“Not-so-fresh fast food french fries are the worst,” said Ed as he chewed on a past-its-prime fry. “If I have time, what I usually do is order my fries without the salt.”
“Why’s that?” I ask.
“They usually salt their fries right after they leave the oil. If you ask for fries-sans-salt they have to make a fresh batch and you avoid fries like this.” He holds out a limp fry to demonstrate his point.
“But don’t you like salt on your french fries?” I wonder aloud.
“Sure I do. After I place my order, pay for it and pull up to the window to pick it up, as an apparent after-thought I always ask for a couple of packets of salt. The order taker, frier and bag passer are almost always different people and thus they’re usually none the wiser.”
“Pretty clever stuff, buddy.”
“My high standards for fried, drive-through food force me to be somewhat of a manipulator.”