Hi, my name is Jerry.
I was just wondering if anyone has heard of this old fast food restaurant called McDimple’s?
I don’t know if they had these in other cities or countries, but we had one in my hometown, Dingwall, a small town in the North of Scotland.
I can’t find anything about it online and I’m wondering if any still exist or if anyone has ever been to one for a meal.
I recently came back home to make arrangements for my Dad’s funeral and saw the old boarded up building where it used to be.
I always remember my Dad would take me to the football on weekends and then we would go to McDimple’s afterwards for a burger.
It was the most blatant McDonald’s rip off ever, and as I got older I realised how cheap and nasty the place actually was.
I never understood why my Dad always took me there, although, thinking back we were always struggling hard for money, and… well he used to go there after the match with my older brother Mickey, maybe that’s why, he probably saw it as sentimental.
I never really knew Mickey, he went missing in 1996, he was 11 years old, and I think I had only just turned 4.
Unfortunately he was never found, despite huge efforts by local law enforcement and the community.
I do vaguely remember it being a tough time for all of us, my Mum was constantly hysterical and my Dad was always away, I was borderline neglected, but things got better with time.
Then my Mum died in a car accident in 1998 when I was 6, it was lucky my Dad survived the collision.
A report stated my Mum’s seatbelt failed, the clip was faulty or something, and she was ejected from the car, I still remember my teacher actually taking me out of school and driving me to the hospital.
My Dad had two passions in life, football, more specifically Ross County F.C, and gambling.
He had a terrible gambling addiction for years, there were always arguments about money and gambling at my house, but I think he managed to keep a lid on it after a while.
Before my Mum’s untimely death I remember a long period of calm, I can only assume he was able to stop.
After her death though, he went off the rails a bit, but he always made time for me, as much as I needed, he was never a bad Father, he just… had some problems, we all do.
I think I was about 8 or 9 when I first went to McDimple’s, but I never started going regularly until I was 10, that was when my Dad bought me my first Ross County season ticket, and we went every second weekend.
I remember as I got older the restaurant got gradually more seedy and I always felt uncomfortable inside.
You would go in, order your meal from the almost zombified adolescent employee working at the front, who would punch it into a receipt and pass it through a hatch.
Then within about 5 minutes, whatever you’ve ordered would be sitting in front of you, the service was super fast but the food itself wasn’t anything to write home about.
If I remember correctly they had, the Big Stack, the Whooper! and the Chicken Club.
Those were the three main burgers, then you had The Smile Meal, for kids and your generic cheeseburgers and chicken fillet burgers etc.
I always remember the toys in The Smile Meal box seemed to have been used or were sometimes broken.
I think it was like every half hour or so the mascot for the restaurant ‘Reggie McDimple’ would appear to do the rounds of the tables, hopping about and making everyone feel just that little bit more uneasy.
He was sort of a clown but had a big bulbous China doll looking face with two huge dimples, one on each cheek.
His face did have some crude clown makeup but it never looked very good.
His clothes were red and black and slightly tattered looking, he would dance and prance around putting on a funny voice while attempting to make everyone laugh.
Sometimes they would set up games, and the winner would get a tour of the kitchen and how everything works… Oh! And you would win a trip to ‘The McDimple’s factory’ the next day or something, I can’t really remember how it was all set up but I do remember if you lost he would put his fingers in the dimples on his mask, twist them back and forth and say something like, ‘awww geeee’ or ‘awww shucks, better luck next time’ in an American accent, followed by this horrendous, shrill, annoying laugh.
I know that because I lost a lot!
He would come right up to your face and you could see the bottom jaw of the mask was a little loose so it would move up and down slightly when he spoke, it creeped me out every time without fail.
My Dad would always encourage me to play the games, I was quite shy and I think he wanted me to try new things and meet some friends.
I was never any good, I could tell he was disappointed that I could never win any of the games but I knew he wouldn’t hold it against me,
The staff were never up to much, in my older age I would honestly say they all looked like they were on drugs, when I was just a child I remember asking why they were all tired looking.
