Dairy Queen (a post that is not fiction!)
Jun. 17th, 2011 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coley_merrinDairy Queen was the fast food of my childhood. Before I knew Taco Bell and Subway existed, before Wendy's was a gleam in my eye. Before Jack in the Box seduced me into giving away half an artery for every ultimate cheeseburger, and... Yeah. All those other places. It was the one place that was close. Now, see. I lived in a big city. But all our fast food places were in a different part of the city. So we had a Dairy Queen, for all those special occasions, occasional cravings, and Sunday afternoon sundaes. (Actual Big Time special occasions warranted a trip to A Real Restaurant aka Denny's, but I digress.)
There was the dipped cone, and the chicken sandwich, the hot fudge, and the fries that you put salt on. And after salt? You dipped them in your milkshake. It was the law. Salty, crisp, hot, cold, and sweet. Excellent. It was great. And then, the holy grail of "this is SO MUCH MORE than just a sundae!"...the peanut buster parfait.
I'm not sure how that's held up through the years. I still like it, but I don't secretly look down the drive through menu and mourn driving away without it, so. (And oh, if only their brownies were good.)
I'm not sure that Dairy Queen location exists any more, giving way to city expansion and need for extra lanes. But! We have one near where we live here. And it is...what it is. My experience goes from Very Positive! To Not Very Positive.
Like the time we went for two drinks, and came away with two FREE drinks...twenty minutes later. And it's not like they are slammed, okay. The five people who would be at Dairy Queen at 8pm in this town are not exactly racing down at will. There was one person ahead of us in the drive through, and there was a very chatty conversation happening between whoever was at the window, and whoever was in the car. Occasional food came through the window. No one moved. We waited, we stared, we glowered, we...probably should have left. At McDonald's, they send you ahead to wait in line if you've ordered 47 chicken sandwiches, so the guy behind who ordered a small pop to go doesn't eat his steering wheel in frustration. The guy was still at the window, and someone came through the side door with our drinks... and told us to have a good night. We stopped at the window with a ?_? but they waved us off. At least they knew we'd been waiting for freaking ever for some coffee-tasting glop in a cup.
Or there were the time(s) we went for milkshakes, and their mix wasn't quite cool enough so...banana milkshake, er.... banana milky glop that's mostly melted! Uh. See, have gone to McDonald's for that, too, and they're like, our mix isn't cold enough. :( Try something else?
And then tonight, I pay and get handed my drink, with the caveat that...sorry, the base is a little watery (i.e. runny, i.e., not cold enough?) so... It should still taste good!
....Can I have a more watery price for my not-quite-to-standard food? Seriously, is it 20% runny, so can I have a coupon with that? How do you ask that? I mean, I am me, so I tend to smile, nod, agree. Confrontation isn't exactly in my genetic code. But I have no idea what I could have said. I came home and was like, oh it's not like it should be? Can I get something different then? What does everyone else say when they get shafted by their drive through orders? >.> I mean, it's not like she was like HEH HEH can pass off junk, but...shouldn't you get what you pay for? >.>
On the plus side, I got actually HOT fries, like...recently fried and everything! Which is almost a miracle. So it was a trade-off, I guess. Get decent fries, and get not-quite-frozen drink. Yay, coffee-flavored runny glop. \o/ (and it does taste good...just not as good for as long because it's half melty before it ever got into my car :( )
There was the dipped cone, and the chicken sandwich, the hot fudge, and the fries that you put salt on. And after salt? You dipped them in your milkshake. It was the law. Salty, crisp, hot, cold, and sweet. Excellent. It was great. And then, the holy grail of "this is SO MUCH MORE than just a sundae!"...the peanut buster parfait.
I'm not sure how that's held up through the years. I still like it, but I don't secretly look down the drive through menu and mourn driving away without it, so. (And oh, if only their brownies were good.)
I'm not sure that Dairy Queen location exists any more, giving way to city expansion and need for extra lanes. But! We have one near where we live here. And it is...what it is. My experience goes from Very Positive! To Not Very Positive.
Like the time we went for two drinks, and came away with two FREE drinks...twenty minutes later. And it's not like they are slammed, okay. The five people who would be at Dairy Queen at 8pm in this town are not exactly racing down at will. There was one person ahead of us in the drive through, and there was a very chatty conversation happening between whoever was at the window, and whoever was in the car. Occasional food came through the window. No one moved. We waited, we stared, we glowered, we...probably should have left. At McDonald's, they send you ahead to wait in line if you've ordered 47 chicken sandwiches, so the guy behind who ordered a small pop to go doesn't eat his steering wheel in frustration. The guy was still at the window, and someone came through the side door with our drinks... and told us to have a good night. We stopped at the window with a ?_? but they waved us off. At least they knew we'd been waiting for freaking ever for some coffee-tasting glop in a cup.
Or there were the time(s) we went for milkshakes, and their mix wasn't quite cool enough so...banana milkshake, er.... banana milky glop that's mostly melted! Uh. See, have gone to McDonald's for that, too, and they're like, our mix isn't cold enough. :( Try something else?
And then tonight, I pay and get handed my drink, with the caveat that...sorry, the base is a little watery (i.e. runny, i.e., not cold enough?) so... It should still taste good!
....Can I have a more watery price for my not-quite-to-standard food? Seriously, is it 20% runny, so can I have a coupon with that? How do you ask that? I mean, I am me, so I tend to smile, nod, agree. Confrontation isn't exactly in my genetic code. But I have no idea what I could have said. I came home and was like, oh it's not like it should be? Can I get something different then? What does everyone else say when they get shafted by their drive through orders? >.> I mean, it's not like she was like HEH HEH can pass off junk, but...shouldn't you get what you pay for? >.>
On the plus side, I got actually HOT fries, like...recently fried and everything! Which is almost a miracle. So it was a trade-off, I guess. Get decent fries, and get not-quite-frozen drink. Yay, coffee-flavored runny glop. \o/ (and it does taste good...just not as good for as long because it's half melty before it ever got into my car :( )
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:22 am (UTC)/combats with sexy
no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-18 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-19 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-26 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-26 12:22 am (UTC)