{"id":34946,"date":"2011-05-06T23:16:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-07T03:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/34946\/man-wanted-bowl-why\/"},"modified":"2011-05-06T23:16:07","modified_gmt":"2011-05-07T03:16:07","slug":"man-wanted-bowl-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/34946\/man-wanted-bowl-why\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who Wanted a Bowl… but why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cUmm.. Excuse me\u2026 Could I get a couple of those bowls you guys have?\u00a0 Y\u2019know, those shallow, black ones?\u201d I heard someone asking around the corner up at the counter while I sat in the dining area of Jack In The Box last night.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWHAT ARE YOU USING THEM FOR?!?\u201d<\/strong><\/span> retorted the manager lady in a undetermined ethnic accent but with that decided overtone of customer disservice.\u00a0 I recognized that tone.\u00a0 It accompanies an attitude of anyone who is forced to work with the general public and normally maintain a friendly attitude, but are faced with someone whom he or she knows isn\u2019t going to get squat. <\/span> \u201cWHY YOU WANT THESE BOWLS?!?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Seemed like a reasonable question, even if the hostility was a bit unexpected.\u00a0 Apparently, there might have been some history here, and I was intrigued. I listened more intently.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUmm\u2026 to eat with.\u00a0 Cereal,\u201d the questioner responded meekly, almost pitifully.
\n<\/span>
\n\u201cWHY YOU HAVE NO BOWLS AT YOUR HOUSE?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2026I just moved here.\u00a0 I\u2019ll pay for the bowls.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNO! I TOLD YOU LAST TIME YOU CAME IN HERE TO ASK,\u201d<\/strong> Aha, there was some history here, \u201cWE CAN\u2019T GIVE YOU THE BOWLS.\u00a0 I GAVE YOU AND YOUR FRIEND THEM THAT ONE TIME TO BE NICE, BUT NO MORE!<\/strong>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you charge me for them?\u201d\u00a0 Man, this guy really wanted these Jack In The Box bowls!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNO!\u00a0 THERE IS NO BUTTON ON THE REGISTER TO JUST CHARGE FOR A BOWL BY ISSELF, SO YOU SEE, NO WAY TO CHARGE YOU FOR BOWL!\u201d <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, well, umm\u2026 what do I need to buy to get the bowl?\u201d<\/span>
\n
\n\u201cNOTHING!\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cOh, great, so I can have the bowl then.\u201d This was getting surreal, like a weird Highway 99 version of a Monty Python sketch.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNO!!!\u201d<\/strong> the hardnosed manager lady was now responding with three exclamation points.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, I mean,\u201d the young man continued, \u201cwhat kind of food item do I need to buy that will come in that bowl?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCHICKEN TERRIYAKI BOWL IS $4.99, SO NO, YOU NOT GETTING A BOWL!.<\/strong>\u201d Apparently, the manager lady had already determined that the five dollar food item was beyond the man\u2019s means.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh.\u00a0 You don\u2019t suppose I could buy just like a Chicken Sandwich or something and you guys could give it to me in the bowl?\u201d\u00a0 I bust out laughing from around the corner on hearing this.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNO!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At this, the bowl seeker gave up and left the restaurant. I saw him walking away on foot as I finished up my All-American Combo Meal (which also doesn\u2019t come with a bowl).\u00a0 He was young, long-haired and on foot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On my way out, I stopped at the front counter, and when the smiling cashier girl asked me what else I would like, I couldn’t resist… \u201cDo you suppose I could a couple of those shallow, black bowls you guys use?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBwah!\u201d the young lady was shocked, \u201cNo, sir we charge for those!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hard-nosed manager lady came barreling out from the food prep area, with a scowl on her face, determined to thwart yet another free-bowler.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just kidding,\u201d I smiled, dropping the fa\u00e7ade immediately, but since it was already pretty late and there were no other customers in the place, I chatted with the two Jack In The Box employees about the encounter I had just overheard, inquiring if they had any idea why this guy was so obsessed with getting his hands on these bowls.\u00a0 Surely, the cereal story was just a cover.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They complained that this guy has been a problem in the restaurant.\u00a0 He\u2019d come in, get a $1 burger, and sit in the dining area for hours.\u00a0 As we had heard, this wasn\u2019t the first time he\u2019s asked for free bowls.\u00a0 The manager explained that one evening, after the man had occupied one of the booths for quite some time, on cleaning the place, they found two syringes under the table where he\u2019d sat.\u00a0 Hmm\u2026 AFAIK, junkies don\u2019t just drop their works on the floor of a fast food joint.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Hmmm\u2026 Drugs.\u00a0 Jack In the Box bowls.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see the connection.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"At some point in my near future, I hope to get a job as a drug and alcohol counselor, and so it is important I understand some of the drug culture and the functionality of various paraphernalia, but for the life of me, I can\u2019t figure out what type of illicit purpose on could put to a thin, plastic, disposable bowl.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like it would make a good vessel to mix or prepare injectible drugs in, I don\u2019t think.\u00a0 Unless you had a whole LOT of drugs and were preparing them for a group of 50… Then, of course, you could just buy the $5 Terriyaki dish\u2026\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, I thought it was a fun yet baffling little anecdote, and if anyone has any idea, however crazy, as to why the dude wanted the empty bowl SO badly, please share.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My last words to the laughing ladies behind the counter when they couldn’t come up with any explanation of the bowl-seeker was…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“Maybe Jack knows…”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And fittingly, I am now headed out to go bowling.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cUmm.. Excuse me\u2026 Could I get a couple of those bowls you guys have?\u00a0 Y\u2019know, those shallow, black ones?\u201d I heard someone asking around the corner up at the counter while I sat in the dining area of Jack In The Box last night. \u201cWHAT ARE YOU USING THEM FOR?!?\u201d retorted the manager lady in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,43,10],"tags":[3327,1114,3326,81,3328],"class_list":["post-34946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-cooking","category-life","tag-bowls","tag-drugs","tag-jack-in-the-box","tag-joko","tag-mystery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}