Drive-through ettiquette

I think that there are quite a few people that are inadvertently rude while giving their orders in drive-through. Some suggestions seem to be common sense, others are less so.

1. Diction. Seriously, there are times when I can barely understand customers for lack of diction. Ive changed "Hi-C" into "Iced Tea," and on one occasion, a small sprite became a small fry. And speak slowly! Over the intercom, speaking too quickly is one of the best things you can do to damage your understandability. Slow down, and make your consonants crisp, please.

2. Have an idea of what you want before your start ordering. Even if it's vague, I can list the choices we have in that category. Say, you want a salad though you're not sure what kinds the store offers or what's in them; a good drive-through order-taker should be able to describe the different kinds of salad fairly quickly. Don't get me wrong, I know that sometimes you need to look at the menu board to see the prices or narrow your decision, but please, don't sit in drive through looking at the menu board for more than a minute or so.

3. Turn your windshield wipers down if it's raining. This isn't obvious, but when your windshield wipers are on high, often they'll throw the water off of your windshield and onto whoever happens to be next to you. It sucks working in drive-through when it's raining just because of this.

4. Please don't yell. Try to speak in a calm, low tone. Even though the volume is up on the speaker outside, you don't need to match its volume for me to hear you. Speaking voice is good, if you know command voice, that is better. Screaming and shouting aren't good.

5. If it takes you more than thirty seconds to find exact change, don't bother. Exact change is nice, but celerity is better. If you have pennies to make it to the next quarter, dime, or nickel, that's more than adequate. Also, if you want to pay exclusively in change, please don't come at lunchtime or around 8 in the morning, because chances are, there will be a line at least three cars long behind you. Ideally, we're supposed to go from order to handing the food to you in less than 90 seconds, and giving me five dollars in mixed change at lunch is more than just annoying. It's going to take you and those other people that much longer to get to the food.

6. This is a personal preference, but if you're going to thank your order taker while at the speaker, say "thanks" rather than "thank you." Over the speaker, "thank you" sounds like "fuck you."

I may think of more later. I just want to put this out there, for contemplation's sake.

Reflections on "The Sailor's Creed"

I am a United States Sailor.
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will obey the orders of those apponted over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I proudly serve my country's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
I am commited to excellence and the fair treatment of all.

At the beginning of every school day at Great Lakes, I and my fellow recruits will recite this creed, like schoolchildren recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm fairly certain that there will be some in my division who would protest this, but I think repetition is the best way to learn something, and once it's fairly solid in your mind, then that's the best time to analyze it.

It hasn't been around very long. I suppose there is a kind of tradition around it, but how can something be "traditional" when it's only 15 years old? It's a shallow sort of criticism, I'll admit. Those who have gone before me didn't recite this. I think that's it's deepest flaw, giving it tradition when it's new.

I wonder why it's the singular "Sailor's Creed," rather than the "Sailors' Creed." There are about 342,000 active duty personnel in the US Navy, and we're in it together, not as disparate personalities. There is no such thing as a "Navy of one," no matter what the Army may try to tell you. Every branch of the Armed Forces needs that solidarity for it to function. Perhaps, as we recite it, we should say, "We are United States Sailors... We protect and defend... We represent the fighting spirit... We proudly serve... We are committed..." I suppose the problem there in lies that I can't depend on anyone else to prove that I have Honor, Courage, or Commitment. Funny how the Armed Forces are like that, eh?

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States..." You know, I think you have to read the Constitution in order to really support it and I think that it's necessary to know its contents to defend it well. I don't know how well the average American knows the Constitution and its amendments, But I'll hazard a guess and say not well. But I think below its surface, its fancy language, its specifics, it say that each person has a right to choose how they want to live. I will support and defend each person's right to choose how to live their lives as they see fit.

"...and I will obey the orders of those appointed over me." I knew this point would get sticky with me. I am a skeptic, I ask questions, I want to hear what the authorities have said. I realize that there will be times when I will need to do what has been ordered without understanding its context or its meaning. But, I also trust that I will ask questions if an order seems very wrong or harmful. I may not be able to have the point of view that my superiors have, and I trust that in time I will trust their judgment when I cannot see what they see. That's actually just a little scary for me. I've grown accustomed to feeling like I can only trust my own judgment. But that is another blog entry, eh?

"I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy..." Now there's a phrase that's special -- fighting spirit. I don't think they mean a bellicose spirit, the spirit of bullies, but "fight" is such a vague word. Only two of the Navy's ships have sunk enemy ships, and one of them is the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned ship afloat. So obviously, we're not out there sinking every ship of every country that disagrees with us. Or at least not openly, if the Navy is doing that, but there's a giant cover up (there's one for conspiracy theorists) so... well, I can't see the point of there being a cover up. More than anything, the Navy is like a Sentinel of the Seas, always armed but rarely firing. It seems that way at least.

