BURKARD'S BLOG
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23 AUG 03: ODD JOBS
As I waited in the drive-through lane Friday morning at a Burger King on Wynnton Road, I saw a man doing something unusual. He had a chemical container with a spray tube attached - but instead of spraying the landscaping, he sprayed the driveway. I thought he was waiting for the right moment to spray my windshield, to get a fast tip.
The man walked around the cars in the drive-through lane, spraying the concrete in that lane. My second theory was that he somehow thought cars would grow if you treated their tires.
There was some sort of chemical scent from what the man was doing, so eventually I leaned out the window and asked him, "What are you spraying?" He mumbled an answer I couldn't understand - so maybe he was tired, and thought it WAS the landscaping.
The woman at the Burger King pay window admitted she wasn't sure what the man was spraying - but at the food-pickup window, another woman offered an explanation. "He's spraying down the driveway," she said. Maybe this will keep weeds
from growing in the drive-through lane - though I imagine long lines of cars every day would crush them, anyway.
I suppose this Burger King man is what the local franchise calls a "sanitor." I saw a help-wanted sign for that position a couple of years ago, and it puzzled me....
+ Is a "sanitor" a Senator who's clean of fraud?
+ Is a "sanitor" someone who works at a sanitarium?
+ If you go crazy working at Burger King, do you become an IN-sanitor?
To be fair, there are several drive-through lanes in Columbus which could benefit from regular treatment like what Burger King does. The Krystal's near 14th and Veterans Parkway comes to mind. Sometimes it has so many potholes that it seems to be used late at night for mud run practice.
As I drove home from Burger King with a steak biscuit, I passed another curious worker - a jail inmate driving a lawn mower right down Veteran's Parkway, during morning drive time! There ARE better, faster ways for prisoners to attempt an escape.
You may not release jail inmates do landscaping work for the city of Columbus - mowing the lawns along the Riverwalk, and around the Historic District. That'll teach them to sing behind bars about the "Green, Green Grass of Home."
But the question remains: why was an inmate driving a lawn mower on the STREET - especially on Veterans Parkway, around Seventh Street? Doesn't he realize that's dangerous? Doesn't he realize the new barbecue restaurant on Veterans isn't open for breakfast?