TEN

(An older gentleman comes to my register.)

Me: “Good afternoon! How may I help you?”

Customer: “Ten!”

Me: “The meal? Or is that just the sandwich?”

Customer: “What?”

(I repeat myself, and tell him what the meal includes.)

Customer: “NO! I JUST WANT THE TEN!”

(While he does yell and he seems irritated, I don’t take offense. He might have trouble hearing, or he could be having a bad day. I can’t know. I can only be as kind as possible.)

Me: “Of course! Your [Burger] will be $5.19 today.”

Customer: “$5.19?

(I see that he has $5.10 in his hand.)

Me: “Yes, sir.”

Customer: “No. I just want the number ten!”

Me: “The number 10 is the [Burger]. Did you mean the ten-piece nuggets?”

(Some people do make this mistake, as that was the number 10 meal until about a month ago.)

Customer: *very agitated* “NO! THE TEN! IT’S RIGHT THERE!” *gestures to the menu board with all of our meals above my head*

(I am confused, since he doesn’t seem to want either item that would correspond to the number 10.)

Me: “Would that be the ten-piece nuggets or the [Burger]?”

Customer: “NO! TEN!” *storms off*

(I do feel bad for not understanding what he wanted, but I’m not sure what else I could have done there.)