from that fresh offering to this Quarter Pounder? I'm afraid I wouldn't.
Will it be the springboard from which the burger chain will rise above, well, the constant mockery of Wendy's?
I suppose the next quarter(-pounder) results call might give us an answer.
