Unhappy Meal

Sometimes I eat fast food. Not every day, or even every week, thankfully. Most days I really do want to eat a healthy and balanced diet. But there are other times when I eat such bad food that it more than makes up for it. Seriously, it's not always convenient or timely to cook and there are times when the craving for a greasy hamburger is hard to resist. This story is about one of those times.

Not long ago, when my family had received some coupons from a certain clown-themed fast food place, we found ourselves faced with a choice. Not a major choice, one of those everyday sort of decisions that probably you forget about an hour afterwards. We decided to stay longer at the park with the kids instead of rushing home to cook. It was a nice day, and with autumn marching onwards nice days should be taken advantage of as much as possible. So instead of heading home to make some quick sandwiches, we decided to pick up supper on the way home. With the coupons available, and conveniently in the car, the choice was not difficult.

The particular clown-themed fast food place has multiple locations in our area. Sensibly, or at least so we thought, we went to the one closest to where we live. That particular location is pretty much just a takeout counter and drive through window, and it is co-located with a tiger-themed gas station. We chose the drive through for speed and convenience. Chicken burgers for the adults, chicken nuggets for the kids. To keep things healthier, if only in our minds, we asked for apple slices instead of French fries for the kids. As well, instead of pop, they got chocolate milk.

At least, that's what we asked for. When we got home, we realized that the chocolate milk was nowhere to be found. For that matter, neither were the apple slices, they had given us the fries instead. Would I have driven back for just one item? Maybe. Maybe not. But for two, I absolutely did, especially since the kids really wanted that chocolate milk.

So back to the clown-themed (and co-located with a tiger-themed gas station) fast food place I went. Back with a scowl on my face and a mission on my mind. The employees (and I should say kids, as the average age of the people working there was probably 17) found me a chocolate milk and a packet of apple slices with only moderate delay and minimal apology. Back home I rushed, mission accomplished, frown vanquished. The chocolate milk and the apple slices were most welcome, although everyone else had basically finished the rest of the supper by that point.

Hungry, I sat down to eat my burger. But first, I took a big drink of my Sprite. And then ran to the sink to spit it out. It wasn't Sprite at all, it was carbonated water, enriched with a hint of flavour, and not in a good way. Apparently they had managed to mess up our meal in three separate and distinct ways.

At this point, I wasn't about to return over a beverage. I set the foul faux-soda aside and drank water with my burger. But later on that evening, as I was going out anyway, I made a point of stopping in to get a new Sprite. This one actually tasted like Sprite.

I think, as a family, we've learned our lesson. No, we're not going to stop visiting this particular fast food place, it's just too convenient and close to home. Instead, now we make a point of taking a quick inventory and checking the drinks before we pull away from the drive through window. And it's a good thing, too, because we stopped in to get a meal last weekend, and once again, they missed the apple slices.