Flashback or Nostalgia
I had yet another of my endless supply of dentist visits today. Actually, technically I didn’t see the dentist today; I only saw the hygienist. She’s nice, too, though, so it was tolerable. Actually, after yesterday’s visit (fix broken tooth and replace crappy old filling), today’s was practically a walk in the park. Well, not a real park. Actually, there was pain. But I lived to tell the tale (using the word “actually” far too often).
But who cares about that. The important thing was that I stopped for lunch on the way back to the office. There are three Subway restaurants between my dentist and my office. I chose to go with the first one, the one in my town’s “quaint” downtown. Downtown is so quaint that the sign isn’t in green and yellow, it’s in gold and brown. Classy.
After the very helpful sandwich man helped me through my indecisiveness, I decided to go with a 6″ turkey on hearty Italian. I prefer the hearty Italian, probably because it’s a bit crustier. I like crusty bread. Really, though, before they had the options, I still liked Subway bread. Fresh bread is awesome even if it’s boring old white.
After I paid for my meal-deal (complete with baked lays and my famous mix of Sprite, Fanta, and pink lemonade), I chose a seat in the booth by the window. I was unfolding my paper wrapping when a pile of moms and kids poured through the door. There were three moms, two daughters, and two sons. I’m not sure even they knew who belonged to whom.
Three of the kids were more or less the same age – walking, talking humans who haven’t quite figured out how to take care of themselves yet. Also known as preschool. They were relatively well-behaved, with the worst of it being one of the girls who said only, “I want a cheese sandwich.”
Somehow, all their food got ordered, and the kids selected a table. After some concerned statements involving the location of one girl’s chips, they settled in to eat. Little miss “I want a cheese sandwich” politely waited for her mom to open up the wrapper. She was not excited by what she saw. In a much smaller voice than she’d previously been using she whimpered, “I don’t like the white kind.”
Her mom did her best to convince her that white American cheese tastes just the same as yellow, but I think everyone in the restaurant could tell she wasn’t buying it. Eventually, her mom placated her when she opened the other paper package, which contained a handful each of pickles and olives. “Yay! Olives!” She went on to eat the sandwich and her snacks without noticing a thing being wrong.
All of this sent me flying back to my youth. My parents often took us to Subway for meals. It was easy, it was cheap, and it was more-or-less healthy (depending on the number of slices of cheese). I went through phases as I grew up. For a while, I was all about tuna (with American cheese, tomato, and just a little bit of lettuce – which I always picked off anyway). Later, I discovered meatball subs (with provolone cheese and extra green peppers). That led me through to High School, where I got sick of them after eating them during every evening shift I had working at Hallmark. After being thoroughly sick of their meatballs, I picked up my current taste for the turkey (with or without provolone cheese, depending on the mood, and with nearly every vegetable they have, except only a little bit of lettuce – which I still pick off).
My sister, however, always wanted only one thing: a cheese sandwich with pickles on the side. Everyone in my family can accurately reproduce my sister’s voice saying “on the side.” It probably drove her nuts. She doesn’t say that anymore. Actually, I doubt that she goes to Subway now, though I’ve got no evidence to back up that theory.
So, as I watched this young girl eat her pickles and “veggie delight hold the veggies,” I thought back to days in our Subway, in the strip mall down from the Hallmark store, eating our sandwiches of choice. I think I’ll go with flashback.
i always order the same thing ALWAYS, ever since i can remember. we used to stop at a subway on the corner by the fishers island ferry if we had time to grab dinner before boarding. my parents averted ordering and whining disasters by just ordering three of the same exact sandwich. italian bmt. and that is what i eat to this day. i used to be able to order it with all the veggies except hots, but now they’ve added cucumbers and mushrooms to the mix so i have to say each vegetable outloud and i’m always sure to add “extra pickles.” that last bit is VERY important! oh, and now i get it toasted on honey oat, since it’s offered. but yeah, i’m boring. sometimes, like last night, i ventured to look at the menu, and fred was in awe because i never do, just order the same old thing, every time. in the end, i disappointed and amused, as i ordered old faithful, again. why mess with what you love?
I did try reading the menu yesterday. I read everything there was! But I couldn’t give up on my plain old boring turkey. I didn’t get hots yesterday, though, because I wasn’t feeling the full stomach love. I adore hot peppers, especially the pickled ones, but I always take a stomach inventory before eating them. Yesterday was not a good day for pickled banana peppers.
Now I’m thinking about hot peppers! I wonder if they’ll have some in the salad bar at lunch…
Subway… *twitch*
So many idiot customers. Not you. But genuine idiots. Ones that would ask me to “make it like in the picture” or would ask what the difference between a six-inch and a footlong was or would ask what types of bread we have. While standing in front of the bread display.
And that sickly yeasty smell that NEVER washed out of my shirts.
Eeuurrrrgggghh.
Even now, I only set foot in a Subway under cases of extreme desperation. Or if I really REALLY want a gardenburger. Both rare.
For what it’s worth, my personal favorite is gardenburger (chicken breast, if you’re not quite that daring), provolone, southwest sauce and mayo, all the veg (especially onions, pickles and hots) on parmesan & oregano.
I totally forgot that you lived with that hell for so long!
I did have a brief gardenburger phase, when I thought I’d try being a vegetarian. I kind of forgot about that. I often try to forget about the horrible things I did to my health when I thought I was a vegetarian, but was actually malnourished.
I’ve never eaten at a subway, ever.