Just one more thing to annoy me. Burger King's money-handling policy. I assume it's a policy. It happens every time I go there, but I haven't compared it to other Burger King locations. This is actually a two-part complaint, but today we'll stick to how the King handles my money. My PLASTIC money.
Once a week, I stop by Burger King to pick up lupper for myself and The Pony. We tried getting it for Farmer H one time, but he doesn't like the state of his Whopper when he drags it out of FRIG II three hours later.
Anyhoo... only the drive-thru is open. I order at the tiny-roofed speaker, and drive around. At the first window, I pay. I used to give them cash, but that's not compatible with my cash budget now that The Pony is home. We use plastic so I'm not always on the road to the bank.
Anyhoo... I drop my debit card into the bin they stick out the window. [This will be discussed another day.] When they return my debit card in the bin they stick out the window, it is WRAPPED UP IN THE RECEIPT!
Not merely folded over. That card is encased in a shroud. It could be inside an origami wallet. THREE layers of paper around my debit card. As you might imagine, this is not conducive to quickly writing down the amount of purchase, and slipping that card into its slot in your checkbook. It's a major undertaking to remove the shroud! Such a tight fit! Like custom-made leather pants on a rock star! Anybody knows that such form-fitting garments can't be removed in the car-length between paying and picking up food at the next window.
Is this hermetic sealing really necessary? The receipt isn't going to blow away. It's down in a plastic bin. One fold would do. Or no fold, with the card laying on top of the receipt. There's nothing else I can do besides drop it in my pocket to deal with later, at home on the kitchen counter.
They might even use a ruler to get the edges precise. That's all this shroud loosened up, sitting on end in my shirt pocket for 8 miles and 15 minutes and a pot-holed gravel road.
Maybe this is why the line moves so slowly up to the pay window.
3 comments:
Maybe the same food service training facility that teaches servers to deny customers basic condiment requests also has rigorous workshops on how to fold receipts around credit cards?
How about leaving Farmer H's Burger King out on the counter for the few hours until he's ready to eat? I agree with him (for once). Fast food sandwiches are much better at room temperature than they are after they've been refrigerated and then nuked.
Maybe the fast food workers in your area are former origami artists? Or they've been reborn, and in their former lives they lived in the eras when the dead were put into shrouds? Or maybe they know what aggravates you, and just want to piss you off...
Ding ding ding. I think we have a winner.
I really don't think that's the reason the line moves so slowly. Surely not everyone sits there sorting out cards from receipts before they move on. Most people I know, including myself, would stuff the whole shebang back into a pocket or handbag and move on, dealing with it when I (they) arrive home.
Maybe they have to stop every now and again to cook up a new batch of fries or burgers, so people have to wait. Or maybe at the front of the line is a little old person counting out $6.75 in pennies.
Sioux,
That wouldn't surprise me in the least! A basic training session for those would-be Kings to rival that of the military.
We are leery of leaving out Farmer H's Whopper for three hours. It's not so much that we don't want to kill him, but there IS mayo slathered on it like there's no tomorrow. Not taking any chances on just disabling him. Besides, we ASKED him what he wanted us to do with his Whopper (he wasn't quick with a clever rejoinder) and he said to but it in FRIG II.
Now you've made me paranoider. What IF the only debit card that gets shrouded is MINE??? Surely they can't recognize my ample rumpus from my voice at the order speaker.
***
River,
I didn't think of everybody unwrapping their shroud before pulling forward. I figured they'd just drop their card into purse or pocket like I do. I thought maybe the time was taken up by the Kings WRAPPING THE SHROUD around each card before giving them back.
When I get to the food window, the counter is always covered with about 12 sodas and five or six bags full of food. So I don't know where the slowdown comes from. On about 1 in 20 trips, I've had to pull forward to wait on fries. So that doesn't happen very often. Maybe there's someone each visit who asks for an uncommon item, and it has to be cooked special, unlike the common Whoppers and fries.
It is rare that I see anybody put cash into the bin. It is even rarer that I see OLD PEOPLE at Burger King. They seem to hang out at Dairy Queen, and yes, they are VERY SLOW to order and to pay. I expect it at DQ. I think they count out their money from a little squeezy rubber change holder. They are cautious with their palsied hands, because I never see the glint of coins on the road at the drive-thru window.
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