I finally fulfilled a three-month-long dream by going to the Reagle Beagle last night. And it was everything I’d hoped it would be! Good food, good drinks, great music (of course!), and fun 70’s and 80’s tv shows and cartoons showing on several tv screens. At one point, my friend and I caught a particularly psychedelic 70’s cartoon on one of the screens. Awesome, dude!
Then we went over to the closest Starbucks and spent the next 3 hours yapping. (I told you I like to talk!) It was a lovely evening.
At one point during our Starbucks yapping marathon, I had finished my latte and had to go up to the counter and buy a bottle of water (I was apparently parched from the constant yammering). As always is the case at Starbucks, the staff was very friendly. I requested a cup of ice for my luke-warm bottle of water, and the barista behind the counter handed me a big cup of ice with a smile and a “have a great night!”
Walking back to my comfy chair, I remarked to my friend that I just realized how friendly the baristas at Starbucks always are. (That’s always been my experience, anyway. I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule—but I hope not!) And then I remembered my experience at a little fast food restaurant in California, about 10 years ago.
My husband and I were vacationing in the San Diego area, staying with his cousin and her husband. One night, all 4 of us got a craving for burgers. So we hopped in the car and headed for the drive-thru at the local burger place, In N Out Burger. Driving up, we heard an extremely chipper female voice over the intercom: “ Welcome to In N Out Burger, what can we get for you tonight?” We placed our order, and with an even more cheerful voice, the girl said, “Thanks so much! Please drive through to the next window.”
At the next window, the next person on the In N Out welcoming committee flashed us a huge smile and said, “Welcome to In N Out burger! How are you all doing tonight?” My hubby’s cousin said, “We’re good,” and in the back seat, my husband and I exchanged amused looks. “Are we in some kind of bizarro world?” I whispered. “I think they’re all on drugs,” my husband replied.
After we paid and collected our food, the chairperson of the welcoming committee continued, “Can I get you some extra ketchup or napkins or anything?” We said no, and she flashed us another huge, enthusiastic smile. “OK, then I hope you all have a wonderful night!’
As we were driving away, I said, “Wow, they were extremely friendly there!” My hubby’s cousin laughed. “I know, they’re always like that.”
Believe me, it was a strange experience to meet up with such overly-friendly people—and apparently it’s still like that at In N Out Burger today. A simple Google search I did today sent me to the following comment by a fellow In N Out diner: “I don't know what kind of happy pills they're feeding their employees, but I have yet to meet a single person who works for In N Out who doesn't seem genuinely enthusiastic and eager to help.” See?
I remember being astounded by the In N Out folks, and thinking: what would life be like if everyone you dealt with was that friendly? I mean, I’m sure we all run across people who are unfriendly or rude or even downright mean. What kind of world would this be if they all suddenly started being friendly and nice? Wouldn’t it be amazing?
Then again, it might be pretty boring. I mean, what would we talk about, if we couldn’t bitch about other people?
2 comments:
I suppose if everybody was friendly then we'd have higher standards for friendliness so then if someone said, "Have a nice day" we could bitch about the fact that they didn't say, "Golly wheezers, I sure hope you have just the best day ever".
*LOL* OK, I'm jealous. That was WAY funnier than I could have ever come up with, Lorrainey. *grin*
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