[geeks] rant in e minor.

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Sun, 23 Jun 2002, Bill Bradford wrote:

> You've not gotten food at KFC, Burger King, etc, lately?  The BK on Lamar
> and Rutland is the worst about this..

No, I've been hitting Golden and Subway, respectively.  More of the latter
than the former.  I've lost about 30# (all due to changing eating habits)
since you've last seen me, and I feel great.  KFC wouldn't be a bad change
of pace, but I'd have to drive to Austin or Round Rock.

> <white_college_boy_voice>
> "Hi, thank you for coming to burger king.  Would you like to try one of
>  our $latest_combo's today?  We also have two tacos for 99 cents"
>
> Then, the person who actually takes the order hardly speaks english.

Dumb.  Dumb.  Dumb.

I would love to kick the shit out of every manager who puts people who
don't know/can't speak $language in customer-interaction positions.
Elgin McDonald's used to have this Hispanic woman who couldn't speak -any-
English doing the drive-through window.  Right now I'm having to deal with
people at TwinHead to get my laptop estimate back.  The folks there have a
very thick $asianCountry accent.  I've tried the American, German, and
Pan-Euro spelling alphabets, and they still can't get my email address
(not even my rice.edu address!) correct to send the damned estimate to me.

> It makes sense, *IF* the person who did the recording is the person who
> is working the drive through, and they're not trying to pimp things like
> tacos... "Welcome to $fastfoodplace, can I take your order" works.
> Making it a question about a specific food product *doesent*.

Jack in the Box (and Domino's, over the phone) both have the person say
"Welcome to (or Thanks for calling) $foo.  Would you like to try $item?"

> The local BK used the same recording for about a month once...

My last two BK experiences have left me with never wanting to go there
again.  The food, while always crap, has gotten -really- bad lately.  The
one I visited in Cambridge was almost totally unpalatable.  The last time
I went to the one on Lamar (about a year or more ago), it just tasted like
a lot of overcooked nothing.

I'm a real dick about food tasting good, probably because I cook for
myself at least 80% of the time.  So far, Subway seems to be the best
sabndwich bang-for-the-buck, and Golden Chick tastes a -lot- better than
KFC, plus they have tenders with cayenne pepper in the batter. :)

--Jonathan