I am not a real big fan of fast food with all the moderately quick food available at places like Panera and Pei Wei, but if necessary I will eat it if the option is going to be fast food or no food. So on the way to work we stopped at Taco Bell. As we come in through the entrance furthest from the counter another guy, who appears to be in his early 20's and looks kind of like a skater, has come through the side entrance and is standing by the rails intended to corral customers like cattle to the registers. After a few moments of us pondering the menu the guy asks us if we know what we are going to get. We tell him no, and that he can go ahead. At this point he moves closer to us and asks if we will pick his dinner for him. What this guy does not realize is that:
- My husband, my friend/co-worker and myself are not very social and immediately become a little panicked when the conversation went beyond "no you go ahead".
- I have trouble picking my own food and even more so picking food for a stranger.
- I don't know how hungry he is.
We try to politely ignore him when he asks us again if we will pick his food for him. He goes on to explain that he doesn't like to have to pick his own food and that having so many options on the menu makes him nervous. He then offers to buy dinner for the one of us that will pick his food for him. What this guy doesn't realize now is:
- By forcing this on us when we politely tried to ignore him he has freaked us all out and created a very awkward situation.
- While he is talking about this I am thinking that if picking food is really this difficult for him he just shouldn't eat. (And by shouldn't eat I don't mean -not eat out in public, this is a stranger I don't care if he eats at all.)
We finally move up to the counter. My friend orders first; she does not order for the stranger, nor do I expect her to. I make my typical dollar menu selections, but being nice I order two of each item for the strange man that has now joined us at the counter. My husband orders and I prepare to pay, because I figure if buying the guy a three dollar meal will make him go away it will be worth it. Stranger Danger whips out a credit card and buys all of us dinner.
So in conclusion for being polite we all got free meals and Stranger Danger did not murder us in the parking lot. However it was the longest most awkward wait for our food ever, and then we forgot our drink in our hurry to exit the building and get away from him.
Epilogue:
I ordered a soft taco, nachos and a crunchy potato taco (that isn't as bad as it sounds).
I never did eat the soft taco...I wonder what happened to it?
