Blue Drinks

My freshman year at Penn State, I ate in the dining halls most of the time. Once my friends and I finished eating, we'd sit around and talk, or play with the food we didn't eat. (Wasteful, I know, but we were young and silly.) Sometimes, we'd mix leftover drinks together to see who could make the most vile concocotion. There was only one problem: while there was a red drink (fruit punch), and a yellow drink (lemonade), our ability to make all colors of the rainbow was hampered by the lack of blue drinks.

Outside the dining halls, there were stacks of comment cards to elicit feedback. Comment cards that were especially interesting were posted with responses. I filled one out to request blue drinks, but I didn't think anyone would pay much attention. Then my campaign began. I took a handful of cards and filled them out differently. One was rhyming. One was typed. For one, I cut out letters from a magazine and spelled out "BLUE DRINKS PLEASE." They posted that one, with the message, "Isn't this a bit extreme?"

But the next year, after we had settled into our dorms and were headed off to dinner, I noticed a sign posted at Redifer Commons: "We now have 'blue drinks'!" I was ecstatic. You could say that I learned from this that one person can make a difference. You could also say that I learned that wackiness and persistence are a powerful combination. Whatever. I got my blue drinks.

Yesterday, I shared with you my annoyance with Gymboree and my campaign to get them to respond to my concerned email. While that still isn't going very well--a full week after I was promised a response within 48 hours, I still haven't heard back--I thought I would share two more quixotic campaigns.

This first is to bring an IKEA to St. Louis. I love IKEA. I love their restaurant, with their affordable Swedish specialities and bizarre desserts. I love their marketplace, where you can find all kinds of baskets and mugs and carpets. I love their wooden bookshelves. If you've outgrown cheap particleboard furniture, but you haven't quite worked your way up to full-fledged adult furniture from furniture stores, IKEA is your place. In Philadelphia, we were blessed with two of them.

When we found out we were moving here, I did an IKEA search, only to discover the nearest one is 5 hours away in Chicago. I emailed customer service, and they emailed back saying they had no plans to open a store in St. Louis in the near future. Now, I know people here would love an IKEA. It would draw customers from all around the state; people wouldn't have to travel to Chicago for their cheap furniture fix. If you want to help me out with this, please tell IKEA they should open a store in St. Louis.

My other campaign (don't laugh) is to get Steak and Shake to offer healthier menu options. I'm perfectly happy with their offerings of milkshakes and burgers, and I love that adults can choose a salad with their meals. But I have two suggestions:
1) They should add a veggie burger, to cater to the occasional vegetarian or health-conscious diner. I recognize that a place whose motto is "Home of the Original Steakburger" probably isn't that concerned about vegetarian diners, but we would go there more often if my vegetarian husband had something to eat besides grilled cheese. Even Burger King and Denny's have veggie burgers now.
2) They should allow kids to choose sides other than fries with the kids meals. Ben is indifferent to fries but devours their baked beans; I think he should be allowed to make the healthier choice. Why not follow the lead of (gasp) McDonald's and give the kids some options?
If you want to encourage Steak and Shake to change their menu, click here.

Dear Readers, what are the small things you would like to change? Share them here!

Photo by wickenden on flickr.com.