Observations at a KCF
BY RON J. POLIDORO

February 13, 2003 AUGUSTA,ME--Sitting here after a eating a fine selection of poultry from the diverse menu here at the Kentucky Fried Chicken, I have some time to kill as lunch is usually an hour. So, I start to do some people watching, which is one of my great pleasures in life.

As I sit here at my table, it’s going on 12:15pm and the restaurant has a few people in it. The lunch crowd has yet to arrive. With the passing of time, more people file in with the look of anticipation on their faces. Hunger, I assume, is occupying their thoughts as they walk through the outer doors and then the inner doors where the scent of the “buffet” hits their nose.

Have you ever noticed that some people walk in and go over to the buffet and look it over as though they were buying a car. What could they be looking for? Did they forget what restaurant they walked into? Kentucky Fried Chicken!!! Hello!! What did they think was going to be there, prime rib?

In walks a young man that looks disinterested in what might be here. I observe him walk through the establishment and to a door that’s marked “Employees Only.” Just as I thought. Ah, there he is restoring the assorted foods that have been consumed by the hungry patrons. Why is it that the men who work replacing food during the day at the KFC have letters tattooed on their fingers? Hmmm.

Now walks in an upper middle aged woman with an eight or nine year old girl. Seems like she is her niece or grand-daughter from what I could hear of their conversation. My first thought is, “Why isn’t this girl in school?” The little one says with excitement, “I’m going to find a place for us to sit!” The older woman say “Okay, you do that.” And she goes ahead and places her order while her young companion runs and puts her coat on the back of a chair of the small counter seat right by the door.

Well, as a spectator of the human race, I know immediately what the woman is going to say even before she gets to the location that the young girl picked out. As she carries the tray walking and talking to the girl who has rejoined her by now she says, “Did you find a spot for us to eat?” And as the girl escorts her, proudly, to the spot she picked out, the woman utters the words I knew she would say as though I has implanted them in her head. “Oh we don’t want to sit there! Let’s find another spot to sit.” Well why the heck did you tell her to find a spot to sit if you didn’t intend to sit there!!! Next time keep her with you and find a place that you want to sit and spare her the disappointment of your rejection.

As I look around, there are quite a few aged people here today. At what point in our aging process do we lose the ability to use our necks? I’ve noticed that many senior citizens, when looking around, turn their shoulders instead of their heads. Just an observation.

Well, it’s time to get back to work now. I know that I’ve only scratched the surface of the many everyday, yet strange, occurrences that happen here at the KFC in Augusta, Maine. But what would the world be without people to stare at and comment upon.

Hey, I wonder why that guy is staring at me!