Story Notes: Como Salsa para los Tacos · 9:31pm Sep 7th, 2020
It’s been a year since I launched the not-a-contest, and in that time there have been 31 stories written specifically (or not specifically) for the group.
That’s pretty good! Keep ‘em coming!
In honor of the occasion, I decided that I ought to add yet another story to the group, a story about a group of ponies all working different jobs on Earth, all to a common end.
First off, special thanks to my pre-reader, MSPiper!
The title itself was suggested by Wanderer D; it’s a play on “Como Agua para Chocolate,” [like water for chocolate] which is a book and a movie, based on a phrase which means one’s emotions are about to boil over.
Chapulin is named for an ingredient in some traditional tacos. It’s crickets, if you were curious. That’s also the name of a famous Mexican television comedy titled El Chapulín Colorado.
The store she’s working at, store 658, was picked because 658 is an untouchable number and I had great difficulty finding what store, if any, was Taco Bell #658. However, research paid off, and I eventually figured it out (I think; I haven’t called the store to confirm), and I sooner or later in the story I’ll let you know. Or the blog notes. Put your guesses in the comments below!
I don’t know if Taco Bell actually does drug testing. Seems to me that if they did, they might have more trouble finding workers. I also don’t know if a human drug test would actually work on a pony (I do know that there are drug tests for equines, mostly for performance-enhancing drugs, and yes some of them are urine tests).
There are different types of visas in the US. The Q-1 is a visa for international cultural exchange visitors, and does allow employment. It was originally created by Walt Disney’s lobbying (because of course it was).
Taco Bell’s menu does allow for a large amount of customization; as such, it’s possible to find many ‘secret’ Taco Bell foods on lists of secret fast food menu items. The enchirito is one such item; it’s a combination of a burrito and enchilada. While I haven’t worked in a fast food restaurant in decades, I can say from my time working at Firestone that the people on the ground didn’t always know what coupons were circulating out there (because management didn’t tell us), so I would guess that if you went to a Taco Bell and ordered an enchirito, the person at the counter would look at their screen in puzzlement unless they’d also watched the same video on ‘secret menu items.’
If, however, you ordered a bean burrito and then customized it, that’s something that they can easily do (I’ve been told; I’ve never tried this personally).
[As a side note, from this story alone I now have a YouTube playlist titled “Taco Bell Research.”]
The story was inspired by Taco Bell’s latest menu streamlining. While I’ve got no real care what Taco Bell does with its menu (and fast food restaurants do what fast food restaurants do), there were a lot of memes, mostly about the 7-layer burrito, on my Facebook feed last month.
It is an actual fact that Glen Bell, founder of Taco Bell, basically stole the taco-making process. According to Wikipedia: “Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell, an entrepreneur who first opened a hot dog stand called Bell's Drive-In in San Bernardino, California in 1948. Bell watched long lines of customers at a Mexican restaurant called the Mitla Cafe, located across the street, which became famous among residents for its hard-shelled tacos. Bell attempted to reverse-engineer the recipe, and eventually the owners allowed him to see how the tacos were made. He took what he had learned and opened a new stand in 1951.”
I’m not sure if copying recipes is technically illegal (I’m not sure it isn’t, either). Either way, there are plenty of YouTube videos that purport to teach you to make items on the Taco Bell menu.
I picked this one, ‘cause the channel name is close to my heart, as long-time followers will understand.
I remember when the Enchirito was a Taco Bell menu item.
That is when you come to the realisation that Taco Bell menu items are all the same ingredients, just presented in different ways...
Now the question is... Will Taco Belle be showing up at Taco Bell?
5350674
I don’t, although I was around when it was. I don’t think there were any Taco Bell franchises anywhere near where I lived, though.
I do remember when Burger King had ashtrays and McDonalds had
cocaine spoonsMc Stirrer sticks.5350690
That’s legit the genius of their menu and the customization. A limited number of simple ingredients that can be combined in a lot of different fashions.
