Screw it

Waaay back when I used to work downtown it was a rite of summer. At least once a week you'd hit the hot dog carts that would line Broadway. They were always there once the weather turned nice. And there were even a few die hards that were there when the weather wasn't so nice.

You'd find your favourite and become a loyal customer. There would be line ups but it was okay, there was always plenty of distractions to keep you entertained while you'd wait for your turn. And by distractions, I mean, good looking men in suits. Anyway...

Now I work in suburbia. It's in an area where we have lots of big box outlets just down the street, but nary a hot dog cart. Sure, there's Costco close by where you're always guaranteed a good hot dog, but its not quite the same. There's just something about buying a tube steak off a guy on the street that has q'd it up, right there, outside your office door. I was missing that. So was one of my co-workers.

Until Tuesday.

Lo' and behold we see a food van out on the street. With signage. Hot Dogs. Burgers. Fries. Perogies. Not a hot dog cart mind you, but the next best thing we thought. And if it was a van, the chances were good it sold more than just hot dogs. Which might be an even better thing! It was decided that Friday was the day we would head over there, check it out and see if this was to become the new routine.

As we made our way over there we could barely contain our excitement. We were reminiscing about the old days (well, my reminiscing was older than others, but whatever) and couldn't wait to see what the offerings were. We weren't disappointed. The truck had everything.

Fries and a Smokey for me, Poutine and a Hot Dog for my co-worker. With orders in hand, we made our way back to the office to sit and enjoy. As we dove into the artery clogging, high in fat, preservative laden nosh, my co-worker was just about to put a forkful of poutine into her mouth when she dropped the fork and yelled "OH MY GAWDD!!!"

Being one who tends to react, shall we say, as if the world is coming to an end when someone yells like that, I too dropped my fork, slid my chair back, stood up and yelled right back "WHAT?? WHAT IS IT??" I was ready to get right the hell outta there if need be.

"There's a screw in my Poutine...."

Okay, we may have over reacted somewhat, what, with all the yelling that brought everyone else in the office to see what was going on, but you can never be too sure.... I took a look and sure enough, there it was. A nice shiny screw, right in there with the fries and gravy and cheese.

I looked at my fries... then... I resisted the urge to throw up. I mean, I know it could've been worse, like that restaurant in one of the malls that had the baby mice in the stir fry, but c'mon... who knows where that screw had been? What had touch it? My fries had been cooked with her fries.... I'm getting somewhat nauseous just writing about it.

We regained our composure and decided to take the food back and let the guy know what we found. He was very apologetic, gave us back our money and offered to make us new food, at no charge.

Yeah... uhmmmm...NO!!

It's been decided that next Friday, we're heading downtown to line up, view the distractions and get us some real, genuine q'd up hot dogs! Maybe some chips and chili from that place that makes the best the city has to offer...

We'll definitely be avoiding food that is served out of a van.

Ciao!