Distracted Drive-Thru

Place: McGrath's Fish House
Lunch: Seafood Pasta Jambalaya, beer-battered prawns, clam chowder, bread, Pepsi

RECENTLY AT DEL TACO: I pull up to the drive-thru to order.  (Presumably) Smiling Counter Girl greets me and asks to take my order.  In front of me is a screen that displays the items as she enters them so I can verify my order.

"One Del beef burrito..."

(nothing on screen)

"One Del Classic chicken burrito, no lettuce, no tomato..."

(nothing on screen)

"One Classic taco..."

(nothing on screen)

"One bean and cheese cup..."

(Bean and cheese cup appears on screen)

"One large Coke."

(Large Coke appears on screen).

"Okay, so I have a bean and cheese cup, a Coke, a...classic taco?  And what else?"

We go over the order again.  I pull forward.  And I see why she's so off on my order...She's also taking counter orders.  She wasn't paying attention to me at all.

We've heard a lot about distracted driving...teens writing text messages as they run red lights, getting broadsided by semis who swerve into power stations causing an explosion that sends power surges sparking more explosions and burning down whole cities.  Sure, that sort of nonsense gets all the press.  But what about the tragedy of distracted drive-thru order taking?  Why aren't insurance companies spending billions lobbying Congress to get THIS practice banned?

Imagine if I'd forgotten what I wanted to order.  She asks me to repeat the order, I can't remember it, and I have to spend time reviewing their extensive menu board.  Cars back up in the drive-thru lane to the street.  Other cars don't see this.  *CRASH!* A vintage Ford Pinto explodes, setting little Pinto firebombs everywhere, setting off other fires.  The restaurant explodes, sending pinto beans flying.  And I'm still sitting in the drive-thru trying to remember what to order, and now I can't order it anyway.

Where are the lobbyists NOW?

Cattle

Place: Iceberg Drive-Inn
Lunch: Iceburger (no tomato), onion rings (with fry sauce), birthday cake mini shake

The trouble with flying in an era where airlines treat humans like cattle is that you occasionally end up sitting with somebody practically on your lap who absolutely stinks.

Which was my experience this morning.

The guy spent most of the flight on his MacBook looking at pictures...until the thing crashed.  I thought Macs never crashed.  I keep hearing they're perfect in every way.  Every Mac zombie says so.

The other problem with flying is rental cars.  I'm really learning to hate Hertz.  I reserve a mid-sized (or their interpretation of a mid-size, which is a Corolla) and end up with an "economy class" Mazda 3 because the class I "reserved" wasn't immediately available.  Aren't the Mazda 3's and Corolla's the same class car in real life anyway?

Then there's all the syrupy upsale to the bigger vehicles (renting for only $60 a day more than I'm paying) and the ridiculously expensive "loss damage waiver".  Shut up.

It's weird driving the Mazda.  It makes me realize how much I love my car.  For one thing, my car has an Intelli-Key that just sits in my pocket.  Therefore, I keep forgetting to take the key out of the Mazda's ignition.  Second, they give you this keychain with two keys, a remote fob, and a big plastic Hertz #1 tag.  JEEPERS.  As if I didn't have enough crap in my pocket.  And the thing shimmies at highway speeds and the serpentine belt squeals when you go through a puddle.

Anyway, my birthday present to myself was a long weekend in Salt Lake.

I'll take the annoyances for the rewards.