Caught red-faced in Mickey D’s

After a late night working last night, I was indulging in a guilty pleasure this morning–breakfast at McDonalds in the form of Egg and Cheese McMuffins! Not on the menu but always an option!–when I was caught red-faced by an English colleague of mine. I don’t know whether being caught at McDonalds is worse or better than being caught at Starbucks; both represent the American capitalist dream, both feature prominently in the Economist’s purchasing power parity analysis, both represent to many the scourge of globalization, and both are conveniently located within a few blocks of my flat. I stammered out my excuse of being tired and homesick before I realized, glancing at my English colleague picking up his own order from the counter, that at least I had the “homesick” card to play. What was his excuse?