Rant #2,338: Money Honey

Good morning!

How was your weekend?

Mine was kind of bland after several weekends where my family and I were very, very busy.

This weekend, we could really exhale and take it all in for the first time in quite a while.

Every weekend, I go out and get my wife, my son and I dinner on both Saturday and Sunday. My wife works during the week, too, and I don't want her to have to cook on the weekend, even though she has told me she doesn't really mind it.

So on Saturday, we were actually out of the house after visiting her father at the Veterans home that afternoon, so we took in our local Wendy's.

We hadn't had Wendy's in quite a while, so it was good to experience it again.

On Sunday, a real lazy day for us, I went out myself and brought food in. I got my wife a rotisserie chicken at the local supermarket, and my son and I had Taco Bell, another fast food that we hadn't had in quite a while.

I went to the Taco Bell by our home, and ordered what I wanted for myself and my son.

The bill came to $16.71 including tax. I looked in my wallet and I had very small bills and a $100 bill.

Since the small bills I had would not add up to what I had to pay, I gave the cashier the $100 bill.

And this is where the problem started.

As she was taking my order, she was also speaking to somebody sitting in the restaurant, who ended up being a coworker on break. She was talking to him in Spanish as she took my order.

And then she gave me back my change, and from a $100 bill, with the bill being $16.71, she gave me back exactly $73.29--or $10 less than she should have given me back.

I counted my change as she continued to talk to her coworker on break in Spanish. I told her that she shorted me $10.

She said in English to me that that was impossible, and I showed her the receipt she had just given me, which clearly said that she was supposed to give me back $83.29, not the $73.29 she gave me back.

Stopping her Spanish speaking to her coworker, she asked if she could see the bills again.

She counted each out, and she said to me, "Here. It is $83 here."

I said to her in plain English, "No it's not. it is $73."

I gave her the money to count it again, just as her coworker went back on duty.

Now that she was back in the English mode, she counted the money out once again.

"Oh, yes, you are right. I owe you $10," she admitted, and said she was sorry.

My food had come out and was ready for me to take as she gave me my $10 back, but she was so involved with her coworker and telling me that my change was correct that she never gave me my cups for my drinks, with two cups due back to me.

"Can I have the cups?" I asked her, and the coworker actually was the one who gave me the cups.

Clearly frustrated at their work behavior at this point, I said to both of them, "You know, it is time to get on the ball here," as I took the two cups off the counter and proceeded to the drink machine.

They both then started to speak in Spanish to each other, and heaven knows what they were saying about me in their conversation.

I got my drinks and left.

On the receipt, it said that by going online, I could "rate" my experience at the restaurant. Lucky for the cashier and her coworker that I simply decided not to, purely out of laziness--and yes, I admit that to you. I was just darn lazy, and I didn't feel like doing it this time around.

In the past, I have reported fast food restaurants that did not give me good service, but this time, I simply put this place on notice, in my own mind, that if I receive bad service from them again in the future, they will hear from me. Laziness won't get in the way that time, if it happens again.

So I basically gave the restaurant a bye this time. For the $15 an hour these people are now making in New York State, I would expect better service, and honestly, if they were making one-third of that money, I would expect better service.

It is called taking personal pride in what you are doing, and I think that the cashier, going from English to Spanish and back again, made herself confused.

And why is she speaking Spanish in the restaurant when she is supposed to be serving me to begin with?

No, the aggravation that I got wasn't worth the money that I spent there.

Hopefully, the next time there will be a lot better.