“One Chicken Short of a Bucket”

Dear Reader:

You might remember Monday my stomach was doing circus acts …flipping, flopping, and flapping all day. I needed something in it…but something soft and easy to digest.

Then I remembered the Chick Fil-A advertisement for their new mac and cheese entree….I hadn’t been there in months but some sweet tea and a bowl of mac and cheese seemed to be a good option.

I had forgotten how organized this franchise is…the workers directing traffic, taking the orders, telling you which car to follow, etc. were in ‘military precision.’ In fact I told my mobile waiter/cashier by my car…that their company should write Biden and suggest (that by the next election) the election committee use Chick-fil-A employees to count votes. They are unbelievably organized!

As I was waiting to circle the building…I noticed that a bird nest had gone up in the hole in the bottom of the “F” letter and a little bird had flown in with some food to share. So sweet.

It was while I was circling Chick-fil-A that I remembered Ann Graves had recently recalled one of her favorite funny anecdotes from an earlier blog post.  Something that I had witnessed several years ago while circling Kentucky Fried Chicken. I started chuckling in recollection. Here goes.

It was sprinkling one day as I circled Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up some cole slaw for a family gathering that afternoon. The lady in the car in front of me had her windows down and I could hear her screaming before I even saw her….while I finished circling the lot to get in line to place my order.

Obviously she was somewhat inebriated (to be kind)…she had mistakenly braked in front of a large trash can disposal that was a few feet before the ordering stop.

Thinking she was ordering her food there…(she was holding the swinging slit open with one hand and yelling inside the trash can) I heard her loudly complaining “What’s going on in here…are y’all closed…I don’t see no lights on…for the third time I said I wanted two big buckets of chicken and some sweet tea.

When still no one answered …she began beeping as loudly as she could and screamed “Well…keep your damn chicken…I don’t want nuttin’ from this here place anyways… it’s dark and stinks to high heaven!” With that she slammed on the accelerator and screeched by the ordering station and receiving window.

I placed my order and when I got to the window…a young boy was shaking his head and asked me about the lady in front of me that just flew by with her middle finger extended at him.

When I told him what had happened…he was doubled over with laughter and called his manager to come hear the story again. The elderly manager finally caught his breath and said,”All I can say is… “That lady was one chicken short of a bucket.” 

Don’t we love living in the South…wouldn’t want to live anywhere else!

So until tomorrow…Reach out emotionally to friends through calls, texts and emails…just talking through situations and finding humor amid uncertainty brings us strength for another day. Togetherness is everything.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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