I got hubby all settled in the rehab hospital. I’m very impressed with them. They got him fresh c-pap gear 'cause I hadn’t made it to the supplier with all this stuff going on. They made sure he got a real shower; the first shower he’s had in two weeks. With his prescription shampoo. They check on them every two hours after midnight, but don’t wake them up for vitals. All very good.
On the way home though, I was hungry as I hadn’t eaten and it was 8:50 or there abouts at night. I stopped at a McDonalds. I ordered and they tried to give me the wrong order. They gave me my pop and asked me to pull into lane one to wait for the food. I waited probably 20 min. and tried to call the restaurant since the drive through was really busy and I didn’t want to walk through the cars. No one answered. Finally the line of cars died down, so I got out of the car and headed for the door. The lady who took my order was locking it and said to me, “You’re the quarter no cheese right?” I said “Yes.” She said, “I got you honey; she’ll bring it out.” I told her thank you and went back to my car. I waited another 20 to 30 min. then left. I am the proud consumer of an $8.00 McDonald’s coke. I could have stopped at a few other places but it was well after 10 by then and I wanted to go home. I had turkey…again.
That would piss me off. There’s a site where you can complain if you have time.
My wife had a similar experience at a different fast food chain (can’t remember off the top of my head). She reported the problem and got coupons for free product.
Me, I had a really awful experience once at a Jack in the Box. This wasn’t a mistake though, which I understand. This was deliberate abuse where a manager verbally attacked me. I just avoided that shithole for years. I eventually went back because I figured that worthless hellbeast would be gone by then and sure enough no more problems.
I may well complain. I don’t like to, but man I was hungry.
I had an experience with our local McDonald’s. They had a really good deal on 1/4 pounders that would feed us and the kids. The bridge was closed between my house a mile or two out of town and said Mcd’s. The work around was drive a mile through town to a different bridge. I got home to half of our order. The next day I went in to talk to them about it and the manager and an associate all but called me a liar and a thief. Apparently there were no orders of that size according to the associate so I drove about 4 miles out of my way to rip them off for under 5 bucks. I complained to the franchise owner who gave me coupons that I used at other stores. I didn’t go there for years. I was hot!
The last time I went to Panera – and I do mean last, I am not planning on going there ever again – I literally had my bag of food thrown at me by a manager because they had plated it up as a dine-in order and I had the audacity to tell her “that was supposed to be to go.”
The one time I ate at Panera was the last. I was enjoying my salad when I came across a slimy piece of lettuce. I threw the salad away and never went back.
Some of you sound like my friend who, if you’re foolish enough to try to go out to eat with him, will shoot down every idea, always with the same line: “I’m never going back there.”
“Hey, want to go out? Maybe Al’s Fresco?” “Ehhh, one time the breadsticks weren’t warm… I’m never going back there.”
“Okay, how about Señor Huenzess?” “Oh, no. I got a burnt tortilla chip there… never going back there.”
“Oh, I know! That new Slovenian place!” “Sorry, every time I’ve been there they undercooked the idrijski žlikrofi.”
“But they only opened last night!” “And they undercooked the idrijski žlikrofi…”
“Okay, how about I just make us some ramen at my place?” “I’m never going back there.”
I know the car buying process is horrible, but I still find myself somewhat surprised that apparently the only purpose of the “internet sales” department of a dealership is to wheedle my phone number out of me so a salesman can start harassing me. All I wanted to do is make sure the car on your website is actually on the lot, and schedule a test drive. Once I get past that step and actually arrive, I’ll possibly be willing to give you my phone number after the drive if I think there’s any possibility I might buy the car.
It was almost refreshing that one dealership didn’t ask for my phone number, but apparently googled it and started calling me anyway.
I had my first positive car-buying experience with the “internet sales” at a dealership. Because my first contact with the dealership was online, when I showed up for a test drive, the salespeople ignored me and shunted me over to… Kevin. (Yes, they said his name with disdain)
Well, KEVIN! was great. The car wasn’t especially peppy in its automatic version, and he asked “Do you want me to find you a manual to test drive?” We drove to a different dealership and drove the same model of car, but now it was sporty with a stick shift.
I was sold, especially as Kevin got me one without unneeded features, and as we did the paperwork the other salesmen just glared at us.
It takes a lot for me. I think I told this story on the board before, but eh, I’ll burn some calories typing at least.
There was a “buy one, get one free” coupon for a new burger at Jack in the Box. I wanted to try it out, and the coupon was a good deal, so I drove to the local drive-through to get it. It was pretty late, I want to say 9-10 PM, but they’re open 24 hours. I get to the drive-through and being worried that they might not accept the coupon (which was my whole reason for going there), I first said that I had a coupon for a buy one get one free coupon for this new burger. The coupon was from an ad circular that came in the mail. Did they accept the coupon? Yes, they did. Okay, great, so I ordered, and they said they’d have my total at the window. Cool.
