LA, I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down

Today I walked to Subway for lunch. The office I rent is about 1/2 a mile away from the Subway, so I used it as a nice excuse to get out in the sun for awhile. Yes, we have sun here. I apologize to all of those people freezing in far-off states, but when we get hit with the Big One, you can congratulate yourselves for all your cold weather suffering.

When I arrived and ordered, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have my wallet. I told the guy behind the counter and he said he’d set the sandwich aside for me. By this point, I was closer to home than my office, so I decided to walk home, get the car, drive back to the office, pick up my wallet, and return to Subway.

I got the car, got the wallet, and I was back to Subway within 10 minutes. The next trial was parking. The Subway is in a mini-strip mall with 5 other stores and approximately 10 parking spots. The employees of these stores had taken 9 of the spots, and the last spot was between a Hummer and a wall. I tried to find street parking. Nothing. I drove around the block and in and out of the Subway parking lot maybe 5 times. I could’ve given it up and gone to Machos Tacos, but I am a man of my word.

After about 15 minutes of this tomfoolery, I finally found a parking spot 3 blocks from the restaurant. As I walked up to the restaurant, the guy who rang me up was outside. “Ayyyy!” he said, happy to see me again. “You didn’t think you’d see me again, did you?” I asked. “Nope,” he said. “Well, I’m a man of my word,” I told him.

My sandwich was still sitting there, waiting to be consumed. After I paid for it, the woman behind the counter asked me if I’d like a replacement, because this one had probably gone cold. To my knowledge, Subway sandwiches are always cold, and I really saw no reason to waste a perfectly fine sandwich, so I declined. But still: this is quality customer service, and I will be dining at this Subway more frequently because of it.

When I got back to the office, I offered my officemate Brendan some of my Fritos. “Do you know what the ingredients in Fritos are?” I asked him. “Corn, corn oil, and salt. That’s it.” He refused to believe me. “There must be other chemicals in there that aren’t listed.” Just then, Andrea, our temporary officemate, poked her head out of the office where she’d been working. “The guy who invented Fritos invented it as a healthy alternative to chips. He also wanted to make sure it could be used as an ingredient. There are tons of recipes you can make with Fritos.”

So what started as a potential lunchtastrophe turned into a valuable learning and sharing session. And I still have half a bag of Fritos left.