As many of you know I've been trying to figure what to give up for lent this year. In her frustration, Maria has been campaigning for me to give up the phrases: "Your mom" and "That's what she said." I really didn't want to give those up because I find them funny and I use them constantly. On the other hand, it would have been a challenge which would've required a lot of effort and awareness on my part. But this morning the decision was made for me.
On our way to snowshoe Brainard lake, we decided to save time and grab breakfast from the Mc Donald's on Colfax ave. @ Krameria, not far from my house. We ordered quickly and pulled around to the first window. I pulled up and rolled down my window, as I reached for my wallet to grab a card, the cashier leaned out the window looked me dead in the eye and said: "John Ashley! How are you doing today, man?" I froze, I hadn't even pulled my wallet out of my pocket yet. How did he know my name? The light bulb clicked on, he knows my name because of how often I hand him my card, which if he recognizes me, must be often. This is not a small town burger joint where you know people because you went to highschool with them or because they are your neighbor. Demver is a mid sized city and this kid probably serves hundreds if not thousands of people in a given week. And out of all those people I have become such a repeat customer that he knows who I am. Lame.
In the past there have been places where I wanted to be known by name. My favorite college bars (The Rhino, The Bodega) I worked hard to be known, after that no matter how crowded, I never had to wait to order or get a table. How awesome it was to walk right in the front door and be waved in as the rest of the people coming in had to stop and dig for their id's. or like when i was a 19 year old scenester and went to so many hardcore and screamo shows at Chain Reaction that they stopped charging me the cost of tickets and just let me in for free whenever I showed up.
hmm... One of these things is NOT like the others.
Those were awesome....
...this was NOT.
Getting recognized by the drive through cashier at your local Mc Donald's is not like being a well known member of a subculture or social scene.... what it means is that I eat at this restaurant and others like it too often. It means that even after giving up fast food for lent last year I have slipped back into my old habits and have become dependent on other people to do my cooking, and it's making me publicly known as the fat-ass i'm becoming.
Decision made.... I am going to use this period to re-evaluate my habits and to re define my idea of a "normal" diet. ...p;us, when that happened my girlfriend laughed at me ... for quite a while. Lets face it, i can be a sensitive guy and that was embarrassing, I'd rather not have it happen again.
For Lent I am giving up all fast food AND Dining out. I don't need someone to make my food all the time, how am i in such a hurry that this has become a requirement? It's not, and it's a bad use of money.
over and out.
i DO think you could have learned a lot giving up "your mom" and "that's what she said". but then this happened - maybe that's why i laughed. becuase i knew you were making the right decision.
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