Burrito Treatment

I get a call today from my wife, Sheila, who says that she is going to hang out with our nieces after work today. We decide to do our own thing for dinner since I knew I was going to have a bad commute home and she wasn't sure how the timing of her little hang out was going to work. Since I had the time and didn't want to sit in traffic, I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a couple of books. FYI, I'm a Barnes and Noble addict. I love to read and I like hanging out there and checking everything out. It's a little tough on my wallet. Afterwards, I head towards Tacoma.

I'm headed towards Fife on Pacific Highway (where there is still no working lights) and I'm hoping that I don't hit some deer in the almost pitch black of the road. I hadn't eaten yet and I'm still not sure what to do. Once I'm in Fife, I see Taco Del Mar and decide that I really need a much too large, but very tasty burrito. I go inside and there's this lady working and she says that it might be a couple of minutes. I say that it's ok and watch her burrito-making-magic powers at work. I keep thinking that any minute the other Taco Del Mar worker will come out from their smoke break and help me with my burrito construction and purchase (if you've been to a Taco Del Mar, you know the whole build it in front of you drill). Well, that doesn't happen because this lady is working alone. Ok, let's break this down. There was a dad and his daughter in front of me. Apparently the dad is ordering for his huge family at home because these people are ordering everything on the menu. There was already a family there eating (with two little kids) and a random guy eating by himself. The lady gets to me and helps me with my burrito. By that time everyone else has ordered, received the goods, paid and left... It's just me, the lady, and a burrito.

This lady was the nicest lady that may have ever sold food to me. I couldn't believe it; I was kind of freaked out. I thought that maybe Taco Del Mar had started a credit card and she would butter me up for the sale while enticing me with a 10% discount if I filled out the credit app now. Or she thought I had the gift of burrito making. Either way, I was suspicious. So I get my burrito, begin eating and am watching this lady clean up the joint. I'm kind of peeking over my shoulder just to make sure she's not sizing me up for the kill. Amazingly enough, she wasn't just then and we're chatting a little about work, fish tacos, etc. So I finish my burrito and kind of felt a moment of weirdness thinking about how crazy it is when we freak out when people are just really nice. I felt like something needed to be done. I tell Wendy (that's her name) that I was going to write about her tonight and that she should check this out. She said she didn't care if I wrote about her (which I took as a "yes, I grant you permission to write about my burrito-making skills"). I then said thanks again and wished her a good night. I think she said "Happy Holidays" and then this moving truck pulled up to the joint and she was off to make the next magical burrito (since I had violently killed mine in front of her).

That may have been almost the most memorable time for me at Taco Del Mar. The other memorable time I was in downtown Seattle with my buddy Brian. Before a night of rabble-rousing (I was single then), we decided what better way to start off the night than with a huge burrito (not a great idea before a long night of drinking and shaking the boote')? We go in, order a burrito and begin eating. During my dinner and fine conversation, a crackhead (we'll call him Crackie since he didn't introduce himself) comes in, walks up to us, takes my aluminum foil off my burrito basket, says "Hey man, I need to borrow this", smiles and busts out of the joint with my aluminum foil. I was so dismayed that I look at Brian with a "What the hell just happened?" look and with my naked burrito still in hand. I proceed to finish my burrito. Needless to say, Crackie didn't return the aluminum foil he borrowed from me. What the hell? What if I wanted to smoke some phat rocks? I would then have to steal from my brother Brian just to get my crack groove on. Do you see how the vicious cyle begins now? Ok, I'm getting sidetracked. The point is that the experience I had with Wendy helping me was the best moment that I've had at Taco Del Mar. Maybe not as crazy as my special time with Crackie, but much better overall. So, for better or for worse, you made it to Hilltopia Wendy.