Victory Is Mine!
Jun. 1st, 2005 02:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2I got dinner from Sunny Teriyaki today -- Teriyaki Chicken and Brocoli Beef. But as usual, this was also breakfast and lunch for me -- I don't generally eat anything before I go to work. And tonight, I was feeling kind of hungry around 9-10 pm, and for some unknown reason I began to crave a Dick's Deluxe hamburger.
No problem, I thought. They're open really really late, I can stop at the Crown Hill Dick's on the way home. Except tonight was by far our busiest night of the year -- Mondays are always busy, last days of the month are always busy, and Tuesdays after a three-day holiday weekend when it's end of the month are apparently ridiculously busy. In fact, Oak Harbor Freight, which is more of a direct competitor to us who we never ever work with, gave us some of their freight today. I guess they were too busy to handle it all.
(Oak Harbor is owned by a different branch of the same extended Vander Pol family that owns my company, but that's a different story.)
So I didn't get off work until after 1 am. The drive from Auburn to North Seattle is usually more than 40 minutes under the best circumstances. I wasn't exactly sure when Dick's closed -- 2 am from what I remembered, but it could have been 1:30 am or 2:30 am. I'm not normally in the habit of stopping there on the way home.
I figured if they were open until 2 am then I had a shot. If I could make the 85th street exit by 1:50 am, I could make it. So I drove up I-5 at as close to 70 mph as I could. 10 mph over the speed limit is usually my limit, I generally assume I can avoid getting pulled over if I hover just below 70 mph and slow down a little whenever I see a cop. That strategy has served me for many years now. ^_^
As I approached Seattle the clock kept inching forward... 1:40... 1:45... I realized that I would be close to 1:50 as I hit downtown Seattle. I guesstimated that I might make it to 85th by 1:52, which I did. I cruised down 85th and hit a red light at Aurora, and then a cop pulled onto 85th going my direction and I had to maintain a speed of no more than a few mph over 35. And we hit a red light at Greenwood... and the next light too.
By this point I figured I couldn't make it in time. My backup plan was to just hit the 24 hour QFC and find something else, but nothing sounded as good as a Dick's Deluxe.
I turned down one of the back streets that comes out near Dick's. As I pulled into their parking lot, I noted that it was empty, but there were still people inside. I saw one window that didn't have a sign covering it yet. I pulled up in front of it, walked up to the window, and noted on their overhead sign that they did indeed close at 2 am.
It was exactly 2 am. The guy behind the counter took my order, handed it to me, and immediately put up the "closed" sign. ^_^
Yum! Sometimes things work out just right, you know?
No problem, I thought. They're open really really late, I can stop at the Crown Hill Dick's on the way home. Except tonight was by far our busiest night of the year -- Mondays are always busy, last days of the month are always busy, and Tuesdays after a three-day holiday weekend when it's end of the month are apparently ridiculously busy. In fact, Oak Harbor Freight, which is more of a direct competitor to us who we never ever work with, gave us some of their freight today. I guess they were too busy to handle it all.
(Oak Harbor is owned by a different branch of the same extended Vander Pol family that owns my company, but that's a different story.)
So I didn't get off work until after 1 am. The drive from Auburn to North Seattle is usually more than 40 minutes under the best circumstances. I wasn't exactly sure when Dick's closed -- 2 am from what I remembered, but it could have been 1:30 am or 2:30 am. I'm not normally in the habit of stopping there on the way home.
I figured if they were open until 2 am then I had a shot. If I could make the 85th street exit by 1:50 am, I could make it. So I drove up I-5 at as close to 70 mph as I could. 10 mph over the speed limit is usually my limit, I generally assume I can avoid getting pulled over if I hover just below 70 mph and slow down a little whenever I see a cop. That strategy has served me for many years now. ^_^
As I approached Seattle the clock kept inching forward... 1:40... 1:45... I realized that I would be close to 1:50 as I hit downtown Seattle. I guesstimated that I might make it to 85th by 1:52, which I did. I cruised down 85th and hit a red light at Aurora, and then a cop pulled onto 85th going my direction and I had to maintain a speed of no more than a few mph over 35. And we hit a red light at Greenwood... and the next light too.
By this point I figured I couldn't make it in time. My backup plan was to just hit the 24 hour QFC and find something else, but nothing sounded as good as a Dick's Deluxe.
I turned down one of the back streets that comes out near Dick's. As I pulled into their parking lot, I noted that it was empty, but there were still people inside. I saw one window that didn't have a sign covering it yet. I pulled up in front of it, walked up to the window, and noted on their overhead sign that they did indeed close at 2 am.
It was exactly 2 am. The guy behind the counter took my order, handed it to me, and immediately put up the "closed" sign. ^_^
Yum! Sometimes things work out just right, you know?
