Sonic days

Libby and I visited a good friend in my hometown on Saturday. After wrestling my lovely little 4 month old for the WHOLE visit I strapped her in the car, hoping she would nap as I grabbed a quick bite at Sonic on our way out of town. I  ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, french fries and an iced tea.....and then, much to my displeasure, the Libster began having an all out scream-o-rama. I managed to wait it out for a few agonizing minutes but couldn't take it any longer. So, unfortunately, I had to totally jet before the food arrived at my window. I was feeling a mixture of guilt AND pleasure as I drove off without my food, nor paying for it. Guilty because I knew they were cooking it for me and pleasure because they were taking so long to cook it. And then I laughed....of course I laughed. I always laugh.  But THIS laugh was a laugh of remembrance. The memory of an incident that occurred on MY watch at this very Sonic, years ago.

You can only appreciate this story if you know the owner/manager of this particular Sonic. He is a vertically challenged man with a round belly, a thick mustache, and wavy black hair. He is a tough old dude who doesn't really take any crap from anyone. He knows his Sonic business. There was once a rumor that he would actually charge people more money if they asked for extra ketchup packets. The kids in town knew of him and "lovingly" referred to him as, "Mario." As in "Mario and Luigi."  I had the opportunity to get to know him as I worked there in High School. In some ways he reminded me of my dad.  He had a quick hot temper, but was cool if you knew how to make him laugh.

So one hot afternoon, while I was hoppin' cars, a couple of young oil field clowns pulled up in their big ol' truck and ordered some large burgers and fixins.  We delivered their food, they paid, and we kept working. After about 5 minutes they push their button and call in. Mario is workin' the mic. The driver complains that his burger "don't have no cheese on it and he dang sure ordered a CHEESE burger." Mario wasn't happy but he went ahead and ordered up a new burger. Meanwhile, he sent me to get the old burger from the dude out in the truck. I bop on out in my sonic shirt and red hot visor. Just as I arrive at the truck to get the "burger mistake," Ol' boy is still chowing down on it and hands me about 1/3 of the burger with a very large mustard and pickle grin on his face........Ooooh, I KNEW Mario wouldn't have this. I took the burger and explained to my boss that it was over half gone. He turned beet red, but decided to take the high road and continue to cook the new burger....EVEN THOUGH he was getting all worked up about it. Mario does NOT like to lose money on a burger. Just then we hear that big truck fire up and we watch in disbelief as those turkeys pull out and sure enough  DRIVE off!  We all watched them like hawks as they made a stop at the shop where they worked just down the road. And I'll be DANGED if Mario didn't wrap up that burger, put it in a sack, jump in his truck, and drive down the road to deliver that Sonic burger WITH cheese! He sure did. We watched him get out and hand carry that little sack to the dude and his goofy friend in the truck. Yep. So now you can understand the fear and excitement I felt as I drove out of that Sonic parking lot without my sandwich on Saturday. Call me Thelma, but I didn't stop checking my rearview mirror until I was well over 5 miles down the road!