Place: Abelardo's
Lunch: Two ground beef tacos, rice, beans, Coke
I figured when Abelardo's fourth local store opened (in an old Mission-style Taco Bell building), it would instantly become their best performer because it would be the only Mexican drive-thru within a two-mile radius. But on the way over this morning, I noticed one end of a new strip mall under construction a block to the west is taking the distinct shape and color of Taco John's.
That won't exactly be an unfamiliar scenario. The first Abelardo's in town opened right next to an extisting Taco John's. You have to enter the same driveway to get to either restaurant. And the second Abelardo's is not only a block away from a new Taco John's, Abelardo's is housed in the old Taco John's building the new Taco John's replaced.
Only the third Abelardo's in town isn't anywhere near a Taco John's, and that store doesn't do any business.
Go figure.
Made a quick road trip to Texas over the weekend. Weather couldn't have been more perfect. Beautiful drive.
On the way back Sunday morning, I had breakfast at Whataburger. The young crew of three working had that "partied too much last night to be working on a Sunday morning" look about them. They were grumpy, they were groggy, and in between store duties, they'd run out the side door to take drags off the cigarettes they had sitting on the window ledge.
And that got me thinking...
I don't smoke, but I've always been around smokers. My parents smoked. Most of my girlfriends smoked. My wife died from complications that started as lung cancer, as did her father. All of these people smoked regularly and routinely inside the home. The point being...I've been around cigarette smoke all my life. It was once a far more acceptable behavior in society than it is now. Even my high school had an officially designated student smoking area.
In the last decade or so, smoking in restaurants or most publicly accessible businesses has become illegal. About the only indoor business people can smoke at anymore is casinos. Even bars in most states aren't allowed smokers. And as the smoke has cleared, so to speak, I've noticed that I'm far more sensitive to smoke when I'm around a smoker or in a casino. Suddenly, it annoys me.
So here's these kids going out and smoking, then running back in and making my food. They're not washing their hands, and they're breathing their freshly smoked breath in the kitchen. Ever kissed a smoker? You KNOW they're a smoker instantly. Ever made love to a smoker? You can TASTE it in every pore in every part of their body. Smokers think they can disguise the odor with mints or perfume. They can't. They're fooling themselves.
So I actually found the behavior of this crew to be kind of gross. Seems silly, particularly with my history, but I found myself wondering...should smokers be banned from being food handlers completely? Or be banned from smoking at the workplace?
My food was fine. It was made perfectly and tasted great. I have no reason to believe food made by a non-smoker would have been any different.
Still makes me wonder.