I drove around to the pickup window and handed them my card and the coupon. They hadn’t told me the price but I wasn’t too worried since they said they accepted it. (I think you can guess what was coming next.) I got the food and looked at the receipt, they charged me full price. I asked, why didn’t I get the discount? They said, when we ran everything through with the card and tried to apply the coupon it didn’t accept it. I told them the whole reason I came was this coupon, they said it would work, if I’m paying full price this is way too much. I want a refund or my discount.
(Note that I was being polite because I used to work in the service industry, including food service, this is just a poor guy working late at a crappy job and the last thing he needs is someone attacking him for something that isn’t his fault.)
He said there was nothing to do himself, he had to get his manager, but if I could pull around he’d let me in the restaurant while his manager helped me. I said sure, and thanked him, and apologized for being so much trouble, he said it was cool and understood.
I came in and waited 20 minutes in the restaurant, again not trying to escalate anything. A woman comes in, she’s in her pajamas. I guess she was lounging at home and rushed to come in. And she was pissed off. Pissed at me. She demanded to know what the problem was, and I explained calmly. She then asked me in an accusatory tone, “Why wouldn’t it take the coupon? That’s stupid, of course the coupon would work here.” As if I was lying to her, or did something to make it not work. I just said, I don’t know, I just handed the coupon to your guy in the window and he said it wouldn’t work.
She very angrily did something with the register, and griped about how much trouble it was to straighten things out with the coupon. I said, I’m sorry, I’m happy with a refund if that’s easier, the food is going to be cold anyway since it has been about a half hour since they made it. She practically yelled at me, “No, you are not getting a refund out of me!” As if I was trying to scam her.
The other employees were just looking nervous and uncomfortable (I want to say it was 2-3 other people there) and then finally she got the money to me with a scowl. The drive through guy smiled at me and said, “Thank you for being patient.” And I swear to God, she snapped at him, and growled, “Do not smile at him! He doesn’t deserve it.”
I got my ass out of that place as fast as I could, with my cold-as-hell food and money, and took it home to microwave it and try to make it taste better. (To nobody’s surprise it tasted like shit, and my wife refused to eat the other burger I had gotten for her.) I had absolutely no clue that I’d have to go through all of that or I would have just accepted the overcharge and not bothered. I originally assumed the manager was in the store and didn’t find out until later that she had to drive out there, and then I kept assuming she’d arrive any minute. Ugh.
So yeah, I boycotted that place for a few years after that incident. And just that location, and really just late in the day (because I assumed she wouldn’t be around earlier).
Well, I was trying to avoid telling the entire “threw my food at me” episode for fear of it being too long, but it’s probably not much longer than @Atamasama’s story, so here goes.
First of all, I blame Panera for getting rid of their numbered pagers that would buzz when your order was ready, and going with the trendy new “what’s a good name for your order?” approach. If they still had those buzzers, this never would have happened.
My wife and I had both been doing yardwork all day and were dead tired and didn’t feel like cooking, so I offered to run to Panera, which is nearby. When I walked in, the line at the register was about half a dozen customers deep. Then I heard the guy who was ordering give his first name for the order, which was the same as mine. That’s when I thought “This is going to be a problem.”
Then I remembered that if I ordered from the kiosk, it would use my full name from my debit card. So I started ordering at the kiosk, but discovered they were out of the soup my wife wanted. So I cancelled the order and stepped away to text her for a substitute. Except I had left my phone in my car. (Ok, that part is on me.)
Went out to the car, got my phone, texted my wife, got a response, went back in. By this time a bunch of college kids had come in and were crowded around the kiosks. Luckily, a second register was just opening up, so I stepped up to order.
It quickly became obvious that the kid at the register had no idea what he was doing. He kept having to stop and ask someone else how to do this or that. By the time the order was completed, I thought “maybe the guy with the same name has already got his food, I’ll go ahead and give him mine.” I started to walk away from the register when I realized that he never asked me if it was for here or to go, so I turned back and said “Oh, and that’s to go.” Well apparently you can’t change it after the order’s been completed, or he didn’t know how, so he walked back into the kitchen area to tell them my order was to go.
So I went to the dining area and found a place to sit and wait. A few minutes later I heard my name called, but as I started to get up I saw guy-with-the-same-name get up and walk to the counter. And of course, his order was all bagged up. I heard him and his friend laughing about it as they sat down with their food. That’s when I really knew this wasn’t going to end well.
