Sorry, You’ll Have To Settle For A Burger Civil-Partnership For Now

(I’m manning the telephone in our small, chicken-centered restaurant. There’s a rush tonight and we have to prepare a huge number of orders in a short time. After the rush, a nice customer calls us.)

Me: “[Restaurant], [My Name] speaking. How can I help you?”

Nice Customer: “Hi there. We ordered a barbecue chicken burger and extra fries. You seem to have switched our order; my friend got a standard burger and two servings of fries.”

Me: “Oh, no, I’m terribly sorry! We had so many orders in the last hour and we might have put the wrong label on your order. We will send out the correct burger at once!”

Nice Customer: “Woah, wait! That’s not why I called, really! I just wanted to warn you that someone will be missing their fries, just in case their order hasn’t been sent out yet. Oh, and I wanted to ask how we shall pay for the extra fries.”

(I am speechless. Next to me, my colleague and one of our drivers frantically start checking prepared orders.)

Nice Customer: “The burger’s fine; you don’t have to send out another one. My friend loves it and, anyway, he’s already eaten half of it.”

Me: “Er… you are fine with the wrong burger, and you actually want to pay for the extra food we delivered by mistake?”

Nice Customer: “Well, yeah, since I will absolutely demolish the fries and there won’t be any survivors left to send back to you.”

Me: “I’m really at a loss of words. Thank you for being so nice about this. Please accept the fries as our gift, and as a thank you for the warning.”

Nice Customer: “Thanks! That’s really nice of you.”

Nice Customer’s Friend: *muffled, in the background* “Tell them I want to marry their burger!”

Me: “No, thank you for being so great about this. You made my week! Have a wonderful night!”

(We were actually able to fix the other order. [Nice Customer] is now a regular and the entire staff loves her!)