#also never bothered to check if NZ has pennies or not

[texanredrose]

Y’all wanna hear a dumb story?

So over a decade ago, I worked at a fast food joint that was running a special that came out to $5.01. I worked in Texas which, while that might be obvious from other factors, is also somewhat relevant to this story. I was the assistant manager at the time and the only manager on duty. This was also when I was a bit more country than I am now and spent time out on farms and ranches semi-regularly.

So this guy comes in one night. It was fairly slow, I think he was the only customer we had during his entire stay, and I took his order. He gets the special. I ring him up and tell him the total. He then proceeds to flip his shit.

You see, he didn’t want to pay $5.01 for the special. He wanted to pay $5. Now, previously, we’d had a $5 special, and people sometimes got confused on which special was currently running, so upon the second time informing him that his total was, in fact, $5.01, he became extremely agitated.

“Did you know New Zealand doesn’t have pennies? They’re utterly useless! They’re a burden on the economy! We shouldn’t have them!”

Again, I will remind you, this took place in Texas. Which is in America. Where we do have pennies. And he was American.

Now... I’d seen my fair share of shit over the years working at this place. I worked almost exclusively night shift. Anyone who’s worked night shift anywhere can tell you that shit that just wouldn’t happen when the sun’s up happens all the time once it goes down. People lose their damn minds once it gets dark out. 

So, I began treating this dude like a wild animal. He wanted to go feral over a penny? Fine. I’m going to react appropriately.

Rang him up. Took his $5. Never turned my back to him. Had my employees stay as far as possible while keeping their eyes on him. Watched him. The whole time.

Right about the time his sandwich was done, I could tell he was big time regretting his outburst. Sure, he won the financial victory, but at what cost? He changed his order from dining in to to-go.

I did not relent. Placed his bag on the counter and stepped back. Watched him take it and retreat to his car. I went to the side of the lobby designated for employee breaks (which is where he just happened to park, lucky me) and took my break. Sat there and drank my sweet tea, and stared him down, my back against the wall. Not the right way to sit, as it was a booth. Didn’t care.

He considered coming inside to throw away his trash or simply dumping it outside his window. I was still staring at him. He decided against it.

Never saw that guy again.

The funny thing is, a few customers prior, a drive thru customer was short, so I’d already put a buck in the till out of my own pocket to cover it. I couldn’t give a shit about the till or if the dude had a penny; I was more upset that he thought bitching at me about the US Treasury was an appropriate response.

Years later, I went to Germany and learned the Euro has 1 cent and 2 cent denominations and had a fucking giggle fit over it.