By Mike Pound

mpound@joplinglobe.com

There are days when, like everyone else I suppose, I really hate my job.

Take Thursday. Please.

Ha.

Here’s what I had to do late Thursday morning: I had to drop what I wasn’t doing, get in my car and drive up to Golden City. And that’s not all.

When I got to Golden City, I had to park my car in front of an old bank building at 502 Main St., get out of my car, walk into Soup and Sammies, and get on the outside of a double cheeseburger.

There. Now, don’t you feel sorry for me?

Actually, I didn’t have to drive up to Golden City to get on the outside of a double cheeseburger. I chose to do so. That’s the sort of dedicated employee I am. See, a couple of months ago, I told my boss, Carol Stark, that I thought it would be a good idea for me to take some time every so often to drive around and sample cheeseburgers in the area. Carol told me that I was the laziest person she had ever met, let alone have “working” for her.

A couple of months ago, based on the recommendations of two guys whose opinions I trust, I drove up to Rich Hill and had a double cheeseburger at Swope’s Drive-in. The burger was great. A few weeks later, I drove up to Lamar and dived into a double cheeseburger at the Eastside Station and Deli. Again, the burger was great.

On Thursday, I hit Soup and Sammies on the recommendation of John Bushnell, who lives in Golden City. John and his wife travel around the area hitting small, home-owned eating spots. Well, they used to do so. In an e-mail to me, John said health problems have cut into their travels a bit, but he did offer up a couple of places for me to check out. By the way, John has a travelogue, of sorts, featuring the food spots he and his wife have visited. You can find it by dialing up www.muddycrickstuff.com. If you do dial up John’s Web page, you will quickly discover that he knows WAY more about good eating spots than I do.

I walked up to Soup and Sammies at the same time another guy did. The guy, who appeared to be slightly older than I am, held the door open for me. I thanked him and stepped inside. Like a lot of great burger places, Soup and Sammies is pretty small. Three tables, each seating four, line the east and west walls. A small, round table that also seats four sits in the center of the room.

I grabbed the small, round table and picked up a menu. I knew what I wanted, of course, but I wanted to check what else they serve up at Soup and Sammies. Turns out they serve up a lot. John mentioned in his e-mail that they make a nice Reuben sandwich at Soup and Sammies. I love Reubens, but I was on a double-cheeseburger mission, so I passed on the Reuben. The folks at Soup and Sammies offer up a daily lunch special, and on Thursday the special was beef stroganoff, fried cabbage, corn on the cob, hot rolls, coffee or tea and banana pudding for $6.50.

It was quite a special.

I walked up to order my burger and waited while the guy who held the door for me placed his order. The nice woman taking orders apparently knew the guy because she called him by name. In fact, she called just about everybody in the restaurant by name. When the guy finished ordering, I stepped up and asked for a double cheeseburger and fries. The woman wrote down my order. She didn’t call me by name. But that was OK.

A few minutes later, the woman brought out my burger and fries. My definition of a big burger is one that must be cut in half to be eaten. On Thursday, I had to cut my burger in half.

In addition to being big, the burger was nice and greasy. Not bad and greasy, but nice and greasy. There’s a difference. The fries were thin and crisp, and the burger came with a sliced dill pickle. I don’t know why everyone doesn’t serve cheeseburgers with sliced dill pickles, but I wish they did.

I finished my burger and then turned my attention to the leftover fries in the bottom of the basket. A couple of the leftover fries had been sitting in grease from the burger. I’m sure there are some things that are better than fries that have been sitting in burger grease, but I don’t know what they are.

By the way, Soup and Sammies is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays. On Tuesdays through Fridays, the place is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Saturdays, the hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

After I finished eating, I thanked the nice woman who served the burger, went back to my car and headed back to Joplin.

On the way, I took a few back roads and gradually wound my way back to Highway 71. While I drove, I listened to music and thought about my job.

I decided that Carol might be right.