What's wrong with the world today? After a long day of working out, getting my butt kicked by a well trained leg moving at over 90 MPH, and strenuous warm-down sessions, I go to Burger King, hoping for a wonderfully fulfilling Chicken Nugget meal. This is a narration of the events following my attempt to get Barbecue Sauce. These events are real, and they take place between the hours of 9:08.0-9:10.14. The following passage will describe how time seemed to pass to me, and how my thought process was working (it wasn't). All the repetition and the seemingly dazed feel of the passage are on purpose, and are to convey how I felt, and acted. Enjoy...
I go on the Drive-Thru (after all, I have to drop a friend off before I get home, and it is late already) and order my meal, and specifically ask for the Barbecue sauce. I pull up to the window, put the car on neutral, and look up to the window. Upon peering into the depths of the drive thru window, I see a girl, no more then 19, sitting there, staring at me. "Hi." I would say. She would simply grumble back. Now, this would not generally bother me, for I am considerate. I can understand the hardships of working until late on a Fast Food restaurant on a daily basis. It is not pleasant. "It'll be 3.98 sir," she said, the meaning of the words she just muttered escaping her, as it so often happens because her daily grind numbs her to a point these things are nearly involuntary.
I make a motion towards my wallet. She does not look at me, although she is looking in my direction. For a moment I stop and wonder what exactly she is looking at, or for. I realize she is simply looking through me, that she probably feels like an empty shell by now, tired and longing for a rest, one that will never come. As she gazes into the near distance, I anxiously hand her the exact change. A coin falls down on the curb. She doesn't seem to notice this, but as I move in to reaquire the missing coin, she seems to snap off the nearly ghostly trance she seems to be on, even if just for a second. However, after she realized what I was doing, she goes back to that state. This perturbs me slightly, but I understand how she feels. I try to ignore it, however it is agonizing to the soul; Oh the drudgery!
She hands me back change. I look at her, and she stares back blankly, and as if searching for her soul, I stare right back at her eyes. I see nothing. After a second, I realize she is giving me change. Did I not give exact change? "I thought I gave exact." "This is a five dollar bill. It was 3.98, sir," she retorts. I stopped to wonder if it would be more appropriate for her to have told me I handed her a five dollar bill instead of pointing out the fact that it was, physically a five dollar bill. My mind drifts off for a second with this thought, however, I snap right back, possibly because it was a retarded thought, but maybe because I considered it to be vernacular speech.
"Here you go, sir." I wait for her to ask me what kind of sauce I want. I wait there for what it seems an eternity. It never comes. "Is it innapropriate to ask for sauce?" I think to my self. I am not quite sure. This makes me anxious. I just stare blankly at the window, which she closed not a second ago, or maybe it was years ago. I am not sure. The pain in my body throbs from the kicks and punches. Where am I? Burger King, I supposed. I asked for sauce as I ordered, correct? I did. Check it. No sauce. Have I gone through this process before? I think I have. Now the window has been closed for at least 5 seconds. She opens it. "What?" "I... I'm... not sure. I forgot... oh wait, right. Can I have Barbecue sauce, please?" The question seems to escape her. Has it? Maybe she ignored me. She walks away. She comes back, but her hands have no Barbecuse. Instead, she hands me honey mustard. This'll have to do. "Good night." As I say this, I try to smile. She grumbles back at me. Maybe she meant good night.
I drive away. My brother tells me it is honey mustard. It is now 9:10.14. I am mad...
So that's pretty much my night right there. True story.
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