One of my lamest rants ever!

The BBQ Pit
1

That’s right, I am going to rant about 50 cents. No, not the rapper 50 Cent. I’m talking about 50 American pennies!

I was out of town on business the last couple of days. Last night I was tired, so I decided to grab a sandwhich and just head back to my hotel.

I went into the Subway located at 4320 W. Prospect Avenue (HWY BB), Appleton, Wisconsin.

There is a dry marker board in front of the counter. A subway employee (male, white, 16-18 years old) is mopping the floor right in front of it.

I quickly scan it. It says: Friday Specials: 6-inch tuna $2.49. Buy any 6 inch sub get another 6 inch sub for 99 cents.

I point to that and ask the employee "does that 99 cent special include the tuna that’s on sale?"

The kid says (and I quote) “Yes, it does. In fact, if you order the 6 inch tuna for $2.49 I could make you a foot long tuna and it would only be $3.48.”. That is EXACTLY what he said.

I said “ok, let’s do that.”.

So he goes behind the counter, makes the foot long tuna. Then rings it up at $2.98, plus 99 cents plus tax. I said “You rang this up wrong. The tuna is supposed to be $2.49”.
*
“But the tuna is on special, it doesn’t count for the buy one get another for 99 cents. In order to get the other half for 99 you have to pay full price for the first one”.*

"You just told me it did! You told me a foot long would cost me $3.48!"
*
“Um, I did? 'Cause it doesn’t work that way!”*

"What!?!:mad: You piece of…AUUUGH!!!"(storms out!)

What the fuck? What the mother fuck?
But wait a minute:
I was up there getting paid $750 for just 2 days of consulting work. On top of that I was billing my client for all expenses, including meals. I could have been in a nice restaurant eating porterhouse, but was too tired. Why the fuck should I have a stroke about 50 lousy cents that isn’t even coming out of my own pocket?:smack:

I shouldn’t. Which is why this has been one of my lamest rants ever!!

2

I want to be irritated that you care, but your stated location is making me giggle.

Sometimes stress just makes us care about things that don’t matter, I guess. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Besides, it is completely beyond me how that kid could tell you two completely opposite things in the space of 2 minutes… I think I’d be a little irritated too, though I’d pay the damn 50 cents and tell him to have a nice day anyways, all while thinking some very stern thoughts at him.

Man, I so suck at this BBQ thing.

Have a nice day! :smiley:

3

On its face it does appear petty, but I might have reacted the same way. I think there’s a certain psychological “pain and suffering” factor to that kind of failed social transaction, over and above the actual monetary loss—something you have to consider when, later and in a more temperate frame of mind, you evaluate whether your actions were appropriate.

And it’s a good example of a more general phenomenon: people who (in business) say they’re going to do something, then promptly fail to do it, blaming esoteric “rules” (or even more cruelly, you personally) for their failure.

Your story reminded me of an event several years back when I was on a relatively new HMO; I needed to see a specialist, which required a referral from the primary care doctor, and that doctor’s receptionist offered to fax the referral to the specialist for me. It never arrived, and when I contacted the very same woman to inquire why it hadn’t been faxed, she now told me that it “wasn’t their policy” to do so. Then why the FUCK did you tell me you’d do it in the first place, I wanted to scream—but no sound came out. (Mainly because I really needed that referral, otherwise I wouldn’t get treated.)

This was probably eight years ago and it still irritates me when I remember it. Here’s hoping your tuna sandwich affair is more quickly forgotten.

4

I’ve got to ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind right now:
“What did you have to eat instead?”

5

Oh, I paid for it. I slammed the money on the counter before storming out. I had a pocket full of change so it was exact. I should have mentioned it.
It wasn’t until I got back to the hotel that I thought to my self “what the hell you having a coronary for?”

6

You know, the cool thing is that you recognize (albeit after the fact) that your reaction was way out of proportion. Kudos to you for that, and hopefully next time you will be able to avert the stress before it happens!

7

I once nearly turned an autorickshaw over in India, because the guy lied to me about the fare, and appeared like he was trying to steal money off my wife - he was saying “I have change” while trying to grab a large-denomination bill out of her hand, the whole time revving his engine. Eventually he got scared of me and left without any money at all.

After we’d calmed down I realised a) he was trying to overcharge us by an amount equivalent to 5c, and b) the amount of money he looked like he was about to steal was worth about 50c. It’s all a matter of principle, I guess, but in the end I cheated a guy way poorer than me, out of an amount I wouldn’t even notice if I’d have lost it.

8

I know the feeling. While it’s only 50 cents, still when someone tells you you can do something, then they should do it.

9

I think it’s indicative of the current assholian capitalist model of “create-a-process-then-dumb-it-down-so-that-you-can-push-it-off-on-illiterate-halfwits”. You get people who don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground serving paying customers, who in turn are treated to a less-than-stellar buying experience. Meanwhile the carpetbagging bungsluts who think this is just hunky-dory go home to their tacky McMansions in their Ubermobiles thinking they’ve added value and therefore deserve their excesses.

Up against the wall, the lot of them.

10

How else are you going to sell a foot long tuna sub for under $4? You don’t do it by hiring good people and paying them what they’re worth.

11

I’m just pissed off because I got to the third line of your rant, then, since I live in Appleton, spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how an underground mass transit system got installed without my knowledge.

When I came back to tell you that you are full of shit and that there is no subway, it became clear that you meant Subway™

It really is a Monday! :frowning:

12

We had to wait until that one weekend you went out of town to build it, then we were explicitly told not to let you in on it.

The tuna sandwhich was pretty good, by the way.

13

I’m pissed that Subway is still in business, and that people have the stomach to even go in there.

But maybe not all of them suck quite so bad as the one I visited.

14

I firmly believe I’m singlehandedly keeping my local Subway store in business. So it’s either way better than the one you went to, or my taste buds have died.

15

I’m thinking that the kid who served you could write a rant about you that would get a 9.9 from the East German judge. Maybe you can get Brewha to pass by there and drop off a note of apology. Even flowers would not be inappropriate.

Brewha, you game?

16

What’s so bad about Subway that people wouldn’t stomach to go in them? I think they make nice sandwiches, and I’m fussy.

17

About fucking what? He quotes me one price and charges another, and I’m supposed to be nice?

18

No kidding this is lame! I got you beat by a long shot.

On Saturday, I went to a craft store and bought something that totaled $2.97. I hand the cashier $3.00 and she hands me the receipt and starts ringing up the next customer. I stop dead, holding up the line, look the girl in the eye and ask, were you going to give me my change? She goes, oh sorry and gets all flustered. I then reply, it’s OK, I was just wondering if you were going to give it to me, but it’s fine. . . and I walk away.

For 3 pennies. . .that I didn’t want.

What’s more is that if she gave me any kind of grief about it, I would have called the manager and gave them heck for shortchanging me. Cashiers may not make me pay for their mistakes, even if it’s just a penny.

It’s the principle. :smiley:

19

We don’t have 1 and 2 cent coins anymore, they use this thing I think is called Swedish rounding, up or down…why Sweden I don’t know.

20

Put yourself in his shoes. He probably made an innocent mistake, one that (only hypothetically) set you back the lordly sum of 50 cents, and you – the high-priced consultant who makes in two days what he makes in two weeks – go all feral on him?