As many of you know, I have a severe and strange form of OCD. It relates to food and can cause unexplainable gastrointestinal phenomena such as the craving of gas-station "Dirty Dogs" and the unwillingness to eat food prepared by anyone visible other than my earth mom or earth wife.
Indeed, there is no limit to the curious behavior my OCD will cause, much of it pertaining to eating what most would consider the un-eatable. But there is a limit to the nastiness that I will eat. And the limit starts somewhere near the Taco Bell, especially when their meat tube is clogged.
In my travels, I have occasionally stolen a glance behind the counter at McDonald's or Wendy's to remark at the curious devices those who mass produce food employ. Many of them resemble the outrageous medical contraptions you might have seen in "The Road to Welville". They might reduce one of your out of balance "humors", or promote consistent ketchup delivery- it's hard to tell. I try not to look at people, just the devices. And although my unfamiliarity with the devices makes it difficult for me to link them directly to food, their clean stainless steel finish puts them in the category of innocuous.
Ketchup dispenser, or Phrenological device?
However, nothing prepared me for the day I was sitting in the drive-thru at Taco Bell with a friend, and the employee's crackly voice shook me to my core:
"We can't make tacos right now... Meat tube's clogged..."
My friend and I looked at each other in what I can only describe as 7 distinct stages of confusion, amusement, sour stomach, then something like 4 increasingly powerful urges to vomit. The fact that a restaurant had a "meat tube" was enough to make me, someone who will willingly consume a gas-station hot-dog shaped "Dirty Dog", it was enough to make me want to gag. The fact that their meat tube was clogged was just enough information to paint a clear picture as to what was going on inside the meat tube. Or what had been going on, and specifically what hadn't been going on, as in going on through to the end of the tube. Fresh meat to be sure, but occasionally pieces and shards of last week's lodged meat tube ammo would become unstuck and join forces with today's meat tube matter.
Eventually, a morbid curiosity emerged from the rubble. How was the meat tube fed? Were there other nozzles, like for different spray patterns? Was the velocity adjustable? Could this be used for riot-control? I tried to piece together what it might look like based on my studies at the burger joints but could think of nothing that might have been a meat-tube.
Though I can attribute why I never ate at Taco Bell before this event to my OCD, I will attest that even without the aid of OCD, I will never, ever eat at Taco Bell. Or any other place that doesn't keep their meat tube clean.
Reader Comments (2)
This news comes to me just as their cheesy gordita crunch has made a limited comeback. I thank you for deterring my weekly intake. All the wonderful cheesiness and crunchiness can not overcome a meat tube.
That's why I get the bean burrito. I like the sour cream caulk gun.