This afternoon I went to Burger King® for lunch. I hadn’t been in a fast food restaurant in a while, not since my kids left home, because all those burgers and fries just don’t appeal to me any more. But when I did frequent Burger King®, the franchise had a chicken sandwich that was pretty tasty. For some reason, I wanted one today. So I took myself off to the closest BK.
Some things were as I remembered them. The large logo on a pylon still guarded the parking lot. The disposable paper crowns like the ones my boys fought over still lined the counter. And plastic toys – robots, I think – still promised more than they probably deliver.
But the menu was undecipherable. Instead of a focus on a few well-made burgers and the occasional chicken sandwich, there were salads and combos and enormous omelets and maple walnut milkshakes. I couldn’t find the sandwich of my memory anywhere. So I quizzed the server.
“You used to have a chicken sandwich,” I began. That’s as far as I got. She caught her cue and proceeded to point to the various chicken things on the lighted menu above her head. There was grilled; there was super crispy; and there, hiding on the far right, was the one I wanted.
“That’s it,” I cried with the joy of finding a lost child. “One of those please. And what sizes does your coffee come in?”
“Small or large,” she answered, “unless you prefer medium and large. But it’s all the same.”
I handed over my $3.29 cents and she handed me an empty Styrofoam® cup and a tray with a sandwich wrapped in paper. “What happened to the coffee and the cute paper box,” I asked?
“Coffee’s do-it-yourself, around the corner,” she said. “What box?”
I said nothing, because she wouldn’t understand. I headed for the condiment counter and then for a table by the window. Was the sandwich as good as I remembered? Well, no. The chicken was lukewarm instead of piping hot; the lettuce had yesterday written all over it; and the mayo had been poured on both the inside and the outside of the bun. It made for gooey eating.
I came from the days when Burger King®’s slogan was, “Have it your way.” It was accompanied by a napkin too. I guess that’s all gone by the wayside.
At least now I know.
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