Sonic Story
At Sonic in the drive through. (go ahead and judge at this point…)
Attendant: May I help you?
Me: Yes, a small chocolate malt, please.
Attendant: I’m sorry, the only machine working is the shake machine.
(short pause to mentally review what I just heard)
Me: A malt is the same as a shake, just add malt.
Attendant: One second please…
(~15 second gap)
Attendant: OK, what kind of shake do you want?
Me: A small chocolate malt.
Attendant: What size?
Me: Small
Attendant: Would you like to add pineapple, strawberry, banana…
(I interrupt her)
Me: Ma’am. I’d just like chocolate and malt and ice cream in a small cup, mixed up.
Attendant: Our ice cream machine is broken.
Me: Is your shake machine working?
Attendant: Yes.
Me: And you make malts in the shake machine, right?
Attendant: Hold on…
(5 seconds pass, but seems like eternity)
Attendant: Yes.
Me: OK then, I’d like a small, chocolate malt.
Attendant: Will that be all?
Me: Yes, ma’am.
Attendant: OK, that’ll be $1.57, please drive up to the window.
=== it gets even better ===
I pull up to the window and I see a dude at the shake machine and all of a sudden the cup he’s holding explodes in what I’m assuming is the shake machine. It splatters all over the acrylic shields around the mixing port and all over his hand. He proceeds to wipe off his hand on his pants and tosses what’s left of the cup into the trash. He grabs another cup and sticks it under the shake machine and what appears to be ice cream flows into it. He take two steps to the right and there is the open can of malt, likely from the previous attempt. He scoops in about 6 scoops of malt #extraMalty then steps back over to the machine… then realizes he forgot the chocolate. Glances over to me and says… “forgot the chocolate”…. I smile back and nod. He adds exactly 4 and one half pumps of chocolate – because at this point, I’m taking mental notes – sticks the cup back under the machine and magically it mixes all the stuff together. I’m thinking concrete at this point with that much malt. He places the cup on the counter and puts a plastic top on it. Then reaches down and opens the door for the whipped topping. He feels the bag and tosses it back and picks up another, feels it and tosses it back in and shuts the door. He looks over at me and says… the whipped cream is frozen. I tell him “no problem, I’ll take it like that”. So he removes the conical plastic top and replaces it with a flat plastic top. Now comes the fun part… paying. I haven’t seen the lady I spoke to over the intercom since the explosion, so dude is taking my money. “That’ll be $1.57”. By this time, I’ve had time to evaluate the entire change inventory in my ash tray (yes, I drive a 2003 car so it’s an ash tray). I hand him a $5 bill and 57 cents from my ash tray cache. The look in his eyes immediately told me “this does not compute”. I calmly advised him that “I get $4 back. He looks relieved, hands me a receipt, $4, a straw and the concrete cup. I’ve never had such a malty adventure and likely never will, unless I visit Sonic again, I imagine.
NOTE: I poke fun at life, and really admire these two young folks for working and trying to better themselves. Everyone goes through learning in life. Have fun in the process.
