🧑‍🍳 Ah. Good question. Which one has to go? Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, or Burger King?

[TerryP]

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Speaking of BK, they have really gone down in the past few years. There is one near my parent’s house at Shoals Creek in Florence that is actually pretty good.

@Bamabww when I am home, I meet with my cousin and her friends to play Dominoes at Jacks on Florence Blvd. Not bad food. There are no Jacks in Ohio or Krystal’s.

The good (well-managed) fast food places have supplanted the country/general store as old person gathering places. Jack's, Bojangles, Chick-fil-A, they all have their groups.

My wife retired as marketing director for two Chick-fil-a stores in Georgia. Her role was everything that wasn't operations, although she'd run a register and work in the kitchen to get large orders out as necessary. When she started, the two stores had no school partners, when she was done there were around 26. She had a great operator, and she was given the leeway to make a lot of the things happen that CFA never discloses. First responder or teacher illnesses/deaths, sick kids, city government alliances, making a difference - anonymously - in the community. She had a group of old guys - her ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out). The group include a retired principal, state senator, aeronautical engineer, rocket scientist, and a naval aviator who was a Blue Angel in the Fifties. He was in the same squadron in Rhode Island as Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner, the two pilots featured in the book and movie, Devotion. He was friends with the Browns, and when the movie debuted a few years ago, they had a premier at his retirement home and the daughter travelled in to attend. We attended and it was pretty memorable. Their squadron was split between the carriers in Korea and the Mediterranean; Hudner and Brown went to Korea, the Blue Angel went to the Med. I'll leave a link below covering the story. The group meets at 2pm on Tuesdays, which overlays a few standing meetings I have, so I didn't meet them as a group until last year. I came straight from the office, walked into their group, said hello, sat down, and one of the old men said, "what is your connection to this group?". I said, "we all have the same girlfriend". They all cackled and it was wide open from there.

Devotion: the true story behind a film about the navy’s first Black aviator

The action drama tells the story of Jesse Brown, a groundbreaking fighter pilot who chose to fight in the Korean war

www.theguardian.com

Finding community, best if in person but virtually if necessary, is a key contributor to good health.

 

[TerryP]

I'll keep Wendy's, a place I eat it every blue moon. The other three...

Granted, you won't find a Jack's around me.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around towns not having a Wendy's. I would think those territories are already "held." Why now? Leads me to another, but similar, thread.

 

[TerryP]

I came straight from the office, walked into their group, said hello, sat down, and one of the old men said, "what is your connection to this group?". I said, "we all have the same girlfriend". They all cackled and it was wide open from there.

Great story! Was the line rehearsed? I would have thought about that "intro" before hand.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Great story! Was the line rehearsed? I would have thought about that "intro" before hand.

No, it was spur of the moment, but full disclosure I had sat down with the group for a few minutes and had introduced myself when the real chatterbox of the bunch showed up a few minutes late. That was my response to his question about my connection to the group, so the rest of the gentlemen really enjoyed me getting the drop on him.

These guys are in their 70's to late 90's (the Blue Angel). He's the only one that's not still active in the community. One has taken in foreign house guests through his church, another does prison ministry, another continues his influence in education, it just goes on and on, but they continue to give back to the community. Such an impressive group, it's been bittersweet hearing how their numbers have declined. They take a field trip every month to go visit one of their group's widows in an area nursing home, while some of the wives accompany their husbands on Tuesdays, but sit on the opposite end of the restaurant. Both groups would compete for Brenda's attention, and she always made sure there was a fresh pot of coffee made at 1:45 each Tuesday.