In 1983, I worked for almost exactly one year at the Burger King on Michigan St. here in Grand Rapids. That particular restaurant is no longer there. It was evicted by the encroaching “Medical Mile.”

When judged by the following criteria, working the drive-thru window at Burger King was the best job I ever had…

• Girls
• Parties
• Goofing off
• Handling hot grease

I was attending college full-time then, so I worked the late-night shift. That meant dealing with the weekend “bar rush” starting at about 1:30am. We’d have cars backed up all the way around the building and out into the street. In those days, drinking and driving wasn’t quite so frowned upon, and folks took advantage of it. Made for lots of fights, accidents, people passed out at the speaker, nudity, you name it. I had a ball.

So many great memories, and I still have the paper hat.