our opinions : CURMUDGEON MUSINGS
Last Word
The
NOVEMBER 2017 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
112
BY MARK BROWN
Great Experience with TSA and Trouble with Restaurants
must be dreaming . Let me explain .
I I ’ ve been flying for business for about 22 years now and have experienced almost everything , seen almost everything . After 9 / 11 , flying changed 180 percent . Actually , flying was never fun , but in the beginning there was a certain romance to it . When you are used to working in one place for a long time , and have flown very little , the thought of going to the airport and getting in ( not on ) a plane to take you to your work is kind of cool . At least it was until the aforementioned 9 / 11 . After that , the security , and let me say rightly so , became unbearable .
No longer could someone meet you at the gate , you had to take your shoes off at security , no liquids over 3.4 ounces , had to get little sandwich baggies to put your toiletries in , laptops out of bags , and you haven ’ t lived until you have been patted down and searched by what appears to be a homeless serial killer .
Then the rules kept changing every time you went through airport security . Also , if you fly all the time , the people that don ’ t will drive you crazy , because they do it wrong . Then you have the TSA . It ’ s become like the post office ; they will have four security lanes , and only one will be open . Then they decide to periodically yell at you . Then , for added fun , every TSA checkpoint in every city does everything differently . Then came TSA pre-check , which , unless you apply and interview for Global Entry , is given out randomly . Sometimes it will appear on your boarding pass and sometimes it won ’ t . Lately , the experience with TSA hasn ’ t been at all good .
So , having said all of that , I had a great TSA experience at American ’ s B terminal a few weeks ago . It worked like it should work , pleasant people on top of their game !
So , if you fly American , I hope you get to use B terminal , it is the best !
Restaurants have been interesting lately . It seems like all of a sudden they are running out of food . Several times lately at large well-recognized chains , the advertised specials were not in stock .
For Batter or Worse One restaurant advertised “ Pumpkin Spice Pancakes ” for a breakfast item . We couldn ’ t wait to run to that restaurant on Saturday morning and order . Ten minutes after we placed our order , our server came back to the table and said , “ I ’ m so sorry . We are out of the Pumpkin Pancakes . We have no more batter .”
Another local eating establishment started serving a particularly excellent dessert , one we happened to really like . The establishment became our favorite place to eat for a couple of months because of that pie . We were ordering the pie several times a week . So what happened ? One evening we went to the restaurant for dinner , had our meal , then when it came time to order dessert , guess what — our server informed us that it was not available . When we asked about it they said the truck hadn ’ t come in . The next time we went there hoping to be able to order the aforementioned pie our server said , and I quote , “ Well it was so popular the management decided to take it off of the menu .” No joke .
Here ’ s another one — Thursday special , “ Chicken & Dumplings .” OK , my wife orders it . Sorry ma ’ am , we ’ re out of chicken & dumplings . But it ’ s early in the evening , how can you be out ?
Now this isn ’ t a case of going to these places at closing time . Not at all , we know better than to go to a restaurant close to closing time . That just makes all the employees mad . No , we go to dinner at reasonable times .
So when these things happen , I can ’ t help but think a restaurant goes to the trouble of deciding on a certain menu item they want to market , they perfect the recipe , put it on the menu , market it , make signs , promote it , in some cases do television commercials , and probably test market the items , then after all of that , don ’ t have enough ingredients to make it available ? In the case of the Chicken & Dumplings , this is not new to this company ’ s repertoire .
So really they must just say , “ You know , even though we have the research data and we ’ ve been doing this for years , let ’ s not stock enough to get through the Thursday night dinner run . To heck with the people that drive long distances to eat at our place .”
I know this seems like a small thing , and it is , considering the trouble in the world in general . But , it ’ s annoying nonetheless . I have to think it lies at the feet of corporate politics and over-educated twerps who believe they ’ re so much brighter than anyone else because they have a degree .
Not to alienate all of the over-educated folks out there , but there is a certain attitude that permeates Corporate America . What over-educated twerp made the scary decision that leads Wal-Mart to put the bathroom scales by the ladders in the hardware department ? Who decided to advertise Pumpkin Spice Pancakes like crazy , then dole out enough batter to last until 10 o ’ clock on Saturday morning ?
Gotta go . I ’ ve been on hold with AT & T the whole time I have been writing this .
I just wish I knew what my password is …