It's Mind Boggling To Me!!!

Those that know me well enough, know that I have a very low tolerance for fast food workers and store clerks who take their job so seriously.

I have in the past, had many encounters or should I say 'run-in's' with store clerks and fast food workers. Almost all the time ending with me getting what I wanted in the first place.

So, it is no surprise that these past two days I have had two episodes with a store clerk and a fast food worker...and it got me irked enough to blog about it.

First Scenerio:

I have found a great appreciate for paper bags at grocery stores. I rarely get the plastic ones anymore. I ask for paperbags. While two months ago, while shopping I decided to take with me to the store the paperbags I had saved, thinking, "why not reuse them, they are perfectly fine". So off I went to Smith's Grocery with my 7 paperbags. When I got to the register, I handed the cashier my paperbags and said "oh you can reuse these". As she finished ringing up my purchases the last thing I saw on the screen was a credit for "Bag Refund $.35" I asked her what that was for and she said "for your paperbags" She explained to me that whenever a customer brings back their paperbags to reuse they get a .5 cent credit per bag. I loved it!! So now I bring back my paper bags all the time...and always got my little credit, plus doing my small part for the environment.

So, yesterday morning I went to Smiths, paperbags in hand. Had a $20.00 bill to pay for my items. My bill came to $20.19, so I was short .19cents. I looked and said to the cashier "oh you didn't give me my bag refund for .25 cents. (5 bags I brought back) She looked at me with this glare and said sarcastically "Bag Refund???" I replied, "Yes, bag refund" She proceeded to tell me she heard of no such refund, I then explained it to her, she said she would ask the manager, then said to me "$20.19"...I said, "First, I want my bag refund credit and you can call a manager now"....This other lady was behind me and she was alittle annoyed I could tell, but she also wasn't aware of what was going on because she got to the register after our conversation had started. The cashier called the store manager, he came, she explained to him in a tone as though I didn't know what I was talking about, about the "bag refund" ...he immediately said "oh yes, it's .5 cent per bag, how many bags did you bring sir?" I said "5" he said great..and showed the cashier how to type it in and he left. Do you know this cashier did not apologize to me or say another further except. "$19.83"...so I, being annoyed, said to her "See you owe me money now and now you learned something new for the day" She looked at me and smiled. Annoyed she was and couldn't admit she was wrong. Oh and the lady behind me, she clued in and said "Why did I not ever know about a bag refund, I will start using paperbags and bringing them back, it's extra gas money!" I smiled and left, alittle annoyed that this cashier acted as though this .25 cents was coming out of her pocket...but also vindicated.

Scenerio 2:

I went to Arctic Circle tonight. Order a number 5 meal, got to the window, paid the cashier and said "can you put in some extra fry sauce and napkins" She looked at me and said nothing. I assumed she heard me. She handed me my bag of food, I looked before driving off and saw only two fry sauces in the bag but lots of napkins. I said "Excuse me, can I get some more fry sauce please" She then told me "It's .10 cent extra per fry sauce, how many do you want?" I said "10 cent?, what? She said yes, their new policy is extra fry sauce is .10 cent each. I said "You don't have this posted and I think that is overcharging, I could go in the joint and get as much fry sauce as I want" (Because inside you pump the fry sauce into those little white cups yourself"...She said "That's our policy" I then handed back to her my bag, and said, here you can have the food back and drink, I want my money back. Do you know she looked at me in utter shock!! She said "Excuse me sir? I said "I am not paying .10 cent for extra fry sauce, so I don't want the food at all, you can just give me a refund" She said "I can't do that" ...I said "get your manager" she said "Sir can you pull up to the white line and I will have my manager go out there" I said "No, I can't" ...why I wouldn't is because once I pull up, then they have the upper hand and can make me wait there as long as they want. This way, I sit at the window, everyone behind has to wait and it gets them to rush in the store. So fast food lady gave me a look and shut the window, I saw her go over to her manager talk to her, they both looked my way and then the manager came to me and said "Sorry sir, you want a refund why?" I said "Because I want extra fry sauce and I am not about to pay for it, when I could walk inside and take as much as I want" I really do believe they rip you off at drive thru!!! She was like "ok, I'll give you the fry the sauce this time, but please know our new policy is extra fry sauce is .10 cents each" She handed me a HAND FULL of fry sauce....6 to be exact and all I originally wanted was 2 more!! I said to her "while next time I'll go inside and get as much as I want." She looked at me, I looked at the cashier with that "See I got my fry sauce plus more" look and drove off....I was irked and couldn't understand why that cashier felt an undying duty to hold on to her fry sauce and collect her .20 extra cents. When in the end they gave up .60 cents to me!! I knew the manager knew it wasn't worth refunding and losing $5.83 cents back to me and having to throw away a burger, fries and coke over .20 cents...she knew it. She just probably didn't expect someone like me to come through and put up a fuss over what I call their OVERCHARGING!!!..( Oh stick a pump at drive thru, like inside, and let us customers pump all the fry sauce we want!!)

So those are my stories and though I might sound cheap, know that I am not. Just that I have a very low tolerance for workers who take their paperbags and fry sauce too seriously. Unless they owned the company I could understand them better, but really come on! Peace and Smile!