5350693
derpicdn.net/img/2018/7/6/1774592/large.png
There is just no way Taco Bell makes their shells onsite. You could prove it to me irrefutably and I wouldn't believe it.
My father is originally from San Diego and would probably die of shame if I ate at a Taco Bell.
5350712
Jump to about 1:40
Also, I used to work at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that made taco bowls on-side by frying tortillas in the deepfryer with a special form . . . a can on a stick. Drop the tortilla in the oil, press it down with the can, and when it’s crispy, pull it out.
We can both wait for a current or former Taco Bell employee to weigh in.
5350719
My little town doesn’t have a Taco Bell, but we do have a Mexican restaurant run by an actual Mexican and it’s about a billion times better than Taco Bell ever could be.
A food service job like that probably requires at least a drug pre-screen... maybe not any after hiring, but probably at least the one.
5350787 And a TB test, or at least it did when I worked food service.
I'd just like to point out that with everybody ragging on Taco Bell, there would not be so many restaurants if people didn't eat at them, and I still will cross the road against traffic to get a Watermelon Freeze, with candy seeds. (I'm cheap. They have a dollar menu, and reduced price drinks 2-4)
5350787
Maybe . . . some industries, they know and so they don’t.
I think I got one for my AFC job, but I certainly haven’t gotten a second in the decade plus I’ve worked for them. And at my mechanic job, no drug test required. Just a valid drivers’ licence and a mechanic certificate is all my employer wants to see.
5350821
Never got one of those for a food-service job, but you can bet I do for AFC direct care. Understandably.
Like, it’s not the best food (but what fast food is?) but it’s okay food and a decent value for the dollar and it’s customizable and let’s face it ponies love Taco Bell. That’s not just my headcanon, Derpibooru search tags confirm.*
__________________________________
*I didn’t actually check
I mean... It's not like they didn't know he was doing that. They invited him in because he was fucking it up and they wanted him to do it right. They knew what he was planning. When he got super rich off it they basically shrugged and said "good for him."
5350856
And one hopes that going forward, Taco Bell won’t sue the pants off ponies when they open their chains of ‘not Taco Bell’ or when every Equestrian restaurant worth its salt (literally in this case) has a few Taco Bell items on its menu.
In all seriousness, though, from the end of the stick where I’m a successful fiction writer by at least this site’s standards, I don’t get bent out of shape when I help out an author who’s learning the ropes and then in some cases winds up kicking my story out of the feature box. I’m sure that there was a lot more to Glen Bell’s success than just watching someone else make tacos, or else we’d all be eating at Mitla Cafe’s instead of Taco Bells.
5350872
Marketing. Marketing is always more important than the actual product. That plays out over and over again. Microsoft, McDonalds/Taco Bell, Walmart, yadda yadda yadda.
Quality doesn't matter. Convincing people to buy your thing matters. Quality can help with that, but it isn't sufficient.
What a coincidence, I just had Taco Bell!
its not a coincidence i have taco bell every day
I have some experience making my own corn tortillas. It seemed a good use of the remaining 2/3rds of a Costco-sized jug of popcorn that was nearing the best before date. Although I had to go to the hardware store to get the lime, since none of the grocery stores or specialty canning supply stores had it. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/nixtamalization
The most difficult aspect was learning to not use the lever on the press, at all. I don't know why the lever is there at all, since pressing down the lid at the edges is good enough, and putting any pressure at all on the lever will just squash the dough into bits.
I guess using popcorn instead of white corn has a less cohesive consistency and it's more prone to breaking into chunks under pressure.
5350967 The lever is there only for speed, really. If you're making a bunch of tortillas it helps set you into a rhythm that doesn't involve you pushing down with your fingers every time.
Wow, a year already? And more than two stories in it a month on average, looks like. :)
Why is 658 an untouchable number?
