Oh, rule internalization, when will you go away?

This story offers two instances of rule internalization.

An assistant manager at a Minnesota McDonald’s found herself kicked to the curb recently after her boss found out that she’d broken the rules by letting Minnesota Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson use the restaurant’s restroom after hours.

The woman, who considers McDonald’s to be a career for her, not merely a job, was reinstated at her position once local media caught wind of the bullshit the company was pulling. That’s great, but this is still an excellent example of rule internalization. She broke a rule that was probably there for some sort of insurance purpose or safety of the employees. At any rate, Peterson is a massive star, especially in that area, so it isn’t like he posed any threat to the reason for the rule. Is he someone who would sue for some bizarre reason? Would he try and rob the place or employees? Obviously not.

The other instance of rule internalization comes from the user comments at the end of the story.

Wait, wait, wait. She knowingly violated company policy by letting someone in the facility after hours who had no reason to enter the facility. She was fired for doing that (too much? I don’t know what McD’s insurance policy states) and went complaining to get her job back? Ugh.

and

But again, those are the policies of the company and she’d been there long enough to know them. She broke them, she suffers the consequences.

and

The rules are there for a reason… she violated them and was fired. I don’t care who the person she let in was.

My favorite is that last one. Yes, the rules certainly are there for a reason. I fail to see how enforcing them without reason is somehow a good in the world.

Gays are like terrorists

That’s what Bill O’Reilly thinks.

Gay groups tossed Fox’s Bill O’Reilly into the deep fryer Thursday for mocking a gay-friendly McDonald’s airing in France – and burning up the web.

The ad features a teen chatting his boyfriend on the phone while his dad is at the Mickey D’s food counter. He hurriedly hangs up and smiles wryly when his dad sits down and tells him he can have any girl he wants.

“Do they have an Al-Qaeda ad?” O’Reilly asked Wednesday night on his Fox show.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/06/03/2010-06-03_bill_oreilly_draws_calls_for_apology_after_he_mocks_gay_friendly_mcdonalds_ad_on.html#ixzz0pqi1Rl00

It’s hard to see how context adds anything that helps Billo here. After he and Jane Skinner are confused over why McDonald’s would make such an ad, he compares it to the validity of an ad for al-Qaeda. They apparently don’t get that McDonald’s is trying to reach out to all parts of society. That’s why they always have a black guy, Asian woman, and a few other minorities on their products and in their commercials. They want to come across as non-discriminatory. Billo has to be stupid to think that means they want to also reach out to terrorists.

I just hope they make another ad with the same actors where the kid comes out to his dad.