Some things never change.....oh yes they do.

We are on the road.
We usually go out and check out some of the restaurants in town. Never do we go to any "chain" since if you go to one, you know them all.
Well, maybe not.
The other night we settled in our motel room, took a nap for a hour or so and by 8 we were both hungry.
Our main meal is usually mid-day and I didn't want a full sit down meal and she didn't want to hassle with getting out and figuring where we might go.
"Go and get something and bring it back to our room"
In Mexico you usually can get something to take out, since almost all the restaurants and even cheap comida correda joints have these foam plastic containers to take out. You know the ones that break and crack of you don't carry the tray with both hands. Absolutely no structural integrity to them.
Well, ok, the choices are fast food.....no
pizza....no
tacos.......no
Subway sandwich......no, we just had one a day ago in Los Alamos while seeing the world famous Copper Canyon which shouldn't be world famous.
"How about KFC?"
Neither of us has had Kentucky Fried Chicken in quite awhile. Has to be at least 5 years or so. All I remember is that it was tasty, moist if you got the original recipe and fairly inexpensive.
Oh, and I forgot to say, very bad for you if you are watching your weight, cholesterol, high blood pressure, gout, hypoglycemia, and a ton of other reasons why.
"Sure, why not was my answer"
It was down the street so it was a no brainer.
Arriving at the place, it seems that the prices for dead chickens has gone up a tad since my last visit. An 8 piece bucket ( which is no longer served in a bucket but a rectangle box) was 160 pesos.
Nope, too much and too expensive.
They had a 6 piece meal which included an side and potatoes for 120 pesos. I ordered that.
I had mentioned before that multitasking is not available at any fast food chain franchise restaurant in Mexico and this KFC was not going to be any different.
He rang my order up after repeating it to me and the total was 152.
The machine showed that my change was 48 pesos.
He went first to get the box, then back to the register to check the order, then to the shelf to put the chicken in the box.
Then he went to the register to check the order again, then back to the warmer they keep the tubs of something that looks like mashed potatoes.
Then back to the register, then to the refrigerated unit to grab the salad, not before looking at the 3 girls on the same side of the counter that were busy texting someone or looking pensively at one of their cellphones.
The register still said 48 pesos change.
He then told one of the girls to start waiting on the others that were behind me. He had not given me my change yet, so I knew exactly what was going to happen next.
She took the order for the next person and wiped out the change notation.
But old Tancho was prepared for that since I was still holding onto my receipt.
After putting all our stuff into a plastic bag, I did the one thing that I should not have done.
I asked him for some extra salt and perhaps honey for the biscuits.
He then went to look for that, after only about 30 seconds he returned and handed my bag to my waiting hands.
He then started helping the next person.
It was then that I asked him about my change.
Oh, how much was it?
He went over to the register and looked by this time it was gone off the display.
I told him it was 48 pesos, so now he had to get a supervisor to open the till .
After getting her to do that, he asked me again for the amount.
I was starting to think that what would happen if I said 86 or some other number.
I repeated that it was 48 and offered to show him my receipt.
Unnecessary labor and efficiency dictated that he scoop up the 48 pesos and hand them to me.
I am sure glad that I don't own that franchise and that I don't go to these kind of places anymore unless we absolutely have to.
Returning to the motel room, opening up the box, we started on the though of how good dinner was going to be.
After one bite I knew that it was a big waste of money.
Dry, crispy chicken, some pieces which I am not sure what part of the chicken it came from were spiced with an overly spicy pepper powder, my wife tried one spoonful of the mashed potato and tossed it in the sack, I looked for another recognizable piece and found what looked like a wing that had been either overcooked, dehydrated or freeze dried prior to cooking and had one bite.
This night I can tell you that KFC was very healthy, since you wind up not eating much of it, trying to remember the old days of how it tasted years ago, in a land of multitasking.......NOB.