Selling Nostalgia

Yesterday I made the mistake of dropping in to the local A&W on Cleveland Avenue.  Back in the day A&W was a great spot to stop and get a nice tall mug of root beer.  Those days are gone for sure.  Car hops are a thing of the past, although there is a reference to that on a mural inside the franchise now shared with Long John Silver's.  I was greeted by a woman who obviously did not understand my order.  I wanted a big frosty mug of root beer, a coney with cheese and an order of fries.  There was an attempt to "bundle" my order and much confusion.  I had to insist I did not want a root beer float which is the only way they give you a mug these days.  Because my order did not conform to the menu's attempt to cluster sandwich, beverage, and side order, I had problems right from the start.  Even though the cooks were only steps away there was much confusion and I got a cheeseburger instead of a coney and a root beer float instead of a root beer.  So it took about 15 minutes for these geniuses to put together my plastic tray of frankinfood.  Of course the root beer was lukewarm as they no longer are prepared to serve it in anything but a paper cup.  There was a cheese colored goop in two globs on my coney.  No mustard in the whole place and the fries were so bland that I had to douse them in malt vinegar from the Long John Silver's condiment station.  The kitchen was filthy.  I had plenty of time to marvel at the filth as I had to practically jump the counter and make my own food.  I don't recommend A&W in it's new glitzy fast food form.  I know I would rather remember it the way it used to be....like in the mural on the wall.