Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
If you have a large group of friends that goes on group dinners, there’s a better than 50% chance that one person in the group makes it a practice to order chicken tenders no matter where you go. This person — whose temperament is likely often joyous and unpretentious — laughs along as the group pokes fun, pointing out that “chicken tenders have never let them down” and then proceeds to ensure they won’t be let down in the midst of orders of unpronounceable items and fish that, while cooked, could have just swam off the set of “Finding Nemo.” Everybody eats their food and perhaps orders dessert and lives to eat again next month where a similar song and dance plays out. There is nothing but love in the group, but the Chicken Tender Orderer (CTO) has a reputation.
I’m here to tell you that this reputation, while earned, is probably unfair. You see, that reputation is one of unwillingness to try new things and is even, slightly, juvenile and without mature tastes. What kind of (likely) gainfully employed, civically engaged adult ventures to restaurants and orders the most consistent, tried, and true child’s order — chicken tenders and fries? As somebody who has been this person (on occasion), today I will explain to you what kind of person goes to any manner of establishment and upon gazing at the menu, orders the chicken tenders.
But first, let’s discuss where this happens. Let’s just keep it a buck here; nobody goes to a restaurant that doesn’t serve chicken tenders and orders chicken tenders. You’ve never been out with a person who looks at a menu for an eatery where the chef’s name is on the leatherbound jacket that houses the menu and they say, “Hey, I see you have maybe 10 orderable items on this…
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