"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect some day to suffer vertigo. What is vergigo? Fear of falling? Then why do we feel it even when the observation tower comes equipped with a sturdy handrail? No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."

Milan Kundera

Adventures of Archie...continued

Looking over the prep table, Archie throws four patties on the burner. They instantly explode in a storm of grease and shrivel down to half their size. He grabs the buns and reaches for the mayonaise spatula. Then he remembers, "no mayonaise. STAT!" Next to the mayo tub is the mustard dispenser. He grabs the bottom half of a bun, places it under the spigot and pushes down on the pump. His hand slips off due to the grease explosion that somehow made it all the way to the mustard bin. In the messy process he knocks a cutting knife off the counter which slices his shin open before hitting the ground. "How convenient," he thought. He grabs the other half of the bun and rubs it across his shin. He holds it there for a few seconds in order to stop the bleeding and then moves on to the ketchup dispenser. By now the meat has concluded its 25 second cooking process and the hamburgers are ready to be wrapped. "Two cheeseburgers, no mayonaise. STAT!" He remembers the cheese at the last minute and throws one slice on each patty before wrapping up the burgers and placing them in the bag.

He walks up to the serving counter and spots the business man sitting on the bench in front of the microphone. A look of intensity imprinted on the mans face as he focuses on his blackberry. "Order number 42," Archie groans into the microphone. No reaction. "Order number 42, two double cheeseburgers," he says a little louder this time. Without looking up the man replies, "Yea I heard you, hold on a second!" Archie waits patiently for the man to finish tapping away on the mini-me sized keypad of his personal digital assistant. As he gets up and walks over to the counter, Archie puts on as real of a smile as he can manage. Before the man reaches the counter, Archie looks at him and says, "Hey man, here's your burgers. I hope you have a really good day. Really." It was obvious the man was still pondering his latest text message or email and had no intention of any sort of communication with a fast food attendant. So the comment from Archie caught him by surprise. He stumbles out, "Uuhh, thanks. " He looks at the bag and then back at Archie. Eye contact.

"Hey sorry for the attitude, its just been a rough day at the office you know?"

"Oh, I know how it goes," replies Archie. "Dont worry about it."

"Cool, thanks man. And you have a good day too."

The man turns and walks away. Just before he reaches the door, Archie yells out, "HEY! I'M SORRY TOO!"

The man stares blankly for a minute. Then he laughs and shakes his head before proceeding out the door. Archie continues to watch the man walk back toward his car. He stops at the trash can in front of the store and tosses the bag into the waste basket. He's still laughing as he gets in his car and drives away.

Adventures of Archie

"Archie! I need two double cheeseburgers, no mayonaise. STAT!" Archie looked up to see his pudgey faced boss staring at him with a look of discontent. "Like this is a f***ing hospital? If that man across the counter doesnt get his cheeseburgers he's gonna die from pulmonary non-aspiration," Archie thought to himself. "And thats a good thing." The customer of the day was a tall slender man. Well dressed. Fancy shoes. Gel in his hair. Archie guessed that he worked at the business complex around the corner. He saw hundreds of these guys every day. He did his best to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not to group them into the pompous businessman stereotype. But too often he would take their order as a cashier. Waiting for them to make eye contact. Maybe an innocent passing smile. Some sort of gesture that suggested they had a humble soul. Nothing. Well usually nothing. Every once in a while he would come across someone that was kind enough to offer a signal of modest appreciation for his fast food service. And what service it was.

Today he wasnt feeling so good about this particular customer. Archie's boss spun around again, "Archie! I dont want to have to tell you again! Pick it up!"

"Sure thing boss," he replied.

He cruised back to his prep station in a nonchalant kind of manner. He was the only other crew member working today. His manager decided to cut the normal crew down from four to just two because of the "tough times." This meant that the same number of customers per day had to wait about twice as long to get their food.

Archie was under doctor's order not to exert himself too much. His last echocardiagram revealed some irregular heart patterns and he was prescribed meds to counteract the effect. It was all experimental. Archie has had heart problems ever since he can remember. He spent his first four months of life in a neonatal intensive care unit. Since then he has had regular checkups, seen a couple dozen different doctors, and been popping pills on a regular basis.

TO BE CONTINUED....