So here’s the quandary: after a long day that included a trip to Fayetteville and back whilst the kids were at school, do I really feel like enduring the queues for the free Chick Fil-A chicken sandwich thanks to the Hurricanes winning at home on Saturday night?
The initial answer was the strongest refusal known to the language of diplomacy…”we shall make every endeavour but some things just may not not be possible”.
That’d be the diplomatic equivalent of “not only no but *HELL NO*!”
Then a curious thing happened a few hours later…some hunger pangs combined with the notion of “it’s getting close to closing time…how bad can the queue really be?”
You be the judge… 🙂
- 2043 – Mobile order placed whilst waiting at the left turn lane of the stoplight on Knightdale Blvd. There didn’t seem to be the usual ring of cars round three quarters of the IHOP which was a hopeful sign and indeed the tailback of the queue ended right at their entrance. I know…shocking.
- 2046 – Meet up with the girl taking the orders whose first word was “hey”. Anyone who knows me at all knows that’s a royal pet peeve, particularly when the offending party is decidedly younger than I am. There’s at least 30 acceptable greetings for one’s elders in the English language and none start with that particular word. Her second attempt was much better…20m to the choke point and 2m to the order board at this point.
- 2047 – Order ready alert, haven’t moved an inch closer.
- 2051 – Nose of the Traverse finally gets to the order board. I swear glaciers move faster than this!
- 2053 – 10m to choke point and the red Traverse ahead of me moves at least a car length and I’m ready to demonstrate that I also know how a drive-through works when one of the kids jumps into the lane right in front of me and I have to dump the brakes to keep from hitting him! This particular section of the conga line is not particularly well-lit and he’s wearing rather dark clothes and suddenly appeared right out of the dark. And the reason why? To give me a receipt I neither asked for nor wanted for a mobile order where the receipt is already *IN THE APP*. Not the smartest move, kid!
- 2054 – 5m to choke point.
- 2058 – 2m to choke point.
- 2059 – Side by side with a bigger vehicle at choke point.
- 2100 – Finally single file (I beat the truck…much success!) right at the time the store has closed for the night with a completely full queue behind me. Somehow I don’t think they’re leaving anytime soon…
- 2101 – Getting close to the window in time to see the kid who nearly became road pizza in front of me in the queue at 2053 take his iPad and throw it really hard into to the top of the rolling podium they usually use for cash and making change. I have no idea *WHY* he did that or if that iPad survived a fairly impressively powerful throw that left the podium’s walls ringing but I suspect his manager’s going to be pissed at having to bin what was a functional iPad when it’s discovered.
- 2102 – Arrive at window and get order. Rather surprising given the late hour, the waffle fries are actually hot!
All in all, it wasn’t the most hideous amount of time spent in the Knightdale store’s queue (the current record is still 37 minutes).
What was probably most shocking is that the store that consistently puts out the worst examples of the Lord’s Bird actually nailed the breading and crispiness right up there with the current (and usual!) quality champion in Garner near the Target at the intersection of Timber Dr and US-70.
Honestly, it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever gotten from that store and this is the place that once gave Julia a chicken noodle soup that she discovered was sans the signature ingredient!
