• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Awkward List

Awkward List

Awkward moments and more weird stuff

  • About
  • Best Of
  • Awkward Moments

carl's jr

21. First dates

May 4, 2011 by Edwin C. 9 Comments

Do you remember yours? You had a horse drawn carriage pick you up, and take you to an expensive restaurant. Nobody was under/over dressed, there were no awkward silences, the food on the Italian restaurant menu was easy to pronounce. . . Perfection.

Lucky you.

It was the second week of college, and I had gotten my first number, but still struggled on how to ask out a woman. A friend of mine offered me tickets to a “concert”. She mentioned that it was going to be hip hop, cool people, and her boyfriend was going to perform.

“Oh, sure. How much?”

“Ten dollars.”

I got the pair of tickets and called Amy that same night. She said yes, and we set the time for me to go pick her up and head over the following week. There was a California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) nearby, and the plan was to hit both places that night. I was excited, but scared at the same time for not knowing what this whole thing was going to be about. After discussing it with my roommate, I decided that there was nothing to be fearful about and that I was just going to wing it to have a good time.

The day had finally arrived and we headed over to the center of L.A. My first sign of trouble was the traffic, which wasn’t supposed to take place for another two hours. That usually means one of two things: an accident, or construction on the roads. I wasn’t panicking –there was no need to. The need for panic was coming up later that night.

We arrived at CPK, only to find a large yellow tape across the front door. It apparently had a recent problem and was forced to close for the day. Still not panicking, I looked over at Amy and she smiled and suggested we go elsewhere, and pointed across the street. Oh, Carl’s Jr. Well, at least she didn’t mind cheap food. I admitted feeling a little embarrassed that I took her to eat burgers at a fast food place, but she made me feel a little better by telling me that it was her first time at one of them.

The failure didn’t end there. As we arrived at the address listed on the tickets, we found ourselves in front of a bar. After having our hands marked with HUGE X’s they let us in. We followed a girl with big hoop earrings through the bar and into .. the backyard!?

Oh no. Trash cans on fire, five or six people maximum out there, and a large speaker in the front of what they called a “stage”. People attempting to rap were taking over, and that’s when I realized that I was in some type of underground rapping joint and that I needed to get out of there to stop myself from being less embarrassed. Amy felt uncomfortable, and so did I. We agreed to leave the place after about half an hour and then headed back to campus. She went to her dorm room, and that was that.

Many things have changed since then. I still wing it sometimes because the improvisation makes it really fun and interesting, but I always try to be prepared. Looking up traffic conditions, making sure eateries are operational, and I have a super secret backup idea just in case all else fails.

Three years later, Amy and I bumped into each other on campus. We agreed that our date had been awkward. She pointed out that she didn’t know what to say, that she was overdressed for the occasion, and that she had trouble understanding what the people were rapping about.

Filed Under: Awkward Moments Tagged With: awkward, carl's jr, date, events, fashion, food, funny, humor, relationships, restaurant, rules

Special Weekend Post #1: Wrong order!

April 16, 2011 by Edwin C. 2 Comments

Now, recently a topic that has come up in an awesome (or “ahhsome”) blog I’ve been following, Ahhsome Blog has been food! Or at least, that’s what stands out the most because I’m always hungry.

Why is this relevant? Well, I just left a very awkward situation at Carl’s Jr. For those of you who are wondering

“Who is Carl Jr.?”

You need a short explanation: Here in California, we have several awesome places that are pretty common around here. I lived in Colorado for a summer, and I was surprised that nobody knew what Jack in the Box was. All of these are burger places, one of the most famous ones around here is In-N-Out. One of my Texas friends decided to live in California for two reasons: the beach and In-N-Out. Carl’s Jr. is just another one of those places.

I was driving back home with my mom and dad from a nearby bookstore, and decided to stop for a late dinner at Carl’s Jr. From the window, my mom decided to order some enchiladas from the “Green Burrito” part of Carl’s Jr (yeah, there’s hybrid fast-food places here). I wanted to try the new turkey burgers, and my dad ordered a spicy chicken sandwich and a salad. Not a big order.

We paid for our food and we saw two number sign things waiting for us on the counter. Numbers 64 and 80. We took them and sat down. After about a minute, a woman brings two trays of food toward us and we began to reach for the fries when I realized that the salad wasn’t there. I looked for my burger and it was absent. But one thing I completely overlooked was that..

The order was huge.

We had:

  • Two orders of chicken tenders
  • Criss-cut fries
  • Onion rings
  • Big hamburger
  • A six dollar burger
  • Large fries
  • Small fries
  • Chili cheese fries
Of course, we were like ‘huh?’ And as we looked around, we spotted a family looking at us. One table away from us. They were sitting there quietly, glaring. Their food was in front of us. And we couldn’t eat it. It was torture. I tried looking away from the food. A ton of questions ran through my mind at that moment. Eventually I just got up and told the woman at the counter that they got our order wrong. The other family had asked for another order of the same thing.
We got what we actually ordered and set aside the other ones as we felt the stares from the other table. They were still waiting for their food. And in the meantime it was sitting in front of other people. Their food in front of us. While we were eating other things. They must have been angry.
The whole time were just sitting there, finishing our smaller order and soon it was time to face the fact. We had their food in front of us and they still hadn’t gotten their food.
Uh.. thats a lot of food for the three of us.
Many solutions were suggested:
“Let’s tell them that we haven’t touched it and take it to them.”
“No, let’s  just ask for a bag and take it to go.”
“Are you crazy? Let’s just dig in!”
“Let’s do the right thing and give it back to the restaurant. Even if they’re gonna –oh wait, they’re going to throw it away.”
We thought of all these things while the other people just sat there. Waiting. In the end, we asked the employees what we should do, and they gave us a bag and apologized for messing up. We walked away with the hungry family’s food in a bag. As they stared at us.
What would have done?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: awkward, carl's jr, eye contact, food, free, funny, order, restaurant, story, wrong

Primary Sidebar

Top Posts & Pages

  • #15 When food falls before reaching your mouth
    #15 When food falls before reaching your mouth
  • 56. Wishing a happy birthday on the wrong day
    56. Wishing a happy birthday on the wrong day
  • #14 Pooping at a friend's house
    #14 Pooping at a friend's house
  • 29. When someone tells you that they miss you (and you don't miss them back)
    29. When someone tells you that they miss you (and you don't miss them back)
  • 45. Getting a call while sitting on the toilet
    45. Getting a call while sitting on the toilet
  • 64. Finding out that you were on speakerphone
    64. Finding out that you were on speakerphone

Copyright © 2022 · Awkwardlist.com

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • About Me
  • Terms and Conditions