I'm Hungry...So Back Off!

I have recently discovered a bad new personality trait in myself.

I know everyone at one time or another succumbs to road rage. I mean who hasn’t been sitting in a drive thru and gotten so irritated at the person in front of you that has ordered enough food to feed an army and all you ordered was one measly little drink and you finally just get to the snapping point and you just want to ram into the back of their car all the while using the famous line from Fried Green Tomatoes….”Face it. I’m older and I have more insurance.” Wow…I feel better now.

I think I have had this new trait for a while but yesterday it reared its ugly head and I finally realized that I might have a real problem.

Restaurant Rage…..Unfortunately my 3 biggest offends are 3 of my favorite places to go.

#1. Jason’s Deli: At lunch time this place is a MAD HOUSE! What is deceiving is that the parking lot never looks full but once you take the time to park and walk inside you see the line is 40 people long and there are absolutely no tables. One time a co-worker and I stood for a good 10 minutes waiting for a table to become available. All the while the manager keeps walking by shrugging his shoulders. I understand there isn’t anything he can do and why should he. This just means his business is booming and if he might lose a few customers so what. His restaurant is packed. Plus, that just teaches people to call in orders which is what I usually end up doing if I’m in the mood for some really good strawberries.

#2. Panera Bread: Breakfast is bad enough, but I try to avoid it at lunch at all costs unless I plan on leaving the office early and taking an extended lunch. My biggest pet peeve with Panera is the people that come in when the place is so busy that they have all registers going and they have to pull bagels off the racks in the back and these people come in and order 3 bagel packs and they can’t decided on what kind of bagels they want or they have to have the kinds of cream cheese read to them 20 times. Then on top of that they order a cappuccino. Again, call in your order ahead of time. I know you know in advance that you are going to order this many bagels. I just want one simple little cinnamon crunch bagel. I am sure they were all thinking the same thing about me the time I spilled my coffee all over them. I guarantee there was someone in that line getting ready to order 10 bagel packs so I am sure they deserved it.

#3. McAlister Deli: I am going to get all worked up just talking about this one. Unless you plan on going to lunch at 10:30 a.m. you might as well forget going to this place for lunch and for that matter, you might as well forget even calling in an order. I don’t understand why if they are going to let people call in orders why they don’t have a designated line just for picking up to go orders. I think they try but when the line is out the door the high school kids only have 30 minutes for lunch they pretty much take whatever line they can find. Yesterday I thought I was going to come unglued. I just wanted a stinking bowl of soup. I called it in 20 minutes before I needed it and got there at straight up noon. I had to circle twice before someone finally pulled out for me to park. Then I stood in line for no less than 30 minutes. I am serious….30 minutes for a bowl of soup. I was 3 people back when a lady decided to pay for her $5.39 meal in change. I am serious…..right down to the last penny in change. The girl at the register had to count it all out and separate it all. I wondered if anyone would even notice if I just let out a blood curtailing scream at this point. I think one of the waitresses noticed I was peeved because she brought me a diet coke. Thinking this might calm me down. In normal circumstances I would say yes that would have worked, but when I had to stand there and watch the register lady filling 3 gallon jugs of tea for the change lady I decided nothing would help.

It’s a problem I know….at this very moment I am going through the yellow pages looking for a counselor that specialized in Restaurant Rage.