This is not your kid's Old McDonalds

I'm sitting having dinner with my kiddos when I suddenly realize I'm hearing the words death and body over and over again. WTF, where am I again? The reason I didn't notice right away is I was busy running back and forth dealing with lack of dipping sauce and ketchup, hiding toys, and making sure nobody polished off their chocolate milk before eating anything. You might have guessed I was in a freaken McDonald's.

Yes, folks, along with the clean and modern new decor it seems they are adding large screen TVs to their restaurants. I don't have a problem with the TV itself. I mean, really, much as the commercials try to convince you otherwise, McDs is not exactly a place designed for getting together with a group of friends for a good chat. And I've been pretty lenient about my kid's TV (at least when they are out of the house), which ranges from Dora to Men in Black. So what's my beef (hah!)?

I just could not handle this blaring news show talking about "blood" and "body" and "cadaver sniffing dogs." The story about the missing girl is on, and while my younger son is distracted trying to eat just enough molecules to warrant getting his toy, but my older one (still not 5) seems riveted. The rehashing just doesn't stop (and I'm reminded why I rarely watch the news, particularly Fox News). I think they mentioned her body about 10 more times, speculating whether the parents drove off to hide it, was the hair in their car from when she was dead or alive, did they drive her dead body, etc. This was devastating when it happened, it's awful no matter the outcome and I can barely handle it, much less my kids. I kept wondering why nobody else seemed phased, and realized there was one family in the corner, and a handful of single diners. The volume was so loud any show would have been annoying, but this was really unbelievable, in this supposedly kid-friendly restaurant we've got the most disturbing news show blaring away.

I flag down the friendly guy who took our order, the one who accidentally charged me for an extra happy meal and then needed the assistance of his three co-workers to figure out the refund. True to form he tries his best to take care of it, then called in reinforcements. I was sort of hoping he'd just turn it off, but together they managed to figure it out and set it at a barely audible volume, then wondered aloud if it was too low. Only I answered so they left it as is, just in time for a lively discussion about some new book (I've removed it from memorty for some reason) and some excellent images of good ol' Britney.

Cross posted at Silicon Valley Moms.