It Would Be Cents-less To Stay And Argue

(This restaurant doesn’t have a drive-thru window; you order at the speaker, then pull up to the curb and wait for an employee to walk out to your car. I order a drink and pull up to wait, and wait, as a line builds up behind me. Several minutes later an employee emerges and walks up to me with a tray of drinks.)

Employee: “So you had the cup of ice and the chocolate shake?”

Me: “Um, no, I had a lemonade…”

Employee: “Oh, sorry. Hold on.”

(She goes to the car behind me and gives them the drinks, then disappears inside the building again for several more minutes before returning.)

Employee: “Okay, here’s your lemonade. That’s $2.58.”

(I hand her $3.08 – three dollar bills, a nickel, and three pennies.)

Employee: “So, uh, that’s… a dollar back?”

Me: “…fifty cents?”

(She nods and walks a short distance away to fuss with her change belt, then returns.)

Her: “Oh, sorry, I hope you’re okay without a receipt because it just blew away in the wind…”

(Before I can respond she drops an assortment of coins in my hand and wanders off back into the building. By that point it had been about fifteen minutes so I was just glad to have my drink and be gone, but I later counted and it was fifty cents… in pennies and nickels.)