What's Your Name

One of my pet peeves:  Someone that wants to know my name that just doesn't need to know my name!

There used to be a bagel place that was by the job I had in my last life.  Unfortunately, it didn't last long, but while they were there, they had the most awesome bagels.  I would stop there at like 6:30 in the morning on my way to the office.  I would order my cheddar cheese bagel (the cheese was baked right in!  MMMM!) toasted with just a little cream cheese.  Since they had to toast it, you would pay for the bagel, they would fix it as requested then hand you the finished product and you were on your way.

Did I mention I'd be there at like 6:30 in the morning?  There was NO ONE else in the place!  They would ALWAYS ask for my name before they'd go heat my damn bagel.  My name is not a state secret, but it just irritated the heck out of me that they had to ask.  It was their policy to call you by name when your order was ready so that the right person would get the right order.

Call me silly, but I'm darn happy with a number system.  If I have check #4, call out #4 and I know it's mine!  Or, and this is my favorite, since I am the ONLY person in your store, trust me, I will get the right order!

Then it got to be a mission.  If I'd stop in the morning for a bagel, I would change my name every day for my order.  Hey, same person was working the counter and if you can't remember my name from day to day, you don't deserve to know my name.  On Monday I'd be Petunia.  Tuesday maybe Zelda, Wednesday I could be feeling like a Mamie Eisenhower.  The fun came in if we would go there for lunch.  They actually make some kick butt bagel sandwiches for lunch.  Now I'd get more creative since they usually got pretty busy at lunch.  You never know, there could be two Petunias in the restaurant.  Now for lunch, I'd pick better names.  I have been Frankenstein, Bambi, Andi Hardy, Humpty Dumpty and my personal favorite, Harry Potter.  There is nothing like a room full of people turning to look at you when they called out "order for Harry Potter!"  Yes, there were a lot of disappointed people in the house when they would see that the "real" Harry Potter wasn't there and the order was just for me.

Fast forward to today.  My brother Phil has been sick all week.  Actually, all three of my brothers are very sick but Phil lives with me so I have a vested interest in him getting better before he gets the rest of us sick!  Thursdays is my Weight Watchers weigh in after work, so Ron and Phil usually each go out to dinner that night since I'm not cooking.

I wanted to be a nice sister and I figured that with Phil feeling as badly as he does, he probably shouldn't be out in this cold.  I offered to stop and pick him up some dinner after weigh in.  Phil decided he had a hankering for some Arby's and since it's right across the street from Weight Watchers, I stopped in on my way home.

I ordered Phil his sandwich and then decided I was ordering something for myself so I didn't have to cook when I got home.  I wanted to order something healthy.  I decided to try the turkey and swiss wrap.  Then they asked me!  WHAT IS YOUR NAME!  What the heck!  I paid cash, what does it matter?  I was told they need it for the receipt so that they could call me by name.  Are you serious?  Once again, I am the ONLY one in line!  Trust me, I won't be confused when you come up with my order!  You know, if this were a high end restaurant, I would appreciate being called by name.  Or, a low end restaurant where I am a regular, I like that I am called by name.  But a fast food restaurant that I haven't been to since I lived in that area 10 years ago?  Trust me, you don't need to know my name!  I know it's a stupid point but it irritates me.  What irritated me even more is that I was too tired to come up with a cool name.  So, last night I was Katy.  Don't ask me why.   It was either that or Armour Hot Dog (that song was stuck in my head all day long yesterday but I was trying to get that OUT of my head!)

To continue my irritation for the day, I get home and start to try to enjoy my sandwich and what do I find?  My lovely turkey and swiss wrap had dijon mustard on it!  Eww!  What a way to ruin a sandwich!  This was absolutely disgusting.  So much for my dinner last night, blech.

On the good side, here is what I saw when I parked my car!  If you know the Arby's on Detroit and Abbe Roads, you know that is a huge hill that goes from Detroit Road down to the restaurant.  I wish I would have seen the person/persons running up and down this hill!  Now THAT would have been a picture!