Dinner Time

Our delivery man.....   in my dreams.

I spent most of yesterday morning and afternoon visiting Mom. It's a hundred and twelve mile round trip, plus I get to sit with grumpy Mom and have lunch in near silence. Mom is still not happy about being moved out of her house and into a small apartment. Sure, she has round the clock attendants, housekeeping service, three meals a day, and a nurse nearby. She hates it. It's not her house. I talked with people there, and they say it usually takes three months or so before new residents become acclimated. So, one month down. Anyway, this is not about Mom. This is about how I felt when I got home. Tired, very tired. Around four thirty Mark asks, "What are you cooking for dinner?"

What the fu... "Um, haven't even thought about that."

"I could go for pizza...  or Chinese."

"How about Lebanese."

"Pizza or Chinese."

"Fine, but we have get it delivered. I do not want to drive another mile, not another ten feet."

"Sure, if you pay."

So I got onto Grub Hub and ordered Chinese food from a place I had never ordered from before. You always take a chance when you order from a new place. I remember one pizza place I ordered from years ago. A large pizza, ordered around six in the evening. It never came. I called the pizza place three times, and after two hours I told them to forget it. Later that evening, while laying in bed watching the Tonight Show, the door bell rang. It was the goddamned pizza. I let the guy climb all the way up the three flights of stairs before I told him that I didn't want it.

Back to the Chinese food I had ordered. About one hour and fifteen minutes into the wait I called the place. "Where is my food?"

"Oh, it be there soon. I call driver, you wait. I call driver."

I'm pretty sure the guy at the Chinese restaurant probably speaks perfect English, but talks like that because that is what customers expect. One hour and twenty minutes after putting in the order, we got our dinner. I was ready to call back and play the wronged customer, but I couldn't. It was the best damn Chinese food I've had since moving back to Chicago. I will order from them again, and next time plan on watching a movie while I wait.

Reality