"They don't know what the fuck a quarter-pounder is."

I had dinner at McDonald's tonight, really only so I could talk about my trip by quoting lines from Pulp Fiction. But McDonald's in Florence (and also in Milan) is really nice, almost like a trendy cafè, except that they serve McNuggets. It was actually a really weird experience because, there's the standard high-school age late-night McDonald's employee working there, and I try ordering my McMeal Numero Tre in Italian, and all of a sudden, she starts talking to me in English. And I mean fluent, perfect, accent-free English.

This is confusing. In America, the McDonald's employees barely speak English! I know it wouldn't help our working-class job exporting problem, but I think we need to bring in some Florentine counter help to take our orders back home.

A few other observations: Here, they'll sell you a Happy Meal, complete with a toy appropriate for ages three and up, even if you're a college student. And they won't laugh at you or anything.

Also, I don't know about McDonald's in France, but a note to Quentin Tarantino: it's not Le Big Mac (or, in Italian, Il Big Mac), it's a McBigMac. Makes more sense now, doesn't it?