I worked for McDonalds from age 16 till about 21 when Dave was born. I made a lot of friends, fell in love and learned some life skills during that time. After a few years working at the Belton store I was more or less a legend known colloquially as "Superdave" for my ability to handle the work of a small team all by myself. I was pretty friendly and got along well with most of the folks which kept me coming back even though I could have moved on and found a better paying job.

When I graduated from High School I decided to follow my friend Andy to college at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph with the understanding that I would return to work here in Belton when I was on winter and summer breaks. At that time we had a large number of headsets for taking orders in the drive thru. I took one of the older ones and a fully charged batter with me when I left for college in my '88 Escort. When I returned to town I would on occasion park behind the trash corral across from the menu board where I could see the back of the store but wouldn't be easily spotted by anyone looking out the window.

Next I would turn the headset on and listen for the voice of the person working in "the hole". The layout of the store meant that whoever was taking money and orders would be stationed down this long hallways near the drive thru windows and segregated from the rest of the staff with only money/orders to collect and happy meals to stuff with toys. It was one of the most challenging jobs as you had to be efficient at listening to the person ordering while attentively taking the money from whoever was at the window so that things didn't get backed up. Additionally speed and accuracy with orders and money was key all this stress and it's isolated location lead us to coin it as being in "the hole".

If I recognized the person taking the orders that evening I would wait for the line to clear and after a minute or two would just start ordering from the headset I was wearing in my car. Sometimes I would place an order that corresponded with Burger King or Taco Bell (nearby locations) to make them think they were picking up the wrong signal. If my sister or a friend was with me I would put them up to it for fear they would recognize my voice and to throw them off the scent. I eventually came clean with some trusted friends and they both loved and hated it. I was careful not to interrupt any real customers but likely resulted in a lot of wasted food in retrospect. I'm not proud of it but still think it was a pretty clever prank that helped add to the legend of Superdave.
7/12/2021
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