Eight dollars for large fries and a small root beer at McDonalds?

Get the f@ck outta here!! I remember I used to take the kids there for happy meals on their way home from a "daddy weekend." They'd each get a small burger, fries, and a drink, and I recall that being well under 8 bucks. At Chucks Roadhouse I can get an adult-sized burger and a big plate of fresh-cut fries for under ten bucks... before taxes of course, but that's a real meal, whereas today's Mickey Dee adventure was a mere snack for the Farm Manager. Mind you, if you want a cheesburger they're gonna hit you another four bucks, so I recomment you bring your own cheese. There's a lot of places where your basic burger & fries runs over $20 now. That puts a modest lunch for two, with a beer to wash it down, in the 75-80 range after taxes and a respectful tip. When I say "respectful" I mean towards the staff who serve you. There's a move afoot in some circles to do away with tipping. They claim tipping is just a way for restaurant owners to fob off their responsibility to pay their staff a living wage. While there may be an element of truth to that, there's a bigger element of truth in the fact the folks claiming the moral high ground in the war on tipping are just too f@cking cheap to leave a tip.