At this point, everyone’s heard the joke: If Chick-fil-A was in charge of vaccinating Americans against COVID-19, the job would already be done — and we’d all have some sweet tea, too.
In one South Carolina town, it turns out, it’s not a joke.
Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie called local Chick-fil-A manager Jerry Walkowiak when one of his drive-through vaccination sites got pretty backed up. As the mayor said, “When you need help, call the pros.”
Rather than just offering his advice to those coordinating the distribution site, the mayor praised Walkoiak for showing up in-person to help the site’s workers streamline their efforts.
In the video, the Chick-fil-A manager could be seen jumping into a familiar role: Helping usher drivers quickly and efficiently through a line — a process for which the Atlanta-based restaurant chain has received praise amid the pandemic.
Several social media users were quick to applaud Haynie for calling in Chick-fil-A.
“I’ve been saying for weeks that if people in local [government] had half a brain they would get Chick-fil-A involved in vaccine distribution,” wrote Kelley Descher.
Another commenter, Val Stover, added: “I think this means ‘you’ve made it.’ When you walk your talk so good that your performance and reputation is bound by no industry. Where you’re known because your solution is the answer to the most common human transactional pain points … efficiency and a d*** good service.”
“Smartest thing on Twitter!” Cheryl tweeted. “These folks should be running the entire vaccine show.”