America is, indeed, a fast food nation.

Like many Interstate hubs throughout the continental United States, Greenville has attracted its share of fast food restaurants. The city is preferably located on I-65, a main artery to the beaches of Florida, the casinos of Mississippi, and the Mardi Gras of New Orleans. Greenville is just far enough a way from Montgomery and much too far away from Mobile. We offer the same convenience without the headaches of an endless number of off ramps and exits. We have gas, lodging and food - plenty of food.

McDonald's, Burger King, Krystal's, Wendy's. There are tacos and biscuits and Big Macs and Whoppers, each just a drive-thru away and relatively inexpensive. The food is conveniently wrapped in plastic and delivered quickly in paper bags. And they welcome you with a smile.

Ideally.

The Advocate decided to sample a few of our fast food restaurants in order to gain an idea on how a customer is treated. The restaurants were chosen at random and we went in pairs - one person through the drive-thru, one inside the restaurant itself.

You'll find enclosed in this edition our survey of five fast food restaurants. We won't lie. We've had our share of bad service among these same five restaurants and we went into this project with pessimistic expectations.

Still, the results surprised even us.

On average - when scored against our survey sheet - the service was good to excellent. The highest score was a 95, the lowest an 81.

Granted, these were just 10 separate experiences with five separate restaurants, (and all was not perfect, as you will see when you read our story inside about some customers' experiences).

But maybe we caught them all on a good day. Undoubtedly - like us - you've had your share of bad service. If so, we'd like to hear them. Drop us an email at editor@greenvilleadvocate.com, or write us at The Greenville Advocate, 103 Hickory St., Greenville, AL, 36037. Also, we'd like to hear any comments or suggestions about our survey.