Are The Lawton McD’s Slowly Opening Their Dining Rooms Again?
I think most people are aware that in the beginning of the pandemic, March-ish 2020, most McDonald's in Lawton closed their lobbies and dining rooms along with most restaurants in America. The difference is now, while everyone else is open, the Lawton McDonald's have kept things closed off, but it seems things might be swinging back to normal in L-Town.
Long story short, I ended up in the drive-thru at the 82nd Street McDonald's on Saturday night, and to my surprise, there were people eating in the dining room. Not only that, people were parking and going inside. I couldn't help but think "Are they finally reopening to normal service?"
Occasionally Critter and I like to take a lunch break at one of our local McDonald's. Grab a cheap meal, sit down and share a discussion that usually always ends up radio shop-talk. For the last few years, the 82nd Street location was our choice because it's usually empty when we have lunch hours. We honestly miss that crappy meal because of the conversation.
Skip forward to Christmas 2020... In our collective travels between Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo, Dallas/Fort Worth, Manhattan Kansas, and everywhere in between, all of the McDonald's were open. Dining rooms full of weary travelers just trying to grab a quick bite before moving on.
Even further down the road, throughout 2021, McDonald's everywhere are overwhelmingly open and serving sit-down meals to the public... everywhere except in Lawton.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not picking on our Lawton McDonald's... I know these decisions come as options from on-high at a corporate level, but then I remember the article I read about some fast food giants considering a permanent close to in-person dining since it helped cut down on the costs of running the restaurants.
It makes total business sense, and I know it makes me sound like another entitled American but sometimes I want to sit down in a McBooth and have whatever sad meal I've opted for at that moment.
Nuggets. Pushing forty years old, I still love the nuggets like some immature man-child.
So here's the question... Are the Lawton McDonald's slowly reopening their dining rooms? Are some but not all? Or did I just see a couple of employees enjoying their lunch break in the quiet, architecturally keen, and acoustically pleasing center-booth at Lawton's best McDonald's restaurant?
It's so far from the downtown studios, and we're so used to it not being open now, we may never know.