Like mother, like daughter
I have to say that going to a fast food drive-thru is a unique experience in my family. Not that any of the establishments do anything wrong, it is just our approach to them that causes our uncommon happening.
Firstly, I have a 9-year-old daughter, Cadyn, who will only eat chicken nuggets from the restaurant, so ordering a hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, corn dog or taco is completely out of the question. Secondly, she will not tolerate a “boy toy” in the meal. A “boy toy” is any toy that can remotely be associated with a boy playing with it. So toy cars, monsters or certain superheroes are out of the question.
What this means is when I order the meal, I have to specifically ask for the “girl toy.” Many fast food restaurants have gone away from boy or girl toys and just give a toy. This causes immediate trepidation in our vehicle when we hear from the loudspeaker, “We only have one kind of toy, sir.”
Cadyn is usually OK with the unisex toy, but there was the occasion when Cadyn was 4 and we received a “Monsters Inc.” toy car in the meal. This did not go over very well and made for a few tears mixed in with the chicken nuggets that day.
Then we come to my lovely wife, Victoria. My wife doesn’t enjoy fast food and usually tries to avoid it when possible. However, when she has no other choice, she makes the experience a one-of-a-kind event.
She will begin by researching, online, the entire menu of the restaurant. I mean she goes in depth and will look over the complete menu from drinks to condiments. Once she has perused all the restaurant has to offer, she will make her selection. Let’s just say that this selection is not something from the Top 10 most ordered lists.
These have included items such as the Filet-O-Shrimp Burger, the Pumpkin Sundae, the Mashed Potato Burger, the Waffle Taco, the Bacon Milkshake, the Baja Charbroiled Chicken Fish and Apricot Salad and so on, you get the idea.
To her credit, every item she has ever requested has been on the restaurant’s online menu. But I think sometimes the stores forget to clue in their employees to these unique offerings or maybe the more exotic fare is not offered at all the chain’s restaurants. The response I get when ordering some of these items is a cross between total bewilderment to outright amusement. I have had the order taker ask me on more than one occasion if I’m joking and I promptly reply that I am not.
I would say that at least 80 percent of the time I am met with the response of “We don’t have that,” which is understandable. I mean it is something that is only featured on page 16 of their 2011 Australian online menu. We couldn’t honestly expect them to have everything from all four corners of the world.
After having been let down several times, my wife has given me a go-to order for when they don’t have her first choice. She tells me to just get her some chicken nuggets. But she also has made it very clear that I better tell them she wants the “girl toy.” Like mother, like daughter.