I never did find out why it closed down, it was always extremely busy, but I do remember when it closed, because the day before was the first and only time I had won one of the games, I vividly remember my Dad being so excited to go to The McDimple’s Factory, and how crushed he was when we got to the restaurant and it was completely boarded up, he took it really hard.
I remember thinking… ‘it’s just a restaurant…’, but then he did spend a lot of time here with my brother Mickey.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else had heard of it, or has ever been unfortunate enough to eat in one of them.
I’m just sorting through my Dad’s old documents incase there’s anything that needs kept, so if you could let me know in the comments if you have ever heard of…
…
Wait!
What the hell is this?
…
Sorry, I’ve just found something….
Oh my God!
The box has a bunch letters from the bank about the repossession of my Dad’s house, Bankruptcy documents and… letters of correspondence from an insurance agency.
A whole load of stuff about my Mum’s accident, investigation reports, statements, a… a payment plan?
‘Mr.Brown, you have opted for a lump sum payment of £125,000’
What the fuck??
125 grand, and we were constantly struggling for money!?
Why was I never told about any of this? Where did all this money go?
There’s… shit there’s more.
A squinted, grainy photocopy of a handwritten contract of some sort, dated 1996.
It’s difficult to read.
From what I can make out it has details about some kind of deal, meeting places, times for transportation of ‘goods’
This doesn’t make any sense, I can just make out the bottom part of the note,
Michael Brown to be dropped off at the restaurant back door at 7am. £50,000 cash will be dropped off at your residence by mid-day on the same day in a brown leather single strapped bag
I just noticed the partial Logo at the top of the headed letter that reads ‘McDim….’
What does this mean? Surely this doesn’t mean…
I’m so confused right now, there’s newspaper clippings about Mickey’s disappearance, loads of them.
What’s this?
More McDimple’s headed letters.
A few dated random years, 1997, 1999, 2000.
2002… another photocopied contract type letter, much of the same details, meeting places etc.
One crucial detail has just caught my eye… My name… Jerry Brown to be dropped at restaurant back door by 8am. £75,000 cash will be dropped at your residence by noon of the same day
Underneath were more newspaper clippings.
I felt like I was swallowing a brick, looking at the words on the clippings has made my insides rattle with fear.
The news paper clippings told a deeply troubling story.
The Ross-Shire Journal
Local fast food restaurant McDimple’s has been raided in the early hours of this morning I looked up from the box and swallowed the pool of saliva collecting in my mouth.
I looked at part of the article.
Evidence of child trafficking, has led police to popular fast food restaurant McDimple’s which has now been under surveillance for several months.
I quickly grabbed another, and another looking at the headlines.
McDimple’s trafficking scandal
McDimple’s owner disappears after link to child trafficking discovered
Police raid McDimple’s restaurant linked to trafficking children
I read the article of the last one.
An ex employee who was able to escape the clutches of the McDimple’s restaurant owner told our reporter how he kept the staff drugged and dependent on him, the ex staff member, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of unspeakable beatings and torture if they ever stepped out of line
She went on to say how Reggie McDimple, not his real name, would have scores of struggling parents come to his restaurant, ready and willing to offer their children for thousands of pounds. They would organise games for the kids where the winner would then be taken to be sold and the parents given large sums of money
The owner of the restaurant has gone on the run and has yet to be located
.
I felt sick.
Was my Dad… selling us? did he sell Mickey to this guy or this group whatever they were?
It’s made me wonder if my Mum’s seatbelt really did fail or if he unclipped it before crashing deliberately.
Why… how could he possibly do something like this?
All for money!?
All so he could gamble some more no doubt!
Now I understand why he was disappointed when I couldn’t win any of the games, why he was devastated when we went back there that morning!
He was taking me down to collect his money and send me away to be sold.
Thank God the police got there before we did!