James Franco wrote a love letter to McDonald’s. Here’s the sweet reason why.

There’s the oft-mentioned joke about aspiring actors and actresses waiting tables until they make it big, but it turns out that’s really true for a lot of famous peeps. Take James Franco, for example, who recently wrote an essay for The Washington Post about his experience working for McDonald’s while in pursuit of his acting dream.

In it, he talks about how he somewhat inevitably found his way to the fast food chain after dropping out of college to become an actor, and shares some personal anecdotes during his time at McDonald’s. For instance, he worked the drive-thru and started practicing his accents on unsuspecting customers. And, originally a vegetarian, he began eating the leftover cheeseburgers that would have otherwise been thrown out at the end of the day.  He also shared with The Washington Post that he used to put a ton of salt on the fries he served just because that was the way he preferred them. “I don’t know if the customers ever complained,” he wrote. Oh, and by the way? According to Franco, everyone steals fries from the fry hopper. It was just a thing that happened.

So, okay. Why pen a piece about this part-time job? According to Franco, because McDonald’s sales have started to go down, he felt the need to pay tribute to the place that once gave him somewhere to work when no one else was hiring. Call it a little trip down nostalgia lane.

“I was treated fairly well at McDonald’s. If anything, they cut me slack. And, just like their food, the job was more available there than anywhere else. When I was hungry for work, they fed the need. I still love the simplicity of the McDonald’s hamburger and its salty fries. After reading Fast Food Nation, it’s hard for me to trust the grade of the meat. But maybe once a year, while on a road trip or out in the middle of nowhere for a movie, I’ll stop by a McDonald’s and get a simple cheeseburger: light, and airy, and satisfying.”

Now you’re just making the rest of us crave a burger, Franco. On a more serious note, however, he raises a good point. Now that McDonald’s has cut costs in an attempt to turn things around, maybe this is the sign that the company is making a turnaround. We know James Franco is hopeful — because, in his own words, “when I needed McDonald’s, McDonald’s was there for me. When no one else was.” And that’s just really sweet.

[Featured image via.]