The Clearing

Yesterday, circumstances led me to a very early dinner. The natural choice was 'Pita Pit' where, as is a common custom at fast food joints in these parts, after having paid for 10 meals I was entitled to a free one. Since, despite having being in this country for a while, I tend to follow meal timings from back home, I usually find the place fairly deserted whenever I go there, and always wonder how they've managed to stay afloat--that it's a front for a drug dealer is one of my favorite chuckle-inducing theories.

So here I was standing for once in a really long snaking line waiting for my usual falafel pita and not loving it! Partly because had lots of time to think about Jeeves' claim that the food here always gave him tummy issues and watching--in a totally unrelated way--the 'healthy' amount of sweat almost dripping off the guy at the grill--obviously, the air conditioning was down. After about a half-hour when I finally reached the counter I discovered that the guy who was about to make my pita was sporting a very noticeable booger in his left nostril. Obviously, I wanted him to do something about it. As I was considering various different phrasings in my head, to my obvious relief, the guy for some reason switched places with another guy. As this new guy was making my pita I suggested he nudge his coworker into a more hygienic state. This guy's initial reaction after giving the coworker a brief sideways glance was a flat-out denial--"no, he doesn't!" was his very emphatic response. When I persisted he did finally convey the observation. The offending party's reaction was to make a very half-hearted ultimately unsuccessful effort at wiping it off on the back of his gloved hands. I left the place with mixed feelings (or alternately I high-tailed it out of there) and tried to keep my mind very blank as I swallowed down my meal. Later as I listened to a cute couple at Webster's sing some at times very pleasing folk music I pondered if a free meal was really worth this kind of stress...