Monday, January 5, 2009

Dear Chick-fil-A

Dear Chick-fil-A,

First, let me start off by saying that I think that you are a fine, upstanding establishment. As a matter of fact, as far as fast-food restaurants go, you consistently rank #1 in my book. I fully support your "closed on Sundays" policy and absolutely adore the cows used in your marketing campaign. I find it not only fascinating, but prize worthy that you invented the chicken sandwich. I mean, I consider it pure genius that someone in the Chick-fil-A history books thought to put chicken on bread. Changed my life. I love that my oldest daughter has called you "Chicken Lay" her entire life, and now that she's old enough to know better, she still chooses to call you that. And Mr. Cathy? I could squeeze his cheeks.

Let's just say that I'm a fan.

However, I feel that your downfall is your drive thru. Today, I experienced your drive thru along with my 3 children. As I sat forever in the drive thru line, I couldn't help but wonder why all of your parking lots are so small and your drive thru lines so crowded. However, I understand that other people are Chick-fil-A fans as well, so I let it slide. I was greeted at the speaker with a pleasant and polite tone. Then I drove to the window. I paid with my debit card. Then came the chaos. Apparently, in order to keep the drive thru line moving, the employees in the window have taken up a "throw everything at you at once" approach to handing me my food. I was given 4 bags, my debit card, and my receipt all at once. Then I was given 3 drinks at once - two were stacked on top of each other. I pulled off with bags spilled in my car, my debit card on the floor, and my blood pressure in the ceiling.

I do understand that I know nothing about the restaurant business, but I feel that I could possibly give you some pointers, if you'll spare me a few moments of your time.
First, in the future, please choose lots to build your restaurants on that are considerably larger than the ones you have now. Your parking lots prove to be a driver's ed course on a consistent basis.
Second, when people pay for their food at the drive thru window, please allow them a few seconds to put their change or debit card back in their wallet before handing them their food. I personally prefer not to have to climb around the floor of my car to find my missing debit card every time I leave your drive thru line.
Third, please realize that most people are seatbelted in their car and cannot reach out the window like your employees can. It's horribly difficult to reach with 2 arms and grasp everything that is being handed to you.
Fourth, please hand out the order one or two items at a time. I'm a mom and can multitask like a mom should, but not even I can juggle 4 bags, 3 drinks, a debit card, and a receipt at the same time.

As always, I am a Chick-fil-A fan and will continue to support your restaurant. It would be a much more enjoyable experience with normal blood pressure.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day.

*****UPDATE*****
I received a comment from a marketing director for Chick-fil-A. Totally blew my mind, too. I guess Ye Little Olde Blog gets more traffic than I thought!
Anyhoo, he was super incredibly nice and said he was contacting the Operator of that restaurant personally. He also got my address to send me some free stuff. Holler. (that was for you, Ginger.) Chick-fil-A is an amazing company and their customer service is top notch. Hats off to them.
And for my non Chick-fil-A blessed friends, aka, Adam, Kathie, and Annie, I requested a Chick-fil-A in your area. I'm pretty sure I have NO pull in that department, but I tried. I don't fully understand an area of the USofA without a Chick-fil-A - it seems communist to me.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Um...Summer?

Whoa, we've been busy. Tis the season, right? Sorry for the bloggy absence, but I've been spending a lot of my extra time trying to pull back out the summer clothes that have been neatly tucked away till, you know, summer. If you looked at my laundry, you would think that either I've completely gone mad or I've taken numerous trips from the tropics to the polar regions in the span of 2 weeks. I mean, I don't think I've ever washed sweatshirts and tank tops in the same load. Until now. And it's still happening. Yesterday it was mid 70's and today it's mid 50's. One consistency has been the rain. Mercy, the rain. My poor kids are starting to get that pale look with dark under eye circles because of the lack of UV rays or Vitamin D or something like that.

Lovely.

Anyhoo.

We have had quite a few "firsts" this Christmas!

Starting with....
MY BABY BROTHER GOT ENGAGED!!!
And to clarify, he's not a baby. He's only 2 years younger than I am, but you know what I mean. His fiancee's name is Lindsay and she's awesome. She's a dancer (professionally - she dances in Taye Diggs' company in NYC and just finished up 3 months of dancing at Disney World - I'm not ONE BIT jealous of her...nope...none), a Southern Girl (I truly think the Southern peeps in NYC find a way to connect with each other), a FSU Seminole, and an absolute doll. My girls adore her. Mary Emma has been waiting for Adam to propose so she could officially call her Aunt Lindsay.

Here are some pics of them...




The last picture is of Adam and Lindsay with Minnie Mouse after one of her shows. The red hair is a wig - she is really a blonde - as shown in the first picture. Lindsay loves all things antique and the ring Adam gave her is early 1900's. The diamond is dated somewhere between 1850 and 1900 and the ring is 1920's. It's gorgeous and we are so proud for them.

Second, Mary Emma learned to ride a two-wheeled bike! The training wheels came off! She's 7 1/2, which is a little late to learn to ride a bike, but let me tell you a little about her. She has an unnatural fear of scraping her knees. She has fallen in the driveway in the past, screamed so loud and hard that we have had neighbors come running out of their house. The fear of falling off of a bicycle and scraping her knees far outweighed the joy of riding a bike. Until last week. Spencer took her to the school parking lot, gave her one push, and she never looked back. We are crazy proud of her.



Third, Tait was ALL ABOUT Santa this year.....from a distance. We kept noticing her anxiety level rising on Christmas Eve and finally realized that she thought Santa Claus was coming to her room. Once we assured her that Santa wasn't coming upstairs, she calmed down and went on to sleep. Camille still doesn't fully understand, but I have a feeling that next year is her year. Plus, if Santa did decide to come upstairs and into Camille's room, she'd totally take him down. That kid can hold her own.

Fourth, my parents's house flooded - the rebuild started this morning and should take about a month. In case you don't fully grasp this concept, my parents are rebuilding their brand spanking new 4 day old house. If you feel led to continue to throw up some prayers on their behalf, I know they'd appreciate it.

Fifth, Spencer left this morning for a meeting in San Diego for 12 DAYS. That's 288 hours. 17,280 minutes. 1,036,800 seconds. Nothing like jumping back into the back to school routine like tackling it as a single mom. However, there is an upside. Thursday through Monday, I will be going out there, too, WITHOUT THE KIDS. I'd say that's a good trade-off.

Sixth, I learned that if I purchase these noisemakers for the kids on New Year's Eve

then I'm not allowed to yell at them for running around for HOURS and shaking their little noisy brains out. Whatev.

Seventh and lastly, Spencer gave me photography lessons for our Anniversary. I start tonight. I am STOKED. I know that I will learn about stuff like aperture, shutter speed, focal points, exposure, and calibrating my light meter (aren't you impressed? Don't be - I copied that off the class website - I have no idea what that means) so that I can become photog extraordinaire. The Pioneer Woman ain't got nothin' on me. Before you know it, she'll be inviting me to her fabulous ranch where I can stay at the newly remodeled (and amazing) lodge so that I can give her some photography lessons. And then I'll leave there to go have dinner with Reba.

A girl can dream, right?

In the words of 2 year old Camille, "Peace Out, y'all."