Chik-fil-a

[a telephone dialogue between my mom and sister.]

Mom: Yeah, I just picked up some chik-fil-a.
Rachel: Wait, are you in Murfreesboro?
Mom: No, I didn’t tell you? We got one in Shelbyville.
Rachel: No way! That’s huge…for Shelbyville!
Mom: Well it’s not a real chik-fil-a. They just put one in to test and see if we can handle having a real chik-fil-a.
Rachel: That doesn’t make any sense. If you were going to build a Chik-fil-a building, wouldn’t it be a lot more cost efficient to go ahead and build a real Chik-fil-a, as opposed to a “Test” one.
Mom: Well, that’s the thing. It’s a trailer.
Rachel: WHAT!?!?!
Mom: Yeah, they just put a Chik-fil-a trailer in the parking lot next to the realty place on Main Street.
Rachel: REALLY?!
Mom: yeah, you have to drive up to it. And take the food home.
Rachel: This is too much.
Mom: Oh, and you can only order like 3 different items, cause it’s a “test” Chik-fil-a, so they don’t have everything the real one does.
Rachel: Are you kidding me?
Mom: And if you order drinks, they have to go in the building next door to get them. It’s gotten pretty popular. They have a lot of business.

While I was home, I requested that we eat there as a family. We piled in the car and headed towards the trailer on Main Street.

Let's just say – everything about this experience was completely fulfilling.

As we drove into the empty parking lot, I saw that the trailer is utterly covered in cow prints. It looked surprisingly well-done... for a Chik-fil-a trailer. Aside from the fact that it's on wheels, these people gave 100% on the exterior decorating.

A girl with a notepad/pen stopped us 10 ft in front of the trailer window. She handed us a sheet of paper that lists the few things this chik-fil-a offers. We tell her our order, and she immediately pulled a walkie talkie out of her pocket, repeated exactly what we had just said, and told us to "drive up to the window".

We drove up to the trailer window. It's at this point that I saw that the window is made of clear plastic tarp, the kind that has Velcro around the edges. So to give us the food, the girl un-velcroed the "window", and handed us our food through the hole that has been created. The next thing I know, our drinks appeared from the building next door. This place was a machine. We headed out on our merry way.

By the time we left Chik-fil-a, at least 5 cars were in line behind us. Talk about beating the rush.

This is the town I've grown up in. I have a lot of pride when it comes to these absurdities. Shelbyville, TN… home of the Walking Horse National Celebration, the Pencil Capitol of the World (let me know if you ever need any), and Chik-fil-a in a trailer.

[see photos]