I waited about fifteen minutes. They have a screen by the order pickup that shows all the order names and status, and I didn’t see my name (or the number on my receipt) anywhere on the board. So now I was starting to wonder if my order got lost somewhere. I was just about to ask someone when I heard my name called – and my food was on the counter plated up like a dine-in order. So I said “Sorry, that was supposed to be to go.” The manager rolled her eyes and gave a big sigh, wrapped up all the food, and as I said, literally threw the bag back at me. So I walked out saying to myself “Fuck this shit. Not coming here ever again.”
They don’t have Paneras where I live. I walked into one to get a bagel when I was travelling, and they opened with this line. As the gods are my witnesses, I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I said, “um… a bagel?” and got a withering glare, and the line was repeated. If they’d said, “what’s a good name to call out when your order is ready,” or even “what’s your name,” I would have been fine. As it was, I had to ask, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” to the clerk (who was from Sweden, and so should have been more sympathetic to my confusion), but since they do this fifty gazillion times a day, she couldn’t figure out what my problem was. By the time I understood, the food was ready.
The bagel was adequate, but the whole interaction left me feeling stupid, and disinclined to patronize the establishment.
We had a cat who declined over several months. Toward the end, he was so habituated to the sound of the treat can that he’d come running for it, but then would mouth it and drop it, uneaten. That was the real sign it was his time; the months before, he was just losing weight, and we tried one thing after another to help. In his case, we knew the issue (he had feline leukemia when we got him).
Here’s hoping your vet can figure out what’s currently going on with your friend, and has ways of giving her some more good times with you.
Panera’s food isn’t good enough to put up with all the ways they try to make it harder to just get some food. I went to Panera on Sunday, and all I wanted was one bagel, sliced. It’s a busy mall location, and they have a window into the mall where you can order, so you don’t have to go into the store if you want something quick and simple (or so I thought). This time all of the everything bagels weren’t snapped up by the person in front of me in line like the last time I tried to do this, so I ordered and waited. Of course it can’t be that simple. It took me a little while to figure out that I had to pick up my bagel inside the very busy Panera at the same counter where everyone else picks their food, and where there is no room for people to stand. I saw one of the workers pick up a bagel, slice it, and put it in a bag, so I thought that was mine, but it didn’t turn up at the pickup spot, so I waited, and a little bit later I got a text that my order was ready. Still not there, so I managed to catch one of the very busy people behind the counter. It turns out my bagel was under the counter somewhere, because nothing can be easy in this capitalist hell. I don’t understand why large corporations are on a mission to make it harder and more stressful to complete a transaction with them. I’m trying to give them my money, the least they can do is not make it so complicated.
They made it easy and less complicated for themselves to take your money by having that extra window. Having the process provide their product thru the same window might cut into their profits! If they draw you into the main store you have a chance to pick up a dozen bagels - more sales! (some bean counter probably determined this back at HQ).
I’ve been using Flovent (steroid inhaler, generic is fluticasone, for decades). About 10 years back, my insurer decided they were not going to cover it anymore. I got switched to Symbicort (budesonide and formoterol)… which caused my blood sugar to spike into full-on type-2 diabetes. I know I vented about it here at the time. I was the one who figured out the timing of the blood sugar spikes - being obese, it was not a surprise that I would develop it, but just then I was eating better, and walking more.
Got switched to Advair (same manufacturer, powder inhaler, fluticasone / salmeterol). Problem went away. And 3 months later, the insurance switched its rules and suddenly Flovent was covered again.
I got ANOTHER letter today saying Flovent was not covered after 12/31/2023. Bastards are doing it again, thinks I. The letter certainly gave that impression: “in some cases we can extend coverage a little bit if you need more time”.
Then I did some reading: The MANUFACTURER is is discontinuing it. They are also discontinuing Advair. They will have authorized generics that supposedly they manufacture but will be sold under another label. And there are a couple brands being sold. Both of which are dry powder inhalers, which I LOATHE (much less convenient to use). I predict a great deal of confusion in upcoming months. I’m gonna have to see if my insurance will let me get another 90 day refill, early.
Same manufacturer (GSK) that discontinued Requip; I’ve been using the generic of that for some years, so that’s been less of a problem except for shortages the last year or more.
GSK managed to keep Flovent from going generic far longer than is usual for medication, through various tricks. And now that it has finally gone generic, they’re basically shafting patients with little notice (to be fair, the announcement was made in October, woohoo…).
I like Panera. Their food isn’t mind-blowing but it’s fine. I’ve never had a bad experience at one. I’ve only gone a half dozen times, and it has been a year or so. But I don’t go to fast food much anywhere anymore.
That’s why I’ve never had their food. I like meals away from home to involve a server, table for two, ideally some atmosphere, etc. I can go without a wine list.
