"A way of life"

Guess those borderline racist commercials with the black lady actor telling you about her secret recipe really paid off.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Many Western New Yorkers waited hours for their dinner Wednesday night.
"Just didn't expect it to be three hours and there was a point where I couldn't turn around," Buffalo resident Joe Guido said.

"We actually just decided just to swing by, see how it was and how fast it would go and we just ended up being stuck on line so we were like, 'let's see how far we can go,'" Amherst resident Candy Rodriguez said.

Buffalo, meet Popeye's Chicken. Some transplants already familiar with the national chain swear it was worth the wait.

"Wouldn't classify Popeye's as fast food. It's something else. It's like a culture, a way of life, a cuisine I guess," Buffalo resident Rob Fussell said.

Um... no. It's fast food. But enjoy waiting in line all day. It's not the most encouraging thing to see we're so trained that we conflate corporate branding with, "a culture, a way of life." I'm pretty sure this means the terrorists have won big time. 

And I'm not picking on Buffalo here.  It's all over New Orleans too.

Just a few steps behind Velez, a weary group of Xavier University students sat gathered on the red carpet rolled out onto the sidewalk; they too had stayed up all night in anticipation of being among the first visitors to the new store.

"I love H&M so much I slept on the street," said Shelby Barb, 21. "I'm wearing my only sweater, I need winter clothes! And I thought, why wait? New Orleans made a really great decision."
In the middle of the line, 25-year-old Algiers resident LaToya Comeaux waited patiently for the store to open.

"The first time I saw H&M was in New York, in 2006," Comeaux said. "I've been waiting for this since then. This is going to make the French Quarter easier for families to shop in a more affordable way. This is definitely good for New Orleans."