Late Night Dining

Saturday night, I went to Auburn's first football game of the season in Auburn. Auburn is about two hours from Birmingham, and the game didn't kick off until 6:45, so it was a late night drive back. A little after ten at night, a friend and I decided to stop for food. (They don't take credit cards at the concession stands, and there were no ATMs inside the stadium. Most people probably expect this - I didn't. I spent most of the second half very hungry.) I also didn't want anything fried, so we decided to give the Subway in Alexander City a try. As we walked up, a Subway worker was standing behind the locked door. We assumed that the Subway was closed, since most of them don't stay open very late, but then we saw that the sign actually said that the store was open until midnight. And, as we got closer, she eventually unlocked the door and invited us in. (After this kind of lead-in, we should have known that things were going to be weird.) The moment we stepped through the door, the girl working at Subway started to tell us her saga, "Oh God y'all. Ok, y'all don't look creepy. Come on in. I'm only 16, and they left me up here all alone for the night. I was getting so scared. My imagination was running wild. I was gonna get my Momma to come up here, but she has to work too, so instead I just decided to put my two day notice in. I've been baking bread all night and hiding in the back because I did not want to be here by myself..." After explaining herself (which I completely understood, but I was still very, very hungry), she did actually allow us to place an order, but we could only have turkey or ham. She didn't have enough chicken or much cheese. (And, as another little note, I don't really think she knew how to bake bread because most of my sandwich was kind of mushy.) While she made our sandwiches, she went on to tell us how much she hated Subway and about all of the other places she might want to find a job. As we got to the check out, she told us that the drink machine was broken too, so all there was was flavored water. (I really don't like flavored water.) And, as I finally tried to pay her, thinking I would charge both meals to my card since this was not the time to ask for separate checks, she told me we could just go ahead and take everything "on the house" since she couldn't figure out the register either. (Note to Subway: broken drink machine, difficult register, lack of supplies - this might be why people don't leave sixteen year olds alone to run a store. And, yes, I think the personal safety aspect is fairly compelling as well.) Now, I love free stuff, and the free sandwiches certainly made up for the time delay and lack of decent drinks, but I still felt bad taking stuff from a disgruntled adolescent fast food worker who was terrified of being robbed. I asked if she was sure about this decision about three times before we left. (Also, a couple of her friends had arrived by then, so I felt better that she wasn't alone anymore.) But, it seems my dining companion didn't have any of the same concerns. When we got back to the car, I noticed he had grabbed chips, too. "What?" he said. "If it's on the house, isn't it all on the house?"