Occasionally, Val's Faith in Humanity is Restored

Last Friday, I had lunch with my favorite gambling aunt. Unfortunately, it was NOT at Burger Brothers inside the casino, where we had lunch last time. We chose the Backroads Hardee's for our repast. That's because it's close, and because I really like their Chicken Bowl. Auntie had never sampled such ambrosia, and wanted to try it.

Our feast did not go as planned.

I pulled onto the lot about 15 minutes early, and parked under one of the two small trees on the strip of land that separates the lot from the road. I had a good view of the highway ramps, and one of the outer road at the light. So I would be able to see Auntie when she arrived. I knew that she would park by the building, in one of the handicap spaces. She has a mirror dangler, she's not a scofflaw. Her hip replacements and recent knee replacement qualify her. I figured that I would have walked across the three rows of parking spaces by the time she got out of the car.

Another car was parked under my tree. Someone had left a doggie inside. It was a medium size doggie. The windows were down. The car was in shade. Temps were in the upper 70s. Doggie stood up and stuck his head out to look at me. Then started jumping around the interior again. After my air conditioning wore off, I put down T-Hoe's front windows. My radio was on, but not at an obnoxious level. Doggie came back and looked at me, then went back to seat-hopping.

WOOF WOOF WOOF! WOOF WOOF WOOF! WOOF WOOF WOOF!

"C'mon, Doggie. Are you serious? I've been sitting here for 10 minutes? What's going on?"

Doggie did not have a good answer. The WOOFing was quite loud. I was kind of afraid somebody might think I was a dog thief, or some kind of canine perv. I put the window back up, but Doggie kept on WOOFing. The driver of that car came out and got in. But just sat there. Didn't leave. After five minutes or so, I saw Auntie pull in. I was almost afraid to get out. What if Doggie jumped out that window and put a police dog bite on my arm, trying to bring me down?

Thank goodness I escaped from T-Hoe and made it inside Hardee's without incident. Auntie said she almost cancelled, she hurt her side, and was on the way to her doctor in the city. She didn't feel adventurous enough to have the Chicken Bowl, which includes refried beans and salsa, so she had the chicken strips. We sat down along the wall of windows by the drive-thru lane, and were soon joined at the next two tables by a construction crew in orange t-shirts.

The guy who took our order brought it out, and some of the burgers for the work crew. Another worker I recognized from former drive-thru visits brought out some more of their burgers. Sadly, I saw that I'd gotten a dud Chicken Bowl. About every 5th time (not that I eat a lot of Chicken Bowls...now) I get one that is only half full. AND the guy had not brought me any hot sauce. The drive-thru lady always gave me four packets.

"I'm going up front to get some sauce." Auntie told me it was on the self service counter, but she was wrong. There was only a push-pump ketchup dispenser, forks, and soda lids. I went to the counter to ask. Standing there ahead of me was one of the work crew. I recognized him by his orange shirt. The workers behind the counter were really busy ignoring us. I'm sure that with their normal peripheral vision, they could tell that there was a man in a glowing orange shirt, and a woman of not slight stature, standing in wait. There were NO customers in line. Just us.

After five minutes, I was ready to give up. OrangeMan said, "Hey! Can somebody help me?" A lady messing with straightening burgers on trays turned around. OrangeMan asked why everybody else in his party had their burger, and he did not. "They told me they were making it. Just a plain burger with cheese. No sauce." He was told that it would be out in a minute. He left, and since that wench turned her back on me after talking to him...I threw up my hands in disgust and went back to the table.

"Didn't you get your sauce?"

"No. I didn't feel like being ignored for more than five minutes. That's enough. You're already half done. You'd think they could answer a question. Nobody's in line."

Thus a discussion ensued with Auntie and the work crew. OrangeMan grew more upset by the moment. He looked at his receipt. At 29 minutes past his order time, he went back. And was told that his burger would be right out. We arrived at the conclusion that this restaurant was understaffed. And that even though they KNOW that lunch time rolls around every day, they don't bother to schedule extra crew to work. The problem seemed to be the drive-thru business, though that line didn't appear to be moving, either.

Auntie was done before me. "Do they have ice cream here? No. I don't really need ice cream."

OrangeMan finally got his burger. The rest of the crew had gone, save a lone companion who sat and watched him eat. They were probably riding together. As he left, Auntie told him that she thought he should have at least have gotten his meal for free. That he should let them know up front. Because 29 minutes is a bit excessive for fast food. He thanked us for understanding his plight. "I know I don't have enough patience. I pray for it all the time. I'm stopping by the counter on the way out."

We went on with our conversation. A few minutes later, the guy who had taken our order came to our table and set down this:

"Oh, we didn't order those, " said Auntie.

"Well, a gentleman stopped by the counter on his way out, and he asked me to bring these to the two ladies back here in the corner."

"Was he wearing an orange shirt?"

"Um...yes, he was."

So...even though we didn't really NEED any ice cream...Auntie and I each enjoyed a delicious strawberry shake, courtesy of OrangeMan.

I know it wasn't a wise choice. I haven't had a shake in a coon's age. But I couldn't see turning down a thoughtful deed from a real nice guy.