Don't Judge Me

So… this past week, I had a "first time" experience.  As I get older, I've found that those don't happen too often in everyday life anymore unfortunately.  But in true "Haley-form", it didn't come without humor.

I work in Raleigh, around the Poole Rd/New Bern Ave exits off the beltline so my lunch choices obviously don't deviate much from this area.  Well in the last couple of months, a Popeye's opened up and to my knowledge, this is the first one of these in the Raleigh area.  I think.  Anyway, it was new to me.  But every time I ride by it, this place is RIDICULOUSLY packed.  I mean "standing-room-only & cars-wrapped-around-the-building" kind of packed.  Finally after enough times of driving by it and either being in too big of a hurry to wait, or being too lazy to wait, I decided to brave Popeye's.  I think what drew me to it originally is that the name of the place is actually Popeye's "Louisiana Kitchen" and I like spicy food, so I figured it must be good.

Well, as usual, the cars were wrapped around the building, but the inside didn't look quite as packed as it normally did.  So I just decided to go inside.  I walk inside and let me tell you this - I was the only white girl person in the place.  It caught me so off guard that I nearly walked right back out because it was one of those things where I actually thought "Ummm am I allowed in here?"…  buuuuut I wasn't sure if that would be completely obvious so I attempted to pretend like I didn't notice.  So I go up to the counter and wait in line for a little bit - I didn't have a clue what to order.  On top of that, I know I had a "What the hell" face when I saw catfish on the menu.  What??  Catfish?  So I did what every person does when they're scared to try something new and ordered chicken fingers with fries.  BUT, I did try their spicy honey mustard and it was actually really good (I love me some dipping sauces)!  The fries were awesome too… the chicken was okay.  It wasn't bad, but I prefer Bojangles.  What can I say… I'm bojos for life!  (As evidence in some of my engagement pictures taken by Big Star Studios [shameless plug :)]…)

Back to my story… The first thing I did when I was able to was message one of my super awesome friends, Larry (who happens to be black and is totally cool and understanding when I have to ask naive questions, because he's always honest and respectful with his answer… HOLLA!)  Anyway - so I message him and here was our actual dialogue:

me: looking for honestly here...

  what the heck is the deal with popeyes?

  that place is always so packed

  i walked in there and i was the only white person

  what the heck

 Larry: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 ummm it's chicken - what did you think?

  the only chicken joint that is likely to not be pro-black is prolly KFC

 andddd prolly the bojos by campus :-P

 that is HILARIOUS :-)

 me: geeeeez... i couldn't believe it!

  do they put something in it? i've never seen a fast food place that crazy!

 Larry: might be a little crack :-P

 me: haha

  i believe it!

 Larry: well you also gotta remember that there aren't that many popeyes around here!

  

 me: can't be straight chicken

 Larry: HAHAHAHAHA