Diablo sauce in What's Happening

My friend invited me over to his house last night for pizza and drinks. He said that his fiancé was having her friend over and that I could join. I actually thought this was a good idea because I’m the best man in his upcoming wedding and the girl that was coming over was the maid of honor. I’ve been wanting for all of us to get in touch just so we are all on the same page with the wedding stuff.

A couple hours later he messaged me and said “My fiancé isn’t in the mood for a lot company tonight, maybe we should postpone.”

Obviously at some point my friend said, “I invited Chaz over tonight” and his fiancé did not approve. Honestly I don’t care. I didn’t even want to go there anyway.

The most disturbing thing about the situation to me is that at one point his fiancé said she didn’t want me there and instead of saying “Too bad I already invited him”, he decided that he would just uninvite me. That’s what he does. He responds to her demands like a well trained dog.

I did consider that maybe she just wasn’t feeling well and called the whole thing off, but she posted pictures of them hanging out on her Instagram story.

It doesn’t bother me in a way that I feel left out. I just value my time and I think it’s disrespectful for my schedule to have to be at the mercy of how someone else is feeling at a particular moment. If this wasn’t a close friend of mine I would never communicate with this person again.

I wish there was a civil way that I could convey the message: I didn’t even want to fucking come over to begin with. I reluctantly accepted the invite to be nice and I thought it would be beneficial to the wedding that YOU’RE about to have. The wedding that I really don’t give a fuck about.

Anyway, the situation sounds worse than it actually was now that it’s written down. In reality I was slightly relieved when he told me he didn’t want me to come over. I planned an impromptu Taco Night, with all my favorite people: ME!

I was heading to the store to pick up some taco ingredients, but last second I decided to just go to Taco Bell. I haven’t been there in so long. I was really craving their Diablo sauce.

I pulled up to the window to pay. The cashier was friendly.

“If you go to the website and do the survey on the back of the receipt it really helps us out”, He said.

Hearing companies beg you to fill out their surveys has become white noise to me. It’s pathetic to me that they would ask me to fill out paperwork on a 1$ taco I just ate.

I nearly cut him off at the end of his sentence:

“Do I get the Diablo sauce at this window or the next? I said.

”The next window.” He replied.

For some reason they sometimes hand the sauce out at the first window before you receive your order.

”Happy holidays!” He said right before I left.

That’s a nice young man, I thought to myself with my mental impersonation of a grandma.

As I was getting ready to pull out of the drive-thru I caught a quick glance at the receipt laying in my console. I had a brief flashback of paying for my order. My brain replayed the cashier’s phrase, “If you go to the website and do the survey on the back of the receipt it will really help us out”

Really help us out?, I thought.

My brain continued to ponder what that even meant. Was this guy building a career at Taco Bell? Would he get a 10 cent bump in pay if he got enough good reviews?

For most of the 5 minute ride home I thought about the different ways Taco Bell could possibly compensate this worker for his positive feedback. What could they possibly be doing that would incentivize this guy to be so friendly and do a good job.

By the time I got home a realization entered my head. I don’t know if it happened organically or if my arrival home was a cue that I’ve been thinking about this long enough. None the less, by the time I walked in the door I decided:

It doesn’t fucking matter!

Why am I trying to determine whether or not this guys good work ethic is justified or not? Who the fuck am I?

For this young kid his goal of excelling at Taco Bell is just as important as the goals I set at my job - or anyone else for that matter. It’s so easy to lose touch with reality as you get older.

I grabbed the receipt and filled out the survey.