They’re As Cold As ICEE

(My first job is at a well known retail store in my home town. I work in the little café area where we sell sodas and ICEEs, among other things. The ICEE machine is out in the area for guests to fill it up themselves; however, there aren’t any refills and an ICEE costs more than a soda. Now, most employees don’t care and let the guest do whatever they want, but I won’t let people steal money from my department. Sodas and ICEEs cost money!)

Woman: *orders soda, goes to fill it up with ICEE; I can tell who ordered an ICEE by the lid they received*

Me: “Uh, ma’am, an ICEE costs extra.”

Woman: *huffs*

(Later:)

Man: “Hotdog and a soda.”

Me: “Will that be all?”

Man: “Yes.”

Me: “All right, that’s a hotdog with a soda. That’ll be $3.49.”

Man: *takes cup and fills it up with an ICEE*

Me: “Sir, an ICEE costs extra.”

Man: “But I ordered an ICEE.”

Me: “No, you said soda. I also read the order back to you.”

Man: “But I DID order an ICEE!”

(There’s no refills on ICEEs because if too many people get an ICEE, the machine can get warm and it would take 20 minutes to recapture it’s ice. Guests don’t like to wait that long. Limiting one ICEE per person allows new guests to get an ICEE and decreases the chance of the machine getting too warm with lots of refills.)

Woman: “And one ICEE.”

Me: “Okay, that’s one popcorn and one ICEE. Just to let you know, there are no refills on ICEEs. That’ll be $2.89.”

(Later…)

Woman: *comes back from shopping, goes to refill ICEE*

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, there’s no refills on ICEEs.”

Woman: “Oh, you should put a sign up.”

Me: *points to sign above her* “Also, I said no refills.”

Woman: “No, you didn’t.”

(Later:)

Teenager: “Can I have a cup for water?”

Me: *suspicious* “Here you go.” *watches her*

Teenager: *puts the cup up over the soda nozzle, thinking I can’t see it, which I can’t from my angle, but then…*

(Soda faucet noise.)

Me: “I can hear that.”

Teenager: *confused* “How?”

Me: “The water sounds different. You’re just pushing a lever down and water comes out. But when you push the soda button, the machine in the back kicks up the soda syrup and makes a whizzing sound. Doesn’t matter if you put the cup up against the nozzle, I can HEAR it. A small soda is only $1.89, with refills.”

Teenager: “Can’t I just have a little with the cup?”

Me: “No.”

(Most of these stories happened daily, but one story was unique and it was magical. The ICEE machine was out of order and there was a person working on it. Anytime someone ordered it, I told them it was out of order. A man came up, ordered a soda; I read the order back to him and when he finished paying, he went up to the ICEE machine, while the mechanic’s back was turned, and proceeded to get himself an ICEE. I tried to follow him and stop him, but he ignored me and continued walking. There was a huge line waiting, so I couldn’t follow him outside the department. I gave up and went back to work, but smiled a bit inside. While the mechanic was working on the ICEE machine earlier, a bunch black stuff came out of the nozzle, and when the man put his cup under the nozzle, I saw some of that black stuff get into his cup. Although it was mostly cherry, I tried to stop him from drinking the black stuff but he ignored me. So, karma struck him.)