Fast Food Nation Page #3

They show you the kill floor?

I don't know.

I saw a lot of things.

You'd remember.

You see any cattle

gettin' their heads cut off?

Were you walkin' ankle-deep in blood?

No.

So they didn't show you a damn thing.

Okay, but how-

How... would cow manure

get into the meat?

Rita.

- No, no. Thanks, I'm fine.

- You sure?

- Yes, thank you.

- I'll have some.

Hey, Rita, is your brother

still workin' over at U.M.P.?

How's he doin'?

Oh, he has a good job now.

He's a supervisor in Trim.

- Hmm.

- Mr. Anderson here would like to know...

if the meat over there is clean.

He wants to know how cow manure...

could ever possibly wind up

in his hamburger.

Well, there's lots of ways.

My brother used to work

at the gut table.

And, you know, they have

to pull out the intestines and the stomachs.

And they just don't have enough time

to do it right.

The line is moving too fast.

So when they're pulling the guts out-

and they make a mistake-

all the poop and stuff

just pours out all over the meat.

Okay, okay, okay.

All right.

But, really,

how often does that happen?

Every day.

- We got any cookies back there?

- I'll bring a plate of them.

Anything else you want to know?

No. No, that's, uh, plenty. Thanks.

This isn't about good people

versus bad people.

It's about the machine

that's taking over this country.

It's like somethin'

out of science fiction.

The land, the cattle, human beings.

This machine don't give a sh*t.

Pennies a pound.

Pennies a pound.

That's all it cares about.

A few more pennies a pound.

Sounds pretty bleak.

By the way, Don,

you seem like a nice fella.

But the food

your company sells is crap-

total crap-

even when there isn't manure in it.

Eh?

S.

Bueno.

ndale.

Thank God old Mr. Nathan come in.

He took one look at me.

Said, "Harry...

"you are the scariest

f***ing clown I've ever seen.

Take that off immediately."

And that was that.

I came about that close

to becoming the first Mickey.

Which would have been a disaster,

because I'd have probably killed somebody.

Mmm. What do you think?

I know it's not Mickeys.

- Mmm.

- But it's good, right? Good burger.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's-It's great.

- Harry, what's goin' on out at U.M.P.?

- Beg your pardon?

Yeah, what's really goin' on out there-

with the meat?

You're supposed to be

our conduit to that place.

- They didn't give you the tour?

- Yeah. Yeah.

Who took you through there?

Uh, Terry?

- Oh, boy.

- No, no, no.

He was- Listen, he was great.

He was fine.

I just-

I've been talkin'

to a lot of people around town...

and I've been hearing

some bad things about that plant.

You know, things

they don't show you on the tour.

Sounds like they might be running

the production line too fast, you know?

- Hmm.

- People are gettin' hurt out there every day.

They're gettin' cut up.

One guy lost his entire arm.

These poor Mexicans,

they come over here...

and U.M.P. treats 'em like sh*t.

And the meat-

I gotta tell you somethin'.

Harry, the meat is filthy.

Do you know they got untrained people

workin' at the gut table?

- Really? The gut table?

- Yeah. I mean-

- Harry, there's sh*t in our meat.

- Harry.

- Hi.

- Hey.

- I heard you were here today.

- How are you doin', huh?

- Ah, can't complain.

- Good. Lisa, I want you to meet Don Anderson.

- He just came to the company from CNN.

- ESPN actually.

- Don is the inventor of the Big One.

- Really?

No. My team came up with the name.

You're just being humble.

It was pure genius, Don.

- It's a good name for a burger, isn't it?

- It sure is.

It's very nice to meet you.

Can I get you another Fat Tire?

I would love another Fat Tire.

You want a beer, Don?

- No, thanks.

- Just one.

- All right.

- Just one. All right.

Mmm!

You know...

I think there might be a little bit of sh*t

right here in this meat.

Just a teeny little bit.

Microscopic.

Your tests say that the meat

we're getting from U.M.P. is clean.

It's not. I've seen independent tests

that say that it's not.

There's always been

a little sh*t in the meat.

You've probably been

eatin' it your whole life.

Yeah? Well, I prefer not to, Harry.

Well, I don't know

who you been talkin' to, Don...

but there is absolutely nothing illegal

goin' on here, okay?

Meat is supposed to be cooked.

And the grills at Mickeys

are calibrated carefully...

to make sure it kills every little bit

of the bad stuff that's in there.

- That might be kinda tough

to explain to our customers.

- Explain what?

Listen, there is cow sh*t in our meat

because we're running the line too fast.

Just cook it.

That's all you need to do.

You see? That's one of the things

that's just buggin' me about this country.

Really buggin' me.

Americans have become

these-these great big fraidy cats.

Afraid of everything.

Everything's gotta be sterile and germfree.

Well, everybody needs to grow up.

That's what they need.

You wanna be safe?

Huh? Perfectly safe?

Well, forget about it.

That's not gonna happen. Okay?

Everybody just needs

to get that through their head.

Just cook the meat,

and you'll be fine.

I can't believe I'm hearing this.

You've known all about this?

I'm shocked.

Donny boy, you just gotta try and step back

and look at the big picture.

in automobile accidents every year.

Does that mean Detroit

should stop making cars?

Does it?

Of course not.

You ever been down to Mexico?

- What's that have to do with anything?

- It's beautiful down there.

Really beautiful.

Great beaches. Gorgeous.

But poor. Poor.

Poorest f***in' place

I ever been, I think.

Guy down there makes three,

maybe four dollars a day.

A day, Don.

Now, that same guy,

he comes up here...

he gets a job workin' for U.M.P.-

makin' $10 an hour.

That's more money in one day

than he makes back home in a whole month.

So, frankly, I don't see the problem.

Nobody's makin' these people

come up here. Right?

Nobody's tellin' them

to come work for U.M.P.

- Okay, okay. But that's not the point.

- And you know what?

I admire these people. Okay?

I really do.

They're hard workers.

They're workin' hard, and they're trying

to improve their lives. Okay?

Now, isn't that

what our ancestors did?

Isn't that what made this country

the great country that it is today? Huh?

And you wanna try and stop 'em?

You wanna tell 'em

that you know what's best for 'em?

Well, most people don't like

to be told what's best for 'em.

Well, what's goin' on

at U.M.P. is unacceptable.

And I'm gonna have

to tell Jack about all this.

Oh. Gonna tell Jack, huh?

I've been workin' for this company

almost 30 years.

Hell, I grew up right down the street

from the Nathans...

when we were all back in Muncie.

So, here's my little piece

of friendly advice to you, Donny boy.

I'd be careful

how close I got to Jack.

See, your boy Jack

is about this close...

to gettin' his tit

caught in the ringer.

He's under investigation, okay?

Cookin' the books,

paddin' his expense account.

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