Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Price is Wrong, Moron

So, after having worked at my local Tim Hortons for nearly six months now, I can safely say I know a good deal about it. I know a majority of the prices for food and drinks off the top of my head, quoting without difficulty what it is, including the tax. This sometimes even pertains to multiples of said items. I've gotten good at it, and can tell a person without looking at the screen how much their drink is going to cost without having punched it in yet. But, some people, even after being told what they owe don't feel like ponying up the cash to pay for it.

An example would be tonight when I got and order at Drive-Thru for a couple large coffees. Nod a big deal. Off the top of my head I can tell a person without thinking that it'll be three-oh-seven. I then make the drinks and come to the window. The guy hands me three-oh-one for his drinks. At this, I inform him that, no, it's three-oh-seven and he still owes me six cents. He points to the little lighted number box outside the Drive-Thru window which says "three-oh-one." I tell him that that device is broken and has been for months and that I'd already informed him of what he owe for the coffee at the speaker box long before getting to the window. What ensued was an argument that lasted almost a minute where he told me that "the customer is always right," and said customer was getting his information from a broken box.

I humored him, told him that a large coffee, by itself is a buck a buck-fifty-three, and that if you were multiply this by two, you'd get three-oh-six, not three-oh-one. Then I explained to him, due to decimal-point calculations within a computers programming, there is a margin of error, especially when calculating percentiles such as tax on an item, therefore, he had to fork over an extra six cents for his coffee due to that margin of decimal-point error. After gripping a moment, he handed me the extra six cents.

If you think this only happens once in a while, let me tell you, there was another guy sometime later with the same ordeal. Only this time, he knew the price of a single large coffee, did the simple math and came out with three-oh-six. Normally, I'm not such a douchebag and would forget the penny, only he asked me if I had said "three-oh-seven." When I confirmed this, he said to me, "Oh. Well wouldn't it be three-oh-six because two large coffees are a dollar-fifty-three?" Again, my prior argument about programming came into play. He then demanded that it be only three-oh-six and I didn't know what I was talking about. At that point, I decided, no, I'm going to be a douchebag because this guy deserves it. After a moment-or-two or argument, he cussed me out, handed over the extra penny, took his coffee and drove off.

All in all, a wonderful night.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The Buzz

(23:39:15) Starry: How was work?

(23:40:11) Wolf: As I snapped to a woman while on Drive-Thru about a wasp buzzing around my head: "If I got stung, it wouldn't be the most painful part of my day."