If I were to be honest, I would tell you that I remain astounded that the damage done in the COVID era has not improved. I live in a Mid-Atlantic state which is, not in the least, a depressed area. During the COVID era, all of the restaurants in our county closed leaving only a couple of fast food restaurants near the interstate exits. Originally, we thought that the normal restaurants would return, but they haven't. One by one, they closed permanently. Now, even the sheriff's department drives to the edge of the county to go to a better fast food joint.
In a quest to eat properly, I don't eat out often. Once in awhile though, I get sick of preparing food, meal planning, or I just want to have some food I didn't make myself. Last week, I took the family to the Wendy's just off the interstate. One of us had wanted a particular burger they had as a special promotion. I had not been to this location in about four years. We ordered, and then stood to wait. The total for three people, including my salad, was thirty-two dollars. When we realized that the people who were actually getting their food had ordered more than a half an hour ago, we decided to fill our cups and sit down. The restaurant wasn't particularly busy, but there were a few young families ordering. Forty-five minutes later, they called us. "Oh, you're food isn't ready," they said. "We just wanted to make sure that you hadn't left". About ten minutes after that they called us to collect our food.
We ate inside,foolishly hoping the food would be worthy of the wait. Mine was a very average iceberg lettuce salad with crouton crumbles flavored with parmesan, some asiago slices, chopped chicken and two Caesar salad dressing packets that were 240 calories each if you used all of them.
I ate half the salad and all of the chicken on it. The following day I was ill, I believe from the salad. I resolved not to eat there again, but who knows, in another four years, I could be stupid enough to turn the roulette wheel again, in this location.
It has taken several days for my stomach to feel better. I am still not back to what is a normal diet for me. Today, I was in another town running an errand and I was hungry, realizing that I haven't eaten today. I stopped by a very busy Hardees, thinking that something small would be a good idea, and that all the locals standing inside waiting to order couldn't all be wrong. After I entered, I noticed that there were people arguing with the staff about how long they had been waiting. "I'm sorry ma'am", said one of the younger workers. "No one wants to work". I ordered a small portion of chicken strips, and a cole slaw and a drink. It came with french fries. I waited fifteen minutes. When I took my order, I asked for honey mustard and ketchup packets. They were out of those. They ran out of french fries during the time I was waiting. Then I asked for a fork for the cole slaw, and they were out of that too.
I think I'm just going to load a cooler for the car and eat out of that in the future. You might wish to do the same.
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