My car is out of commission, so I decide to order enough food from a nearby donut shop/breakfast place to last me through the weekend. My order is one latte, three bagel sandwiches, four donuts, and six orders of hash browns. Their hash browns are little medallions, so a single order of hash browns consists of a little paper baggie of five or six pieces each.
I decide to order on the mobile app as it’s a large order. About fifteen minutes after making the order, I arrive at the shop. There are only two workers: one making food and the other running the drive-thru, manning the cash register, and making drinks. My latte and donuts are ready in the pickup area with my receipt and name next to them. Everything listed on the receipt is correct, so I grab the finished items and sit at a table to wait for the rest of my order to get done.
Ten minutes pass and there is no sign of progress on my order, so I walk up to the counter. I was under the impression they were working on the rest of my order since someone obviously finished about a quarter of it, but boy, was I wrong.
Worker #1: “Are you waiting for something, ma’am?”
Me: *Confused* “Yes, I’m waiting for the rest of my order. I only got the latte and donuts.”
I show my receipt.
Worker #1: “Sorry, I’ll get right on that.”
Another ten minutes pass as I idle by on my phone. [Worker #1] comes up to me with a bag. From the look and weight of it, I’m certain it’s not my whole order. Sure enough, when I open it, there are only two bagel sandwiches and just one baggie of hash browns. I go back up to the counter again.
Me: “Hi, sorry, my order still isn’t done.”
Worker #1: “What’s missing?”
Me: “There’s a bagel sandwich missing, and this bag only has one of the hash browns. I ordered six.”
Again, I motion toward the receipt, which correctly lists everything in my order. [Worker #1] looks as annoyed as I’m starting to feel.
Worker #1: “Sorry, I’ll fix that.”
I wait another ten minutes. If you’re keeping track, it has been forty-five minutes since I made the order on the app and thirty minutes since I showed up in the shop. The other worker, who has been busy with other duties, comes up to me.
Worker #2: “Sorry, ma’am. I’m making your bagel sandwich now. Would you like something as compensation for the wait? More donuts or hash browns?”
Me: *Like a fool* “More hash browns would be nice, I guess.”
Worker #2: “Got it!”
Five more minutes pass, and [Worker #2] hands me another bag. It has the third bagel sandwich and two more baggies of hash brown medallions, which are the “compensation.” I am still missing the complete six orders of hash browns I ordered from the very beginning. At this point, I think the universe is punishing me for wanting to eat unhealthy food from a donut shop. It’s a sign, but I’m in too deep; it’s been fifty minutes!
Me: *Finally losing my patience* “I’m sorry, my order is still wrong.”
Worker #1: *Angry* “What’s wrong with it?”
Me: “I’m still missing five hash browns.”
Worker #1: *Defensive* “I already gave you that!”
Me: “No, you didn’t.”
Worker #1: “Show me your food!”
I’m floored. I have been in sight of the counter sitting at a table the entire time on my phone and haven’t touched the food, nor do I have any place to put it. I start taking out the items from the order and passive-aggressively counting the contents as I pull them out of the bags.
Worker 1: “Give me the bags!”
Fed up, I hand them to her. At this point, [Worker #2] comes over and starts counting the baggies of hash browns.
Worker #2: “Ma’am, there are three orders of hash browns here.”
Me: “That’s not all of the hash browns. I only got one from my original order. There’s supposed to be six.”
Worker #1: “I gave you six!”
I stare at her. It finally dawns on me: she literally put six medallion PIECES of hash browns in the first baggie she gave me and didn’t realize I wanted six ORDERS of hash browns.
Worker #2: “Ma’am, we’re going to have you charge you for those if you want extra.”
Flabbergasted, I pull up the receipt of the order on the shop’s mobile app and hold it up, barely keeping myself from shoving it in her face.
Me: “I wanted six orders of hash browns. I only got one.”
From the food now spread out on the counter, it is now obvious what has happened.
Worker #2: *Long pause* “Sorry, ma’am. [Worker #1] didn’t tell me that. I’ll start on them right away.”
[Worker #1] has gone silent. I don’t even look in her direction anymore.
Five more minutes later, [Worker #2] gives me four more baggies of hash browns. I sigh, but I’ll take it.
Worker #2: “I’m really sorry, ma’am. She really did mess that up.”
I murmured a half-hearted thanks and finally got out of there almost a whole hour after I’d ordered the food. When I get home, I gorged myself on the hash browns and donuts. Was it worth the hassle? Debatable, but d*** if those things weren’t delicious.
