To paraphrase a well-known slogan, “Neither rain nor sleet nor gloom of night (or pre-dawn) can keep Sonic’s car hops from their appointed rounds.”
As Emporia began to dig out from an ice storm on Jan. 15, car hop Sarah Parker arrived for work at 6 a.m. with a wind chill of -6 degrees. Parker, who drives to Emporia from her home outside Strong City, had already stopped to help out with paperwork at her mother’s restaurant before going to Sonic to set up the kitchen for the breakfast crowd.
Once Sonic Drive-In opened for business at 6:30 a.m., Parker knew that she would be hustling from kitchen to cars — into the cold, then out of the cold — until her shift ended at 2 p.m., no matter what the temperature was outside.
Sonic, being a national franchise, does not close for bad weather. Customers expect it to be open.
The company is one of only a few surviving food services that use car hops. A&W, Dog ’n’ Suds and similar franchises either have closed or have nearly eliminated the convenience of kitchen-to-car service.
Parker wasn’t complaining about the cold this morning.
She has worked at Sonic for 14 years, since July 6, 1992. She came in for a job, liked what she was doing, and stayed. The weather isn’t always the best, but the customers are.
Through the years, she’s gotten to know many of them.
“There’s Gail,” she interrupted her conversation to hurry over to the soft-drink dispenser to get the basic order started.
“She always gets a Route 44 Coke, extra-extra ice,” Parker said, after the order had been delivered to the customer’s car. Some mornings, Gail orders food, too; on Monday, it was a breakfast burrito.
“Her husband gave her a $100 Sonic card for Christmas,” Parker said.
Parker knows the names and preferences of a number of Sonic’s customers, and she enjoys the familiarity that comes from serving the same people regularly.
“What are you guys doing today?” she asked, using the inside microphone to talk to a pair of customers who had just pulled into the order stall. They made small talk over the speaker system while the order was being filled.
Most of the regulars, though, already had been in by 9 a.m.
“There are lots of nurses and hair stylists and teachers,” she said. “Since school is not running, I haven’t seen all my teachers this morning.”
About 9:30 a.m., another flurry of customers pulled in and suddenly eight or 10 vehicles clustered in stalls on both sides of the building.
“Probably the best part is meeting all the customers,” she said during a break in the action. “I also enjoy all the employees over the years. A lot of them start as sophomores in high school and stay ’til they’re freshmen in college.”
Many bank their paychecks to save for college or cars and, living at home with their parents, are able to take care of their personal needs through tips from the customers.
Co-owner Cathy DePaepe said that during the winter she has about 30 employees.
“In the summer, we carry about 40, 45,” DePaepe said.
They all bring their own personalities and talents to the job.
“Ben, one of our night shift car hops, he skates almost every day, even in bad weather,” Parker said. “He says he enjoys it. ...I’m not really good at it.”
So, Parker usually walks briskly from kitchen to car.
“One time I had to go down (to the end of the car stalls) with snow clear to my knees,” she said with a pained laugh.
Sometimes her bare hands are cold, but mittens or gloves aren’t good for handling money.
Still, Sonic’s canopy protects the sidewalk area most of the time, except for blowing ice or snow, and the extreme cold of the early this week still is preferable to the extreme heat of summer, as far as Parker is concerned.
“It’s cold, but at least you can wear layers,” Parker said. “In summer, you can’t take any more off than you have on.”