Thursday, May 30, 2013

Unclear on the Concept

What's wrong with this picture?

Drive-Thru.jpg (88365 bytes)

I've complained about this before, but it always bugs me.  I'm in a drive-through line and I am asked to please have my order ready when I get to the microphone.

Where, please is the MENU?  It is where the microphone is.  This reminds me of trying to order phone service from AT&T for my mother yesterday.  Unless I could put in her previous AT&T location, I could not complete the order, which supposes that everyone only has AT&T (my mother did not).

Here, at McDonald's (and most other fast food joints), it is assumed that you know everything on the menu before you ever reach...the MENU! I have ordered the same thing at McDonald's for years because I am intimidated by the voice which instantly asks for my order the second my wheels reach the menu.  If McDonald's has added anything new to their menu in the last 20 years, I don't know it because I just order a cheeseburger and fries.  I know that is on the menu!

It is no better to go inside the restaurant.  These folks take "fast food" very seriously.  As I enter the building and approach the counter, I am immediately asked what I want.  No time to look at the menu, just some young kid standing there tapping his or her toe because I've taken 10 seconds to look at the menu.
I am becoming an old fuddy duddy.  What I should do is download a menu from every fast food joint and study it before ever going through a drive-through!

There are some fast food franchises (some of them McDonald's) which I just love.  These franchises have TWO menus.  One before the "have your order ready" sign and one after.  I should tip the guys in those franchises because I appreciate them so much!

* * *

It was a good day with my mother today.  She was asleep when I got to her apartment at 7:45, but she had been up and had made coffee, then decided to go back to sleep until I got there.  She seems to be settling in and I feel it's getting to be time where I let her go to breakfast on her own.  There is a group of women who are always there when we arrive, and one greets her by name.  If I weren't there, she might feel comfortable joining this group, though she says she prefers to have breakfast with me.

After breakfast we went to Safeway to get some of those vital things she desperately needed to get (toothpaste, because her tube was getting low, butter for her toast in the morning, beer in case Ed comes to visit again, laundry detergent, and cookies to put in her cookie jar so she has something to offer potential guests if they visit).  She said again that she would walk there by herself next time.  

We went out into the country to a local strawberry stand to get berries and cherries and on the way back, I went through the Safeway strip mall again and I asked her to direct me back to her house.  She couldn't, until I got her pointed in the right direction.  I asked her how she expected to walk to the store and back when she couldn't recognize how to get there (it's only 2 blocks, but it involves making two turns en route).
Tomorrow I'll have breakfast with her and then help her do a load of wash, but I work at Logos in the afternoon, so she's on her own for the rest of the day.   

A friend of mine, who lives out of town, is going to stop by and introduce herself and then promises to come at least once the following week when we are in Santa Barbara for Brianna's pre-school graduation just to check on her.  I am very grateful to her!  My cousin is also going to come and give her a pedicure.
Tonight we are off to see the "new" production of Les Mis.  A very nice break!

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