Arby's
1800 S. Ridgewood Ave.
Daytona Beach, FL 32119
(386)760-1893
Let me start this post by sharing a little something with you. "I am an idiot!" I have been working with my friend Kelly on a large Christmas project and today we decided to go grab lunch. Our project is taking place in Daytona Beach off Nova Road. I told Kelly I wanted to grab something quick so we could get back and suggested a Firehouse Subs location. She said she knew exactly where one was so off we went. However, when we got there I noticed an Arby's two locations down from Firehouse Subs. I called an audible and told Kelly let's go to Arby's since I haven't been there in a while. I now know why I haven't been there in a while.
Because I had been working outside and sweating like crazy, it was 84 degrees here in Florida today, I needed to wash my hands. I go into the bathroom and see just a toilet and a sink. No walls for the toilet and no urinals, but you can see where they used to be. Kelly tries to get into the women's room, but the door is locked. The woman inside yells at her, "There's somebody in here." Turns out is was on of our United Postal Service's finest dropping off a package. Kelly told me that package should have been marked nuclear waste. I died laughing. I don't know much about building codes, but one would think a restaurant would have to accommodate more than one person at a time, but maybe that is just me. While I am washing my hands, sure enough, some other guy comes in to use the bathroom. You can see he is used to coming there as there was an awkward moment as he walked in and saw me washing my hands. In his mind, I should have locked the door preventing him from walking in with me. I found the whole experience very disturbing. To make matters worse, the damn hand dryer is blowing out air at a rate that wouldn't lift Charlie Brown's kite. Proper etiquette dictates that I should have gotten out of the bathroom before the other guy started to wash his hands, but my hands are still soaked. This guy is now standing behind me waiting to dry his hands and I am fully expecting to feel him drying his hands on the back of my t-shirt. After all, I am in South Daytona. If you are not familiar with South Daytona, this is where Aileen Wournos, one of Florida's most prodigious serial killers, was captured after her killing spree.
I have placed the photo of the beef and cheddar above for a specific reason. Normally, I would have used their logo. However, my opinion is that Arby's serves food the furthest from what they show on their menu boards. Trust me, you order a beef and cheddar and it doesn't look like the picture above. My idiocy includes me ordering a chicken bacon Swiss sandwich in a restaurant made famous for beef. Kelly did have the good sense to order a small beef sandwich. They certainly delivered on the "small" part. This sandwich was so small I was expecting Clara Pellar to walk in and ask, "Where's the beef?" My chicken sandwich looked hardly fried, the bacon was overcooked and there was some strange mustardy sauce on it. I do have to say the curly fries were piping hot, but lacked flavor. There wasn't much going on here at all.
My idiocy stems from my forgetting that you can never go back and everything is not as you always remember them to be. I am sure at some point in my life, I had a great sandwich at Arby's and I was trying to capture a little piece of my past. Well clearly, that ain't happening.
For my visit to Arby's I have to give them two Stiffy's. I would have given them only one, but this debacle today was just as much my fault as theirs.
Eat, drink and be merry!
Harry
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