Peoria - Home of the Good Chain Restaurants?

I was recently shopping at the Coach store on Michigan Avenue. I went in specifically to purchase a new plain black leather wallet. As a side note, I have complained bitterly about the fact that Coach has fallen victim to the masses and started producing a cloth "signature" line. I think it is gross. As far as I am concerned, Coach is leather, not fun colors and designs and key-chain bobbles. Maybe I will write a separate post on that. But anyway . . . .

I walked into the Coach store and was immediately "assisted" by three or four chipper sales girls, all in semi-matching outfits. Apparently, early Tuesday afternoons are slow at Coach. They all wanted to help me, particularly after they saw the Coach briefcase I was carrying. Of course, what they wanted to help me with was to replace my 15-year-old briefcase with a snazzy new version. Someday, I said, but this has strong sentimental value and I can't let it go just yet.

After I made my wallet selection, which was carefully wrapped in layers of tissue, then placed in a box, then placed in a sturdy bag, my sales girl asked for my address and telephone number. When I got to the Peoria part, she exclaimed, "Ohmygosh!! You are from PEORIA!" I have never received this reaction from a Chicagoan. They usually say, "Peoria? Is that, like, in Illinois?"

My sales girl called out to another girl and said, "Lindsay, she's from PEORIA!" Lindsay came over and said, "REALLY? I LOVE Peoria. Home of the Chain Restaurants!"

Now, it is not often that I am at a loss for words, but I really didn't have a response to that. Lindsay went on to explain that she used to be from Peoria and loved the fact that Peoria always had all of the good chain restaurants. I found my voice and said, "Um, like . . . ?" She rattled off a few, such as Olive Garden, Old Chicago, Joe's Crab Shack, and Panera.

Oh, dear, I thought, I am going to say something really rude to this poor innocent sales girl. All I could get out was, "Yeah, I know, but we don't have a Cheesecake Factory! Bummer!" Unfortunately, I think my sarcasm was lost on Lindsay.