Monday, May 15, 2023
Alexander isn’t a big going-to-the-movie-theater guy, but he does go for MCU movies, so we coordinate so we can all go together. We met at the Woodbury 10 today for the 4:30 showing of Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Alexander and I went in to get the food order happening while Keith was buying tickets. Alexander is known for not eating much (or anything) for lunch, so when he gets home, he is hungry for dinner. Keith likes a movie theater hot dog – perhaps because hot dogs do not really happen at home (maybe because he eats them at the movie theater). Anyway, I had lunch at 10am and thought I would join the men in a hot dog instead of just having popcorn.
I guess I started the interaction with the verrrry young person behind the counter wrong, because I posed my request as a question. “Could I get 7 hot dogs, a refill popcorn, and a diet Mt. Dew.”
He looked at me and said, “No.”
I looked at him and said, “Please.”
He looked at another verrrrry young employee and said, “Do we have 7 hot dogs?” The other kid said he didn’t think so.
I tried to be helpful, “Can you make them?”
There were now three verrrrry young employees conferring. Could they make them? They didn’t think so. Maybe. Probably not. One of them called out to someone behind the scenes, “Can we make 7 hot dogs?”
The unknown male voice responded, “Why?”
Why? Why? Why would you ask why?
The young employees looked so confused and no one answered. I jumped to the rescue and called out, “Because I want to eat them.”
One of the young ‘uns echoed, “She wants to eat them.” That seems scandalous somehow. I was going to order and then eat the hot dogs. I wasn’t alone. There were two of us and one of us was a man. Seven seemed like quite a few for two of us, but not outside the realm of possibility. The backroom guy came out. He came to me and looked me in the eye, “You want 7 hot dogs?” Part of me wanted to burst out laughing and part of me felt persecuted. “We don’t have 7 hot dogs.”
That actually made sense to me. This is a small theater that probably doesn’t sell a lot of hot dogs and having 7 ready at 4:15 on a Monday afternoon is likely not to fit their expected sales. I asked, “Can you make 7 hot dogs?” I know they have a roller out of sight that I presume holds lots of hot dogs, and they also have a microwave. We have been offered microwaved dogs in the past. The unknown was: did they have 7 hot dogs and buns.
“It will take 45 minutes. Or an hour. Probably an hour.” Apparently, the raw materials were present (Raw! Ha!)
I did not feel he wanted me to buy hot dogs, but I persevered. “What if you microwave them?”
“Do you want me to microwave them?”
“I would be fine with you microwaving them.”
“I guess I could.” (I really wasn’t feeling he was interested in making us dinner.)
“Thank you. That would be great.”
I paid $28.75 for my hot dogs, refillable popcorn tub, and Mt. Dew. I did not mind at all, because I like to spend money at the Woodbury 10. I really value it as an asset in our town and want to patronize it as much as possible. I have to be honest – if I had been at a big-company owned theater, I would not be spending that much on hot dogs and popcorn. We waited a bit and our dogs appeared. Alexander sprinkled popcorn seasoning on a little of one of his, just in case it was a heretofore undiscovered flavor sensation. It was not.
We enjoyed the movie. Alexander thought it was “eh”, because Alexander almost always thinks a movie is “eh”. We were walking out and he said, “Live band karaoke this weekend. We’re going.” I think I have mentioned that Alexander and his friends follow a band around to go to their karaoke nights. I asked where it would be this time – since it has been at a couple different venues. He said, “Back at that cool place I sent you a picture of before. The Granada Theater.”
THE GRENADA THEATER! The place we Open Door-ed on Saturday that I liked so much. He had indeed sent me a picture a few months back saying the venue and karaoke-ing was great. I did not put them together. The thing is that when Keith and I and the young woman whose contact information I did not get were chatting, and I wanted to have a party there, I suggested we throw a party for Alexander’s upcoming birthday. Then I suggested we hire the live band karaoke band and not tell Alexander, just get the group to plan to go, and then we would all be there for a surprise party. Coincidence? I think not. Destiny!
Alexander said that was a great story. Please don’t do that. Of course, he would, and of course, we wouldn’t, but it was so fun to think of. I like the Granada Theater a lot. Maybe I will go to Live Band Karaoke there.