Weird Moment of the Day

The strangest thing just happened to me... On my lunch break, I decided I wanted to get a Jamocha shake from Arby's (my current guilty obsession). I walked through the door, passing a man who was coming out. As we passed, a seaman's type of bell (loud, like something you'd find on the docks) started clanging, and all the staff started shouting (at the top of their lungs and not in unison), "Thank you for visiting Arby's! Have a super day! Thank you for visiting Arby!"

I tentatively walked up to the counter and ordered my shake. The manager, a trashy bleached blond woman with bad blue eyeshadow, handed it to me with an oh-too-cheerful, "Thank you for choosing Arby's!" I wanted to be like, "Dude. It's a milkshake. You were across the street. It wasn't a conscious decision..."

As I turned, the rest of the staff chimed in, shouting at different intervals, "Thank you for choosing Arby's! Thank you for choosing Arby's! etc." Really weird.

I discovered the source of the bell as I approached the door to leave. There it hung in all of its brass glory above a metal plate reading, "Ring if you were pleased with your service."

'What the Hell," I thought. I rang the bell (deja vu, Belmar... ;-) ) and walked out to the sound of resonant clanging and "Thank you for choosing Arby's... thank you for choosing Arby's... thank you for choosing Arby's!"

Who says chain restaurants can't hold mystique?