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Sitting in a booth wildly gesticulating with a mashed potato-covered fork, local grandfather Ed Wachowski refuses to stop talking about what things used to be like in the Old Country Buffet.
“They had more respect for their elders, that’s for sure,” said Wachowski. “In the Old Country Buffet seniors ate for half price on Thursdays—none of this punch card crap.”
Wachowski continued his nostalgia-laden monologue by recalling that in the Old Country Buffet, you once had to scoop your chicken fried steaks onto your own plate, until last year when they hired a guy who would do it for you.
“In the Old Country Buffet it used to be nothing but ambrosia salad, as far as the eye could see,” Wachowski said. “In the Old Country Buffet tradition used to mean something, too—servers would address you by name.”
Wachowski paused his rant before sighing wistfully and staring at the utensils lying across the table.
“In the Old Country Buffet, things used to be simpler,” he said, pointing to a spork that his grandson Kenneth had taken from the silverware rack. “A spoon was a spoon and a fork was a fork.”
At press time, Wachowski was turning to his grandchildren to ask if they wanted to hear the story of how he and Grandma Ethel met in the Old Country Buffet for lunch last Tuesday after Ethel’s dentist appointment.
