Tuesday, February 05, 2008

A Little Skankiness Isn't Always a Bad Thing

Dang ya'll. I'd have been here sooner but people have been all up in my office all morning. I need a "Do Not Disturb" sign to hang on the doorknob, but then I'd need a door too I guess. Seeing how I can't even justify a new office chair although this one is duct taped together... well.. nevermind.

I stopped at the campground store on the way to work. I told ya'll before how their health inspection rating was in the 80-85 range (pretty skanky) which was due in part to the taxidermy display on the shelves surrounding the food preparation area.

Dead, dusty critters with cobwebs hanging off their nose hairs are not very hygienic.

The store is now under new management, so I stopped in for a biscuit and to check things out. I was a little disapointed that all the dead animals had been removed, I'd intended to get pictures of them. Now you'll just have to take my word for it. The large gathering of toothless old men who occupied the small seating area are now gone. They took their morning coffee club back to the diner where smoking is still permitted.

The biscuit I got was better, not greasy at all. The whole place was clean and well organized. It's sort of sad really. The dusty, growling bear, the squirrel who appeared to be frozen in his tracks as he ran up the wall behind the register, the snaggle toothed old woman with a cigarette hanging on the corner of her mouth as she rang up your Funyuns and Mountain Dew, all gave the place the sort of character you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Is it weird that I miss the skankiness?

Ya'll have a good one.

Later Taters!

Tomorrow: A Hillbilly Recipe

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, you remember my "chomp n go" gas station I used to go to.. the one where Charles Manson used to sniff the biscuits?

Well, they cleaned that up too - I miss it.

What's wrong with a little scuzziness and an occasional cobweb falling off a dead critter's head I ask ya?

Idgie

Mahala said...

LOL! It gives it atmosphere if'n ya ask me :)

Dianne said...

As my Mom used to say "there's clean dirt and there's dirty dirt, now pick your breakfast up off the floor and eat it"

Do you remember Les on "WKRP in Cinncinati" - he had the invisible office. Start telling people to knock, bet ya they'll leave you alone :)

Mahala said...

I do remember Les! Me and the Amazon were just talking about WKRP yesterday. I was trying to find a youtube clip of "Red wigglers, the cadillac of worms."

Jen said...

OMG, I loved the Red Wigglers bit. There used to be a bumch of WKRP clips on YouTube, but someone got their kinckers in a knot over copyright and they got pulled.

And as long as I've lived in the south, I still refuse to get a biscuit from a gas station, or any other place not specifically deigned to sell food. Just me. I still have problems going into the local Waffle House.

Mahala said...

OMG.. the Waffle House is a scary place, even for me who grew up in large city and attended an inner-city high school lol.

kenju said...

LOL......I'd be happy to get a non-greasy biscuit!!

Jeni said...

There's a little country store -the kind that carries just about everything from soup to nuts -that has a lot of the "decorum" to it you describe in your little store, including an old-fashioned type meat case, filled with various cold foods, prepared there and a small heating area where they have the soups and sloppy joe mixture, hot dogs and burgers they fix daily. It's also one of the few places around that sells the hard-pack ice cream cones too. To look at it when you walk in, a jumble of things, no order, you might be fearful I suppose to order food there, but the food's actually quite good and tasty. The help is always very clean and presentable too.

You're missing the "character" of that little store since it's been transitioned.

poopie said...

Skankiness is highly underrated, if you ask me.

Mahala said...

Kenju: that biscuit was darn tasty!

jeni: exactly :)

poopie: Everyone needs a little skankiness in their lives lol.

Mahala said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rebecca said...

The all purpose store in my Dad's "town" smells like warm milk and diesel fuel. But they have the bestest biscuits and coffee, so I don't care.

Mahala said...

Those old stores do have unique aromas. Most of them around here smell like woodsmoke, even in the summer.

Anonymous said...

Skanky is always way more fun than normal.