Friday, June 26, 2009

A Little Too Sweet

I’m still laughing about a trip through the drive-thru of Chik-Fil-A yesterday evening to grab some supper. I really respect the values that the Chik-Fil-A company holds to and I am all for the great customer service and friendly attitudes that I always find there. However, yesterday, the female employee on the drive-thru intercom nearly shocked me into forgetting my order. She was positively dripping with syrupy sweetness, so much so that I guessed if I ordered sweet tea, she would probably tell me they were all out.

Seriously, it was more than I could handle, and I like to think I’m a nice person. This was over-the-top friendliness, agreeing with everything I ordered and adding extra enthusiasm and exclamation points to each item. “Oh! A kids meal?!! Well, sure!!!!....With lemonade? Of course!.....And you have a coupon for buy-one-get one -free sandwiches? That’s SO wonderful!!!!!!!” I honestly thought for a moment that she might be mocking me. All I could think was, Is she for real?

Anyway, enough of my teasing the poor girl. I hope that she is sincerely a nice person. Maybe someone will tell her that she could eliminate a few exclamation marks and cut down on the “sugar” a little and she’d still be incredibly sweet and a bit more believable. Even though my encounter with her was under two minutes long, she was quite a character that I won’t soon forget!

This little encounter made me think of Kim O’Brien’s recent guest blog post on humor in writing and letting it develop naturally based on real situations you find yourself in. I’m thinking I need to file this away and maybe Super Sweet Drive-Thru Girl should end up in a funny scene if I ever write a novel of my own. If you have one, share a funny story that’s happened to you recently. Will it make its way into one of your books?

(Oh, and if you love Chik-Fil-A, be sure to check out the upcoming Cow Appreciation Day on their website. Too fun! I’ll try to remember to post a picture if I make Jodi participate. )

7 comments:

CatMom said...

Hello JoAnne! Okay, since I live only a few miles away from Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy and am an avid Chick-fil-A fan (and very frequent customer--they know me by name,LOL) I had to respond. I, too, love the friendliness of the employees, but my kiddos and I often get tickled with the "it's my pleasure" response we always get. Of course, we feel certain they've been trained to be super-friendly when serving customers. However, that employee you dealt with seems to have gone a little overboard. ~ Anyway...I'm hoping you do get to write that story featuring "sugar girl" *grin*...and please post a pic of Jodi if she wears a cow costume!! Blessings (and waffle fries!) from Georgia, Patti Jo ;)

Your jaded friend who wishes to remain anonymous said...

I would have openly mocked her.

I am a bad person.

Rachel Overton said...

Maybe it was new-employee-hazing day. "The regional quality control supervisor/mystery shopper is coming through sometime today and if you aren't sweet to him/her, you'll be fired."

I can't say that I've ever been treated with such overbearing pleasure in a drive-thru...but the only Chik-Fil-A near us is 35+ minutes away, and we went in. :-)

Lena Nelson Dooley said...

One day I stopped at Chick-fil-a for an ice cream cone. I wanted a treat during some of the really hard times when James was in the hospital. She gave me the cone, and I gave her the dollar and dug in my purse for change. She said I hope you're having a nice day. I was nearly crying. I told her that I'd had better ones, that my husband was in the hospital and they were keeping from waking up until the swelling went down. She looked at me and thrust the dollar back at me. Here, take this, she said. I told her that she didn't need to do that. She said she knew it, but it was her treat. I couldn't believe she was so sensitive. It blessed me.

Erica Vetsch said...

I'd have had a hard time holding it together once I got to the pay window. :)

I was a McDonald's Burger-babe in the 80's (okay, pass the Geritol, I think I just caused another gray hair to emerge) and we'd get kids coming through the drive-thru and asking us what was on a Big Mac...wanting us to sing the commercial jingle "two all-beef patties, special sauce" etc.

Once a lady pulled up and asked for tacos and nachos. When I said, "Ma'am, you're at McDonald's" she gasped, "Oh, I'm so embarrassed! I thought this was Taco Bell." (The Taco Bell was right next door, so an understandable mistake, but we laughed about it for a long time anyway.)

The most memorable drive through moment was when a man pulled up and asked for three Quarter Pounders, no cheese, no bun, no nuttin', just the meat.

Curious - since this was not at the height of an Adkins Diet craze - I leaned out to hand him his order and was greated by the face of a mountain lion peeking around the driver's seat. The man had a full-grown puma in his car.

Suffice it to say I leaned way back inside the window and told him he'd have to reach out for the sack. No way was I dangling freshly cooked meat in front of that cat! Yikes!

Becky said...

Neat story of good CS, Lena.

Wow, Erica, that is something for the memory bank.

Anonymous said...

Okay, guys, this is just too funny! But allow me to share something with you that may shed some light on Sugar Girl's motivation--just in case anyone feels the need to really flesh out this character!
I have a job where I survey people by telephone, then type their responses into a computer data base. In order to "fill the air" during the silence while I record their answers, I usually make some small remark that also acknowledges that I heard. This helps me focus on my task, let the person know I'm still on the phone with them, and ease the mental tension the silence creates in me. Think that's what's behind Sugar Girl's sweet remarks?