Since when MacDonalds' are allowed to open on Christmas?

It was Christmas Day. Generally, I spend the day at home with family, eat and entertain visitors. There would be nothing else to do because everywhere would be closed. However, this year a few friends and I have organised a barbeque lunch in the park. Knowing supermarket will be closed on Christmas, I made sure I went to the supermarket the day before – double checked and triple checked that I had everything I needed for the barbeque. For all I knew, only hospitals will open, and assuming anything else will be open would be a gamble.

As I have never really paid attention to which shops remained shop, I took particular awareness on the morning of Christmas Day. A tick next to petrol station, good to know I will not need to worry about petrol running low on Christmas in the future. I stared for a moment and thought if people can stock up on groceries, why can they not stock up on fuel? Can they not fill up their vehicle tanks to the full? But then, what if people were crossing considerable distance to be with their family on this day? Mentally, I approved for petrol stations to open on Christmas Day as I can see how it can be an essential service.

During our barbeque in the park, at the corner of my eye, I noticed someone holding onto a McDonald’s paper bag and McDonald’s drink. My jaws dropped. Wow. Since when in the space of history did a McDonald’s meal became a line of essential service?! That moment, I felt like McDonald’s has grown beyond just another fast food outlet. The yellow MacDonald’s ‘M’ on red background is so heavily embedded in Western culture that it has become a religion of its own. It is as if all this time, MacDonald’s had discretely built a world of its own without anyone noticing.

There I was on Christmas morning, eager to verify with the state on what I believed to be the essential services in modern day living. By lunch, I have handed over my enthusiasm to our capitalist society.