"...and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world." When I think of the people who have given their lives to defend freedom and democracy, I think of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima, or the heroes of the Revolutionary War, more than the kids out in the Sandbox. Don't get me wrong, I think that they're doing what they believe in, but also we, as a nation, are instituting democracy on them. They're not really defending democracy, but it's more like they're on the offensive for democracy, if that makes any sense.

"I proudly serve my county's Navy combat team with Honor, Courage, and Commitment. " Honor, Courage, and Commitment are the Navy core values. Commitment and Courage I have good concepts of, but Honor is rather squicky with me. If they mean "honor" as a personal obligation to acknowledge what's right and what's true, then I can get on with that. Some other definitions would leave me rather speechless.

"I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all." This one is the most forthright of all. I like that.

It's nto such a bad, thing, th "Sailor's Creed." I'll probably have different ideas about it when I graduate bootcamp than I do now, but that's okei. I'm never really the same person twice.

confessions

A few weeks before Christmas, a friend of mine asked me what I'd like to get. This is the sort of question that gets to me, because most of what I want is immaterial. I want peace, warmth, a soft place to fall. I got very quiet. I paced around him in the mall, and he waited without vocal complain. Who could understand that what I want can't be handed to anyone?

As a child on Christmas, I'd look around at all these presents while my parents were screaming at each other, usually over nothing. As much as the presents comforted me, I still wanted more. I feel badly that at such a young age, I began equating love with stuff. Not good, I think. I began to ask for more and more outrageous presents, and I'd get one of a few reactions. Being told I'm a spoiled brat. Being told that it's not affordable. Being told that it's not possible.

I have a vivid memory of my first boyfriend and his father talking to each other, disagreeing, but they still said what they needed to say in a normal tone. Although the issue wasn't resolved, they mutually decided to talk about it later. Before he left, his father hugged him and told him he loved him. And it was as natural as you could think. I sat on the bed, and stared at the ceiling above me, trying to keep my eyes from watering up.

"What's the matter?" he asked as he put his arm around me. I don't remember what I said, or whether or not I said anything. What was I supposed to do? You know, he's never wanted for anything he's needed, which is both a gift and... well, not a curse. It's just that he would never be able to understand how much it hurt watching a normal, healthy relationship, because I wanted -- I still want it -- so badly. Ironically, he's now grown into an asshole. Is that because he's never been rejected by someone he's loved, or are there deeper roots? Man, that's a whole topic by itself.


After pacing around him for a while, I got to the point where I could say something that wasn't "a hug" or "loving surroundings" or something like that. I succumbed, and told him I'd like guitar hero.

DEP, again

So, like a good little depper, I've been memorizing things like the Sailor's Creed, Rank and recognition, 11 general orders.
The problem is that, I didn't memorize the order of my 11 general orders. I could tell you all of them, but not nessisarily in the order that they're in. oops. Everybody drop, and give me 15!

Also, I found out that Donald Rumsfeld is no longer Secretary of Defense. Fortunately, they didn't make us drop for that, he only laughed at me and told me I was out of date. yay, not paying attention tot he news.

But all in all, it was a good dep meeting.

heh.

I came across a site named, "Fundies say the darndest things" and I've been browsing it, and already I have some favorites. There's this one:

I believe it can be more or less proved, or at least there is better evidence for the truth of the Bible than the Gita. First off let me state that the philosophy of the Gita makes more sense to me on a rational level than that of the Bible, and yet I believe in the message of Jesus. Just because something is rational or seems sensible or can be explained convincingly, doesn't mean it is necessarily true!

That last sentence is priceless. Is it mean of me to laugh at that?

Intuition

I've been reading Res Ipsa Loquitor, a blog by an atheist law student, from its beginning. I had been searching for something, and had hit upon his blog. The first entry I had read was about the aborted Easter showing of a naked chocolate jesus, I had though, ah, here is a person that thinks in a different way than I do, but we've come to similar conclusions.

I think logic and hard evidence is very valuable, but I'm naturally more intuitive than logical. I think that the writer of that blog is drawn to law because it requires a combination of intellect and incisiveness to be a good lawyer, but I can't point to anything he's written that implicitly or explicitly states that. I end up reading blogs and thinking, what does this say about his character? what are his motivations? And I end up forming opinions and conclusions based, mostly, on what's not being said.

woo.