Today I went to In-N-Out for lunch. In a hurry to get back to the office I chose to use the drive through. For those of you not familiar with In-N-Out, perhaps you live on the East Coast or under a rock, In-N-Out makes the best burger that you can buy, sells them with freshly made hand cut fries, served a clean and courteous environment and all for and absurdly low price; so, naturally, the drive through line extended out into the street.
While waiting for my turn to order, listening to Christmas music, I watched as a driver cut in line. Now you may wonder how they managed this, but if you have ever had a chance to see the line at Fry’s on Black Friday you might be able to picture how it happened. I was three cars back from the offending vehicle and was stunned at the act. What was this person thinking driving past a dozen cars that had been waiting for over 10 minutes? The driver of the vehicle immediately behind this interloper waited until it was safe and got out to inform the line cutter that they had inadvertently made a mistake and that the line actually started at the back, and not here in the middle. You didn’t have to be close enough to hear the words to tell that the response was a rude screeching and that the culprit had no intention of correcting the situation.
Deciding that I had not had nearly enough fun yet today, I left my car to alert the customer service agent taking orders to the situation. He spoke with the driver and unable to draft a Solomonic solution sought out a manager. The manager’s attempt to placate the growing mob with vouchers was not an adequate remedy and the culprit who cut the line was forced not just to leave the line, but owing to the fact they had now proceeded to a point in the line where exit was impossible, was made to wait in line until preceeding cars had been served. I extend my compliments to the manager for taking the appropriate action and to In-N-Out for hiring and training such exemplary personnel.
To those of you who think you’re special, that somehow you have a right to bypass lines when you are in a hurry, I invoke the Commonwealth of Virginia’s motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis” or “Thus Always to Tyrants”. All men are created equal, and despite what your mother says, you are not special. If you want to be treated like royalty there are plenty of places where you can pay twenty dollars for a burger and the people there will pretend you are important and bow to your whims, but please don’t expect me to kowtow.
wolfpaulus