I Met Her In The Kitchen There By The Time Clock OR So Long Paintsville Shoney's!

It had been exactly 7 years since the day we first met, since the first day I had looked into her eyes. Now, here we were plus 2 children and it was time again to celebrate "mommy and daddy's special day." Yes, we have always included the whole gang.

We went to Wendy's. I placed the order and the first thing they did was to put our fries on the tray on the counter. Several minutes went by as I waited there for our sammidges and other stuff. Finally she brought them up to the counter. I picked up a fry and bit it. I said, "excuse me but can we get fresh fries? These have been sitting here so long they're actually cold." No problem, they replaced the fries.

The "Spot" these days is covered by a Wendy's

I took everything to the table and we started setting it all out. She took a bite of her chicken sandwich and it was a bit raw in the middle. I took it back to the counter and asked for a manager. He asked me if I wanted a new chicken sandwich or a different one. I told him that I would like to have the entire meal replaced. By the time they got the sandwich made all our food would sitting on the table and all that. Then she would be eating her chicken sandwich after everything else had gotten cold or we would all eat and then be waiting for her to and so on.
When folks sit down to eat they want to have their meal. They don't want to sit and munch on their fries and then eat their sandwich later by itself...

They replaced the entire meal with no problem. I took it back to the table and we discovered that one of the sandwiches was wrong! It was a regular cheeseburger instead of a double. Oh well, we decided to just go on with it. We had already been there for quite awhile and hadn't even started eating yet.

Now for the sad part. While I was waiting for them to fix more chicken one guy said "That is the third chicken sandwich a customer returned today" Whaaa? They had already had people bringing their chicken back yet management didn't check the batch or prepare new chicken or anything? I wonder how many went out through the drive through that didn't get returned?

Believe it or not the encounter wasn't very much out of the ordinary. I would have to say, we usually get a much better experience at Wendy's than at McDonalds. McD's messes up orders more often than not and that is taken from experience and from McDs across several states. Not that we do fast food a lot, we don't. But occasionally we will go though a drive through, especially while traveling. Very often I wind up pulling over and having to go inside because they forgot something or the order was wrong. Most people don't catch this until they have already driven off and often don't go back to complain.

We went through the Salyersville McDonalds drive through. They shorted me a sandwich so I had to pull over and walk inside and wait for a manager, then wait for them to make the sandwich... All while my wife and kids were sitting out in the car and my own food was getting cold. That manager was very rude and never said anything close to an apology. We were in a hurry and that was why I had chosen to use the drive through. Lately, unless it is a small, simple order, I don't even use the window. I pull to the side and I go in. Saves trouble that way.

Right about now someone said, "What? Are you kidding me? You took your wife to Wendy's on the 7th anniversary of your meeting?"

Shoney's Has Vacated The Premises

We went to this Wendy's because of where it is built. If it had been a Taco Bell or a Mom and Pop that's where we would have went. Some years back I met the gal that later became my wife right there at about that spot. So every year on the day that we first met we go back to the restaurant where we both worked.

When we went back last year we were surprised to find it gone. The entire Shoney's building that had been there for decades was gone. Nothing but rubble and a few scattered bricks. A friend told us later that the restaurant had been demolished just a few days before we came and that it had taken only a few days to tear it out and haul it away. I reckon they were tired of me coming back there every year so drastic action was taken.

Shoney's Back in the Ole Days

Last year, when we found the old Shoney's had vanished, we decided to go across the road to the KFC (where, some may think it strange, they messed up our order and I had to take mine back!). This year they built a Wendy's on the lot so that was what we were stuck with.

I think these places screw up the food much more than what we might think. It seems, according to psychologists, that most people just don't say anything about it when something goes wrong. They don't want to be embarrassed or to cause a scene. Its all a bit funny, but truth is stranger than fiction I reckon.

And a message for One of my readers out there. Happy Bar Girl Day! I love you but I sure wish we had met at Bob Evans!

D. Slone Copyright 2012!