And thank you as usual for the blog post. :)
(I did try to figure out where the store was... then decided that I was getting too little in the way of results for the time I was putting in given my current supply of the latter and the importance of the former. Oh well. :) I look forward to finding out the answer to the mystery in due time!)
Any ideas yet on what to do with the
#spare hashtag?5351029
Untouchable number : one of those "thangs"
5350874
Oh yes, very much so.
There are a few niche manufactures who make it on quality*, but for the most part, it’s all about marketing.
*IIRC, Jiffy doesn't advertise much if at all, and doesn’t pay grocery stores for premium shelf space, but they’re so established as a quality product that it doesn't matter any more (they probably did advertise back in the day, though, to get that market position).
5350880
Yay! Pony-approved!
5350967
I would never have though of using popping corn as cooking corn, TBH.
5351029
Yup! Obviously most of them came in the first month or so, but more keep trickling in now and then, so overall a big win in my book.
Because math! (and what 5351353 linked)
That was surprisingly difficult for me to find, and I think I kind of got lucky with the search results (if, in fact, they gave me the correct store number). Mostly I got Taco Bells that had 658 in their phone number or address.
5350974
“Soon” is a very valid timeline. I look forward to it!
5351244
Not yet, but I’m sure that I’ll find a use for it as new chapters get published.
5351546
Jiffy? Like, the cornbread mix?
5351569
Yeah, that’s the one. They have like 75% of the cornbread market, apparently.
EDIT: also, I’ve been to their one and only factory.
5351582
It being a super niche product probably doesn't hurt. Most people who really like cornbread are gonna make it themselves. And outside of that, cornbread's never really been super popular.
5351590
That’s a good place to be if you can get there, honestly. I can think of a few examples; not only Jiffy, but Ford had like 75% or so of the full-size van market for a long time and I don’t think they bothered to advertise Econolines because why spend the money? Likewise GM had nearly the entire stepvan market for decades with the P-30.
Heck, I am the undisputed King of Slice of Life here on Fimfiction. Works well for me and my readers.
5351353
...Huh. I think I understood at least most of that. Interesting! Thanks. :)
5351554
A nice win for the books, or libraries, of a fair number of readers, too. :D
Aye, thanks. :D
See, I found something hinting that their store locator would go straight to a store number if one was entered, and, indeed, entering 658 did go straight to a store. However, I didn't fine any corroborating evidence that that was actually Store #658, rather than the number going to it for some other reason that wasn't clear to me, and the surroundings didn't seem to match the description in the chapter (power lines nearby, rail lines nearby, water nearby, but that's true in a lot of places and they didn't seem to be in the right shapes and/or locations...).
5351732
The overhead Google Maps view isn’t entirely accurate (AFAIK) . . . if you didn’t find Camden Rd., you didn’t find the same store I did. That’s not to say that I found the right store 658, though.
5352963
Oh, I looked mostly on Google Earth, after getting a location from the store locator, and I didn't have road names displayed in Google Earth or, as I recall, take notice of them in the store locator, so... no idea.
[checks store locator again]
...But, yeah, I'm not seeing a Camden Road nearby, so who knows if I'm even looking at the right state.
So still looking forward to finding out, in the course of things, where it is. :)
5353103
I will admit that I don’t know for sure, so you might have found the real 658. Or maybe there is no actual store 658.
5353765
[shrugs] I have no idea, unfortunately.
But, I mean, this is an alternate universe with ponies openly travelling Earth and getting jobs at Taco Bell, so, you know, maybe the store numbering's also different? :D
(The one I found, by the way, is in Tupelo, Mississippi.)
5353779
That’s one state over from the one I found. So either way, it’s a southern state (assuming that either of our searches were accurate).
5354390
Ah, thanks. And aye, one of two adjacent states isn't as bad as it could be... assuming it's actually either of them, yes. :D
5353765
How do we know they're not all #658?
5374211
They very well could be. Maybe next time I go to Taco Bell I’ll check the receipt and see which store number it says (if it does).