From the Sublime to the Unnecessarily Ridiculous

I know that, in this season of politics, most of my recent posts have been apropos to the quadrennial pursuit of the next political American Idol.

This morning, however, I have something a little less consequential burning a hole in my mental pocket, so please indulge me in a few moments of mostly-meaningless minutiae.

So, I drive up to the drive-thru of the nearby Einstein's Bagels this morning & ordered one of my usual Spicy Elmo on a Good Grains bagel (it's one of the highest-fiber bagels that Einstein has...makes the Elmo a little more healthy...at least that's what I tell myself!) & a couple of other things.

When the woman who took my order rang it up & ran my credit card & handed me my receipt, it showed that she had charged me for a Santa Fe wrap. When I noticed this, I waved her back to the drive-thru window & explained that the receipt had the wrong item & I told her again what I wanted.

She looked at the receipt & then closed the drive-thru window, talked to the people making the morning's orders & came back to the window & what did she say???

(a) "I'm sorry!"? or,

(b) "We apologize for the mistake!"? or,

(c) "Don't worry, we'll get your order right out to you!"? or,

(d) NONE OF THE ABOVE. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Answer: (d)

She didn't even try to feign even half-hearted contrition.

She said, "It's gonna cost you more!"

It's gonna cost you more?!?!?

Why would she think that matters??? When I made my order, I knew I was going to have to pay for what I got. Why would she think that paying as little as possible, even if the order was wrong, was what I wanted?!?!?

I told her that I didn't mind paying for what I ordered, and she took my card & shut the window again, while I sat wondering if she was gonna get my order right this time, and wondering why something so ostensibly simple had to be so difficult. I mean, it's not as if I asked her to split an atom, or perform a frontal lobotomy or even quote the value of pi to the 107th decimal point; I asked for a bagel sandwich. I guess it's only Burger King that doesn't get upset with special orders.

Funny thing, she came back to the window in a couple of minutes & just said, "It costs the same," and handed me my order.

Not Thank You. Not Have A Good Day. Nothing, just handed me my order & shut the window again.

Truth be known, by the time I got my order, I was ready to leave as much as she was ready to have me leave, so I guess I didn't feel the need for a long good-bye either.

I guess a little inconvenience & a little indignation was what she really meant by "It's gonna cost you more!"

My Santa Fe Spicy Elmo on a Good Grains bagel was really good though.