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McDonald’s ad “1 in 8 people have worked here” sparked a fun memory.

EJ Thornton
2 min readSep 17, 2023

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The night I met Bob Hope!

Credit Wikipedia: May 25, 1978

First of all, I don’t work for McDonald’s now — or am in any way associated with it… this is not an ad for McD… but their ad campaign stating that 1 in 8 people have worked at a McDonald’s (video link) in their life hit home with me, because working there was my 2nd real job in High School.

It was June 2, 1978 and I was working as a cook in the back of a Denver-area McDonald’s. Suddenly, there was a big commotion out front, and someone yelled, “It’s Bob Hope!”

I was 17 at the time, and this is how I wrote about it in my diary — where I’ve tucked the autograph I got from him that night ever since…

Front and back of Bob Hope’s autograph

The diary reads:

I worked at McD’s tonight 7–12. At about 9:45, guess who came into Mc — Bob Hope! Unreal and all I saw was the back of his head. I got his autograph! His driver came back in to talk. Glen Campbell was in town tonight too. Love him too.

Holly at work tonight thought B.H. (Bob Hope) was a singer and got him confused with Weatherman Boman — and thought you couldn’t drive to Alabama because you couldn’t drive across the ocean!

Well, I didn’t really meet him, it wasn’t like he was shaking hands, but I’m pretty sure he did eat food I had made! I think that might be even a cooler thought!!!

I also didn’t say that my coworkers were very smart, especially Holly. I don’t remember much about her, but she got the honorable mention here in the diary this night! LOL!

McD’s ad campaign is kinda cool, thinking that many of us have that common first job. It’s a nice way of remembering that we have more in common than we know.

Do you have a memorable celebrity sighting from your first job? Well, thanks to McDonald’s — I do!

And… in the words of Bob Hope himself… “Thanks for the Memories!”

EJ Thornton is an author (Angel on Board) and a life long fan of Bob Hope and all he did to bring joy to the world!

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EJ Thornton
EJ Thornton

Written by EJ Thornton

EJ Thornton is an author, and a book publisher who helps authors get their messages out. Her books are both spiritual and practical in nature — lots of fun!

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