At Least You Made That Little Girl Happy (Meal)

I work at a fast food chain. A little girl came in with her dad and ordered a [Kids’ Meal], and the toys that came with it were from an insanely popular movie. We were sold out, and she looked so heartbroken; it was depressing to see her face fall.

Me: *To her dad* “If you give me your mailing address, I’ll mail the toy to you when our next shipment comes in.”

He gladly gave it to me and the girl seemed hopeful.

Then, I learned that, due to some internal corporate problem, we weren’t getting any more of the toys.

I knew I had made a promise, so I mailed the girl a €10 gift certificate to [Toy Store Chain]. The dad wrote a thank-you letter to the restaurant for everything…

And I got written up for “acting egregiously out of scope without consulting a manager and making unreasonable promises to customers”.